NSP drops solar power proposal
Solar customers would have had to pay $8 per kilowatt per month to access the grid
Pressured by the provincial government’s response and negative public reaction, Nova Scotia Power (NSP) has dropped its proposed system access charge for solar users.
“It is clear to us that the complexity of the solar net metering issue means the right decision is to withdraw our application for the system access charge and we will immediately take the necessary steps to do so,” NSP president Peter Gregg said in a statement released Feb. 2.
The proposal was part of Nova Scotia Power’s application to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (UARB), which regulates the privately owned utility. The system access charge was part of an application in which NSP has requested an overall 10 per cent residential power rate hike over the next two years.
The new net-metering request would have had solar customers pay a charge of $8 per kilowatt per month to access the grid.
Amid immediate and concerted public backlash to the proposal, NSP initially defended its request but then agreed to change the timeline of the proposal from a systems access fee that would be retroactive to this month to a fee that wouldn’t be imposed until February 2023.
On Feb. 2, Premier
Tim Houston pumped the brakes on the solar metering proposal, saying “we agree that it is time for changes to the enhanced net-metering program but the changes we seek will support the greening of the grid, not discourage it.”
The premier said he had sent a letter to the utility and review board notifying the regulator about the government’s plans.
"Our government will bring forward the necessary legislative and regulatory framework that will protect ratepayers and the solar industry in Nova Scotia and help achieve our environment and climate change reduction goals,” the premier said.
The NSP capitulation followed in the afternoon.
“We respect the role of government and the UARB,” Gregg said in his statement. “Our team of 2,000 employees across Nova Scotia at Nova Scotia Power have and continue to support the greening of the grid and getting off coal by 2030, a path we’ve been on for over 15 years. We are committed to working together with government and stakeholders to meet our shared climate goals.”
In the statement, Gregg said it’s important to NSP “to find solutions that support the important role of renewables to achieve these climate goals, and to ensure fairness for all Nova Scotia customers, which we remain committed to doing.”