IID stops solar incentive program

The cost of solar power may be going up for people who get their power now from Imperial Irrigation District in the east Valley.

The utility will no longer pay for extra energy new solar customers produce.

IID said so many people have started using solar, it’s reached it’s state mandated goal of 5 percent of peak demand usage. So that means say goodbye to the incentive program.

On IID’s website, a notice in red explained the new change.

With over 2600 customers now have solar and several projects already underway, IID will be at it’s net metering cap set by the state of California.

“IID has reached the goal of 5 percent of our peak demand usage and that is why the program has closed,” said spokesperson Marion Champion.

Here’s how the programmed worked. When you put solar panels on your house, it produces energy right away. What you don’t use goes back into utility’s grid. At the end of the year if you made more electricity than what you used, not only is your bill zero, the energy company will pay you for it.

Last year, IID paid out over $63,000 to its solar customers.

That’s not going to be the case any more for customers adding solar from here on out.

“IID is not trying to shut down solar, we are not trying to hamper the growth of solar development within our service territory. We are simply stopping our NEM, our Net Energy Metering program, and it will only affect our customers that generate excess amount of energy beyond what they use in they use in their home,” said Champion.

This does not mean IID is stopping all of net energy metering. New customers will still be able to use their solar panels to save on their electricity bills.

“Customers can still sign up to interconnect with the IID system use the system as they are today, making more energy in the daytime and then using the system at night to pull energy out,” said Champion.

This does not apply to existing solar customers.

It also doesn’t affect Southern California Edison customers. It’s still at least a year away from reaching it’s 5 percent goal.