Changes may undermine rooftop solar expansion

The announced changes to Iowa’s net metering program for rooftop solar ("Got solar? Your utility may owe you some money", July 19) may undermine the expansion of solar usage in Iowa. To ward off the worst effects of climate change we need to aggressively expand solar and renewable energy everywhere, especially in Iowa.

As the first state to create a renewable portfolio standard requiring renewable energy production, Iowa has been a leader in the push for expanded clean energy, but the new policies undermine that legacy and counter state policy to reduce use of dirty energy sources. Across the country, net metering is under attack by utilities and their allies in the fossil fuels industry because they know it is a proven policy for expanding rooftop solar.

While the expansion of the cap on net metering is a good decision, the addition of new fees to rooftop solar customers, as well as making customers cash in their credits for as little as 10 percent of their real value, could drive customers away from installing solar on their homes.

The Iowa Utilities Board should rescind this order and if they fail to do so, the Legislature should act to overturn it.

Utility companies and other well-financed opponents of clean, green energy will always find ways to push a fossil fuel-friendly agenda. But the climate crisis demands that we invest in building more renewable energy infrastructure, including rooftop solar installations.

—Matt Ohloff, Iowa Organizer, Food & Water Watch