By james art 
Carrie Haderley Wyoming Tribun Eagle
Cheyenne-statutors have thrown support behind the bill to review the net compensation model or the percentage with which utilities buy excess energy from small-scale clients with solar panels in Wyoming.
The Committee on Corporations, Elections and Political Units of the Senate voted 4-1 to approve file 111, “Net Revisions” on Monday.
“Net measurement” means measuring the difference between electricity supplied by an electric utility program and an electricity generated by a small customer that generates its own electricity, which then returns to the electrical utility program for the applicable invoicing period.
The SF 111 will review how net compensation for measurement applies to new small customer generators, allowing the Commission for Public Services to use a different system of compensation for excess energy production if this service is subsidized by other customers.
According to the SF 111, existing small customers who have an electrical production system before December 31, 2025 will be released from existing prices, according to the Bill Sponsor Cale Cale, R-Lander.
“We have tried to fight the issue of net measurement and how it is implemented by the Statute in Wyoming,” a case told the committee on Friday. “There is a lot of confusion about the concept of net measurement. It is often promoted as a way to “glue it to the man” or to “stick it to your electrical utility” to get off the net to be energy independent. “
However, net measurement simply involves installing a special electric meter or reprogramming of an existing meter so that the electric flow can be measured in both directions: electricity leaking from the utility company to the customer, and vice versa, according to the University of Wyoming.
Some view it as a way to reduce their monthly electric account and some electricity provided by a renewable, local or alternative generating resource. Opponents say net measurement has the potential to reduce utility revenue, which will then transfer this loss to other customers to the service area.
Any usefulness in Wyoming has a tariff structure consisting of a connection charge as well as a charge for energy, as appropriate. The energy fee reimburses the price of the network, and an additional “customer fee” comes from $ 20 to $ 50, depending on the usefulness.
“This subsidy is embedded. This is not something I like, but it has one goal and it is to provide very small users to small accounts, so this is a fixed price that is not recovered from net measurement manufacturers,” Case said S
SF 111 -like bills, the case said, have been discussed before, but have not included preliminary views.
“This bill is almost the same as the bills you’ve seen before, but there is one significant difference,” Case said. “Someone who has an existing system … is raised within the current system, as long as there is under existing tariffs, as long as it owns the system. This is the bottom line. “
If the SF 111 is to pass, each with a system installed after January 1, 2026, will face new tariffs designated by the Public Service Commission. Chris Petri, Vice -President of PSC, told the Commission on Monday during a public comment that the Commission exists “mainly to ensure fair and reasonable prices”.
“We have looked at this bill and, given this, I think it actually creates a way to establish fair and reasonable prices for utilities and treat net measuring clients,” Petri said.
The new customer generators would face a certain percentage according to the usual PSC public process, according to Petri. Bruce Asai of MDU Resources said he believed that the revision would provide “necessary compromise” in the system.
However, many others commented on the proposed legislation on Monday, saying it was a solution to a problem. John Burrouz of the Outdoor Council in Wyoming said the bill directs a preliminary conclusion that the owners of solar energy on the roof are subsidized by other payers.
“We think it is premature to require PSC to review tariffs for this small group of customers when net measurement is such a small part of the electricity generated in Wyoming,” Burrose said.
The idea that the owners of solar energy on the roof “do not pay their share” from the price of the usefulness network, he said, does not adequately depict the system that already exists.
“Consider the example of rural customers who depend on miles and miles from the network of the network, but still pay the same rate as customers living next to a substation in the city,” Burrose said. “Passing the cost from urban to a rural client is a common and accepted practice.”
Natalie Johanssen, the organizer of the Renewable Energy Community at the Powder River Council, said the bill would create “unnecessary barriers” for rural families who may want to invest in solar energy.
Systems that are not in Wyoming make up only about 0.2% of the system, so Johanssen said that “the bill does not solve a real problem.”
Wayoming’s resident Stef Kessler testifies to Zoom, similarly says SF 111 “Addresses a problem that does not exist and affects small users.”
“I urge you to look at the little people of Wyoming,” Kessler said. “I have only seen utilities and regulators speak for the benefit of these bills.”
Senator Bill Landon, R-Casper, said he would support the SF 111.
“I am ready to support this one because at this point we are all all, (defending) those who are passionately participating in this now,” Landon said.
In addition, Landon said he trusted PSC to create a system that was also fair to future users, whom he said would still see a return on investing in their own energy infrastructure. Senator Dan Dokstader, R-Pafton, said he would also vote in favor of SF 111, citing belief in the PSC process. Senator Cherry Steinmet, R-Torrington were also supported by the vote.
Only Senator Brian Bonner, R-Douglas, voted against the measure on Monday morning.