Xcel Flip Flop on Rooftop Solar Policy Net Metering

Last week in Denver, Coloradans packed into the Public Utilities Commission meeting rooms to support the cornerstone rooftop solar policy net metering. Meanwhile, a new finding shows that Xcel also knows the true benefits of net metering. A Denver Post article from 2007 says "Xcel officials maintain that all customers benefit because solar systems delay the need to build expensive power plants and reduce prospective future taxes on carbon emissions from fossil-fuel power." Xcel's current attacks on net metering are a flip-flop meant to protect the utility monopoly from competition. "Xcel supported net metering when it served their political purposes," said Bryan Miller, TASC President and Vice President of Public Policy for Sunrun. "Now that rooftop solar is a true form of competition, they oppose it." As indicated by the large turnout at last week's net metering panel, Coloradans will continue to stand strong for net metering. They support rooftop solar for Colorado's energy future, and don't want Xcel to succeed in stifling it. The Xcel flip flop affirms that their current opposition to net metering is a thinly-veiled profit protection plan.