Black Hills agrees to solar owner refunds

Black Hills Colorado Electric is willing to refund $46,000 to about 850 local customers who have solar panels, but the utility is resisting a possible $165,000 fine by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. The PUC, which oversees Colorado utilities, sent Black Hills a show cause letter on Jan. 21 that said the commission hadn’t authorized a $5 monthly fee being charged to customers with net meters — those that also measure power being generated by the customer’s solar panels. The PUC said Black Hills should refund that money and face the $165,000 fine as well. Black Hills answered the letter earlier this week, filing a proposed plan to erase the $5 fee and refund the $46,735 it generated since August 2013. But the utility disputes the fee was unauthorized. “We’ve reviewed the record of that rate case,” spokesman Brett Jones said Thursday. In related news, Black Hills offers payment help. Black Hills charges the fee to pay its costs for accepting electricity being generated by customers with solar panels, according to Jones. The commission threatened Black Hills with the fine in January, saying there were records of 9,000 billings that included the $5 fee. While the PUC can fine the utility up to $2,000 per offense, state law caps any total fine at $165,000 by law. If Black Hills pays any fine within 10 days, it can be cut by 50 percent. The $5 fee became an issue in December when an energy analyst for Western Resource Advocates, Gwen Farnsworth, was researching Black Hills rates and said she could find no authorization for that monthly charge. She notified the PUC staff and the commission agreed with the complaint, sending the show cause letter on Jan. 21.