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Bill that would impact rooftop solar fees fails in Wyoming Senate

Solar Panels on a roof overlooking green grass and a gray barn.
Creative Energies Solar

This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.

A controversial rooftop solar bill is dead.

SF 111 would’ve made it more expensive for homeowners producing their electricity with rooftop solar by changing how new solar users are compensated for the electricity they put back into the power grid and adding fees.

The effort to reform the state’s net metering policies has become a perennial effort by Sen.Cale Case (R-Lander). Case’s previous bills have never passed into law.

His concern is a cost-shift. Case argues that as more people install rooftop solar, less people are paying electricity companies to upkeep the power grid, and non-rooftop solar users could see their rates go up.

Many have testified that’s misleading. Rooftop solar users pay a monthly maintenance fee. Also, one report shows a noticeable cost-shift only happens when there’s a larger percentage of rooftop solar homes – about 10%. In Wyoming, less than 1% of homes use rooftop solar.

The bill failed on third reading on the Senate floor.

A separate House measure is seen as an effort to expand rooftop solar opportunities in Wyoming. Advocates say one of the advantages is it would allow larger rooftop solar or backyard wind systems for non-residential uses, like farms, schools and businesses. HB 183 has passed the House and is awaiting introduction in the Senate.

Leave a tip: ctan@uwyo.edu
Caitlin Tan is the Energy and Natural Resources reporter based in Sublette County, Wyoming. Since graduating from the University of Wyoming in 2017, she’s reported on salmon in Alaska, folkways in Appalachia and helped produce 'All Things Considered' in Washington D.C. She formerly co-hosted the podcast ‘Inside Appalachia.' You can typically find her outside in the mountains with her two dogs.

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