An electricity provider in central Wyoming is still using a payment structure for rooftop solar power customers that was deemed unfit last year by the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Small-scale solar panel users, with up to 25 kilowatt capacity, are typically still connected to the greater electricity grid. They can pull extra power from it when their arrays don’t produce enough, and also send their excess power onto the grid.
When the latter happens, Wyoming’s net metering law requires solar users to be reimbursed with a monthly credit from the electricity company. But to not let self-power generators game the system, those credits can’t roll over into the next year. Instead, the company pays out the remaining credits at a lesser wholesale rate.
But a couple years ago, High Plains Power shifted its compensation model from a monthly retail rate to a lesser monthly wholesale rate. It was approved by the Wyoming Public Service Commission (WPSC), the state regulators that are primarily tasked with making sure public utilities are providing Wyomingites with reliable and safe electricity at “just and reasonable rates.”
However, others disagreed. The Powder River Basin Resource Council and Wyoming Outdoor Council led the lawsuit, saying this compensation change was unfair to High Plains’ 93 solar power customers.
The suit went before the Wyoming Supreme Court, where justices ultimately ruled that WPSC erred in approving the new compensation model. This reaffirmed the Wyoming net metering law.
That ruling was in summer 2024. And yet, more than a year later, nothing has changed in High Plains Power’s compensation structure.
“It certainly added a little wrinkle to say, ‘Hey, we know this has been deemed illegal, but we want to keep it in place for accounting and ultimately for compensation,’” said Wyoming Outdoor Council Legal Director Matt Gaffney, who’s following the case.
Gaffney said High Plains signaled it wants to possibly pay back its 93 customers at the end of the year, rather than prorating. But the amount is still unclear and High Plains’ plan will still have to go through the WPSC approval process. High Plains Power and the WPSC didn’t comment for the story.
In the meantime, Gaffney said the 93 small scale solar users are largely in the dark.
“These customers presumably made this substantial upfront investment in hopes that there would be these financial incentives and benefits down the road,” Gaffney said. “And thus far, that has not been fully realized because of this litigation and because of the pending nature of the case.”
The conversation about net metering isn’t new in Wyoming. For years, some state lawmakers have tried to change the one-for-one retail rate credit compensation model. They argue it’s driving up electricity rates, by shifting infrastructure and electric grid upkeep costs to non-solar users.
However, solar supporters commissioned a study in 2022 that showed additional context. It found small-scale solar use in Wyoming is so miniscule that any cost-shift is tricky to measure.
Gaffney expects Wyoming’s net metering conversation to continue, and that other utilities are watching how the High Plains Power case shakes out.
“This case is certainly apart from any sort of legislative efforts or efforts to reform, but it does feel like it's part of a larger conversation about the issue in the state of net metering and what that looks like,” Gaffney said.
The WPSC was scheduled to hear High Plains Power’s plan to repay customers in mid-September. It was postponed and a new date has yet to be scheduled.
