Last Wednesday, Virginia's State Corporation Commission announced that Dominion Virginia Power would be able to charge a standby fee for large-scale solar residential owners who use net metering. In another solar news story, we discussed the implications of such a charge. Solar power advocates worry that this will deter solar energy installations, dealing a blow to the solar energy industry in Virginia. The decision allows Dominion to charge any residential customer with solar systems that produce between ten and twenty kilowatts up to $60 per month, or $4.19 per kilowatt for a solar customer's average peak usage of Dominion's electricity each month. The idea is to pay for infrastructure costs associated with developing net metering: the charge covers costs to keep the power flowing to solar customers at times when the sun does not shine. Today, this charge affects only one customer in Virginia, but will deter any other large-scale installations from being built.
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