Work Session Minutes - Eugene Water & Electric Board

Work Session
October 2, 2012
Page 4 of 8
Commissioner Ernst said that she believes in EWEB’s Green Power program, but that she
assumed it would be budgeted so that the customers who signed up would have the money to
participate in it, and that now that program has been cut back and turned into sort of a lottery.
She said she believes that if the Board drops the price as staff has recommended, the solar
program will be gutted, and that she believes that the customers who have photovoltaic definitely
need to be paid at least what they’re paying into the system for retail so that they won’t lose
money.
Commissioner Ernst then reiterated a previous question about what EWEB spends for
power in this program. Ms. Wedin replied that annually it is static, about $300,000, and that the
retail offset with the generation credit is about $80,000 per year, with 55% of residential offset at
retail and 45% offset at the generation credit rate. She added that commercial net metering is at
20% and 70%. Ms. Erben added that $.75 million was spent on solar in 2011.
Commissioner Ernst reiterated that she feels strongly that she does not believe this is the
time to pull the rug out from under the photovoltaic program, and she noted that many of those
customers are also in the Green Power program. She confirmed that she will not be supporting
this budget cut.
Ms. Erben noted that the budget assumes no subsidies for solar because the Board had
previously directed that, and that the Green Power program is funded by customer contribution
so it’s outside of the budget.
Ms. Erben then briefly reviewed the history of the program and showed that EWEB is
actually doing more for the participating customers than they used to, and doing more for fewer
customers. She noted that the incentives are the subsidy and the avoided cost is separate.
Commissioner Cunningham commented that some of EWEB’s contracts have gone by
the wayside, and he believes photovoltaic is not cost-effective right now. He reminded the
Board that General Manager Gray inherited a mess, and that he’s not going to be a Monday
morning quarterback, but that even though the Board thought it was the right thing to do at the
time, they were wrong, and he wishes to move forward.
President Simpson recalled that Commissioner Ernst had expressed distaste for the
surplus generation payment being fed back into the system. He asked if he is correct that this is
relatively rare and if he is correct in thinking that, for the most part, each site consumes more
energy in total and then it never flows back.
Ms. Wedin replied that in a study of 100 customers, the average annual generation credit
was $114.
President Simpson asked if it is true that only four out of 240 customers would be
subjected to this rate, with money fed back into the system. Ms. Erben replied that at the end of
the year, there will be four customers who are net generators. Ms. Wedin added that generation