Nevada energy regulators are meeting this week to decide whether to hold off on controversial new rates for solar power customers.
The state Public Utilities Commission has scheduled a hearing on Thursday for requests to pause the rate hike, which was set to take effect Jan. 1. The base service charge is rising from $12.75 to $17.90 per month for southern Nevada solar customers and from $15.25 to $21.09 for northern Nevada customers.
The changes also reduce the amount the utility pays to buy power back from rooftop solar panels, from 11 cents a kilowatt hour to 9 cents in southern Nevada and from 12 cents to 10.5 cents in the north. The service charge will rise and the reimbursement will drop every year until 2020.
Regulators approved the changes as a way to reduce a cost-shift from the state's 17,000 net-metering customers to the non-solar customer base, and to reflect the declining cost of solar power. NV Energy says that solar customers still rely on their transmission lines and power plants to keep energy flowing at night or when clouds pass over, preventing the panels from generating power.