Premier vows to protect N.S. solar industry by blocking new net-metering charge
CBC
Nova Scotia will pass laws to prevent Nova Scotia Power from implementing a net-metering charge that some fear would harm the province's solar industry, Premier Tim Houston said Wednesday.
"We agree that it is time for changes to the enhanced net-metering program but the changes we seek will support the greening of the grid, not discourage it," Houston said in a news release.
"Our government will bring forward the necessary legislative and regulatory framework that will protect ratepayers and the solar industry in Nova Scotia and help achieve our environment and climate change reduction goals."
His government will also apply to be an active intervener on the power company's proposed 10 per cent rate increase for residential customers over the next three years.
Houston sent a letter to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, which is looking at the Nova Scotia Power proposal to create a new system-access charge of $8 per kilowatt per month.
Nova Scotia Power had proposed the new charge would start this week, but on Tuesday pushed back the date by a year. Company CEO Peter Gregg acknowledged Tuesday the solar industry had been "taken off guard" by the inclusion of the charge in an application the utility filed to the board last week.
Houston said the province will ensure the proposed charge doesn't happen and said it will keep the enhanced net-metering program as it was on Jan. 26.
"We have come too far in our fight against climate change and expanding access to renewable energy to risk that progress," Natural Resources and Renewables Minister Tory Rushton said in the news release.
"The changes we will bring forward will stop the proposed system access charge in its tracks today and provide certainty for our solar industry and rate-paying families investing in solar."
He said the government will also oppose the requested 10 per cent rate increase for residential customers over three years.
"Ratepayers are our number 1 concern here in this application," Rushton said.
Houston said promoting solar is an important part of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Nova Scotia and the province wants to make it accessible to more people, including renters and small businesses. About 4,000 homes use solar power in Nova Scotia.
The province wants to see 80 per cent of Nova Scotia's electricity generated by renewable means by 2030.
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