PeakSHIFT?
More Like Peak … Well, You Know
The
Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) must have been feeling bold when it approved
the PeakSHIFT program – a set of rules that, despite its lofty goals of
modernization, reliability, and sustainability, looks like a direct slap in the
face to Florida’s rooftop solar customers and their neighbors. Yes, you read
that right: neighbors.
Let’s
start with the hilariously skewed math of rooftop solar. When a homeowner with
solar panels produces more power than they use, that clean, sunshine-born
electricity flows directly to the next available need – typically the
neighbor’s house. What does the neighbor pay for that energy? The full retail
rate, of course, at about $0.11 per kilowatt-hour. Sounds fair, right? But
here’s the kicker: the homeowner who provided that power is only paid back
$0.04 per kilowatt-hour, the so-called “production cost” rate.
Essentially,
rooftop solar owners are subsidizing their neighbors while OUC pockets the
difference. Sweet deal – for the utility.
The Problem with
PeakSHIFT
The
newly minted PeakSHIFT program has three “innovative” pricing designs:
- TruNet Solar: Starting in
2025, new rooftop solar customers will get reduced export credits. So, if
you’ve been dreaming of solar, congratulations – you can now save even
less! - DemandLevel: This adds
fixed charges based on peak usage because nothing says “save energy” like
penalizing you for using your AC during a Florida summer. (This could
apply to all customers.) - Shift &
Save:
Encourages off-peak energy use. A great idea if we’re all willing to sleep
through the sweltering midday heat and do laundry at 3 a.m.
But here’s the rub: Florida’s power
demand spikes during the day – when rooftop solar is producing at its peak.
That’s when utilities would otherwise have to rely on “peaker-power,” which
costs a fortune compared to base load power. Rooftop solar dramatically reduces
this need, saving everyone money. Yet somehow, instead of rewarding these solar
heroes, OUC’s PeakSHIFT feels more like a punishment.
And let’s not ignore the
four-letter word some people use to describe PeakSHIFT. It might rhyme with a
certain expletive – and it’s not hard to see why.
Who Really
Benefits from PeakSHIFT?
Spoiler alert: It’s not the
environment, the solar industry, or Florida homeowners. The real winners are
the utilities, which get to maintain control over energy production while
sidelining rooftop solar. Solar installers are left scratching their heads as
they try to sell systems with an extended payback period, and homeowners are
discouraged from investing in clean energy because the financial incentives are
dwindling faster than an ice cube in July.
It gets even better (worse). By
imposing these new rules, OUC effectively shifts the burden of expensive peak
power production back onto the grid, conveniently ignoring how much rooftop
solar offsets those costs. Meanwhile, solar customers are asked to play ball in
a rigged game.
The Double
Standard
Here’s the irony: utilities rely on
daytime solar power to avoid firing up costly peaker plants, but they still
charge full retail rates to neighbors using that power. It’s as if rooftop
solar customers are running a lemonade stand, only to have the utility swipe
the lemonade and sell it to someone else at triple the price.
This is not just bad policy – it’s
comically transparent profiteering disguised as a modernization effort.
The Incentives Are
Broken – And They’re Breaking Us
Florida’s power
companies operate within a system that rewards them for building, not
innovating. Utilities are effectively paid based on the size of their
investments and assets under management. The bigger their portfolio, the more
profit they rake in – above and beyond the actual cost of those investments.
And guess who foots the bill? That’s right: every ratepayer.
A prime example is
the introduction of Demand-Level Pricing, a concept historically applied
to large commercial entities with significant and erratic peak power usage. Applying
this to homeowners, particularly those with rooftop solar, creates an
unnecessary and confusing layer of cost management. This system essentially
forces homeowners to absorb the utility’s grid balancing burden by either
limiting their usage during peak times or investing in expensive battery
systems to smooth out their power draw. In essence, new solar customers are
expected to perform “power leveling” on behalf of the utility, ensuring grid
stability while being charged for the privilege.
Ironically, OUC
might even expand demand pricing to all customers, effectively ensuring that
all the solar power produced during the day – when demands are highest – is
supplied to the microgrid for free. Meanwhile, OUC could still charge customers
peak rates for that very same energy, making rooftop solar power a direct
subsidy to the utility’s profits.
This warped
incentive structure drives utilities to clear vast tracts of land – 500 acres
or more – to build massive solar power plants, rather than using existing
impervious surfaces like rooftops or parking lots. These utility-scale projects
qualify for the same 30% tax credit and depreciation tax shields as rooftop
solar, but they also allow the utilities to pad their bottom line with even
more capital investments. It’s a sweetheart deal, where utilities make money
twice: first on the tax incentives, and then on the guaranteed returns from
their growing asset base.
Meanwhile,
taxpayers and ratepayers are left footing the bill for this inefficiency. The
Florida Public Service Commission and municipal utility commissions, like OUC,
often seem more aligned with protecting the profits of local monopoly power
companies than with serving the public interest. This isn’t surprising when you
consider that many regulators have held – or hope to hold – cushy jobs with the
very monopolies they’re supposed to oversee. It’s a cozy arrangement for the
utilities, but it leaves Florida homeowners, small businesses, and the
environment paying the price.
And, if you think this Goofy Power SH**T is only
happening in the Magic City of Orlando, think again. It is happening in
California, Luisiana, Florida, and cities everywhere like NYC and throughout
Texas.
A Message to OUC
Dear OUC, we see what you’re doing.
And, we have to admit, the boldness is almost admirable. But please don’t
pretend that PeakSHIFT is about sustainability or fairness. If it were, you’d
be paying solar customers the same rate you charge their neighbors. You’d also
acknowledge that rooftop solar is not the enemy but a partner in reducing peak
energy demand and combating climate change.
Instead, you’ve delivered a program
that penalizes those trying to do the right thing while protecting outdated
utility profit structures. Bravo.
The Takeaway
The
PeakSHIFT program is a masterclass in how not to encourage clean energy
adoption. By undervaluing solar production, overcomplicating pricing, and
alienating potential customers, OUC has turned what could have been a
forward-thinking policy into a punchline. The only thing they are modernizing
is their PR spin, and what a whirlpool of miss-information it is.
Florida
deserves energy policies that reward innovation and collaboration, not
confusion and disincentives. Maybe next time, OUC can aim for solutions that
genuinely reflect the spirit of modernization – not just a power grab and
siphoning off rooftop solar profits.
By Elmer Hall (2024, Dec. 12) with
assistance of ChatGPT 4o, Perplexity.ai, Gemini Advanced and DALL-E for
graphics.
#RooftopSolar #RenewableEnergy
#RE100 #Solar #REInvestmentTaxCredit #SustainZine #PerpectualInnovation #SBPlan
#OUC #PeakSHIFT #NetMetering
#GenAI #rdAI
By
Elmer Hall (2024, Dec. 12) with assistance of Perplexity.ai, ChatGPT 4o and
Gemini Advanced. Abstract surrealistic artwork inspired by Salvador Dalí’s
style, depicting the transformation of rooftop solar adoption over time in the
central Florida sun. DALL-E (2024, Dec. 12) with prompts by Elmer Hall.
Elmer Hall, DIBA, is President of Strategic
Business Planning Company. SBP develops plans that every organization
needs(tm): startups, nonprofit, sustainability, and patent commercialization.
Dr. Hall has published several books and has been a professor of business
(DM, DBA & MBA) and Management Information Systems (MIS). With his latest Perpetual
Innovation™ books on Rapid Strategic Planning he is using Regenerative
Dynamic AI (rdAI) and the motto: Plan Fast, Act Smart, Make a
Difference!™