Dominion’s proposed SC solar rules shows it fears people who produce their own power
When we opened City Roots, South Carolina’s first urban farm, in 2009, we set out to grow the best possible product in the most sustainable way to meet our customers’ needs. We knew that our business plan had to provide high quality food for feeding families but also provide this food in a way that limits our environmental impacts. That approach has worked, and we’ve been blessed with the opportunities that growth brings.
As City Roots has expanded, we’ve sought to offset our footprint by generating power with rooftop solar panels that harvest the sun’s energy instead of relying on traditional power sources — we are farmers after all and harvesting the sun is what we do. But solar is more than that — it is something good we do for our business and our customers. Now, as we consider adding more solar, we’re anxiously watching Dominion’s proposal to change its solar plan in a way that would negatively impact City Roots one way or another, either in the near term or long term.
If the Public Service Commission approves Dominion’s request, the basic fees that residential and small business customers pay for solar will be doubled and new, across-the-board fees will be applied on top. Dominion is also trying to shortchange solar customers who sell power back to the grid, slashing the amount Dominion pays — even though once it’s on their grid, Dominion will sell it to other customers at a higher price. These changes would first affect new solar customers, but, eventually, they’ll affect those of us who have had solar for a while.
The 2019 Energy Freedom Act promised freedom both for homeowners and businesses to contribute to the electricity supply and level the playing field against utilities. Given the vision for a clean energy future for our state, it’s disappointing to see Dominion Energy proposing a fee-heavy solar structure that would discourage new solar customers and eventually punish existing solar customers.
Here we are trying to do something good for the families and communities that we feed, and Dominion is throwing up a barrier — a very costly barrier.
We will maintain our persistence, though, because we can see the toll the changing climate and weather patterns are taking on our state. Our weather patterns are becoming more extreme and unpredictable, driving us towards more capital and energy intensive heavy greenhouses because that’s a safer way to grow our microgreens — taking the weather uncertainty out of the equation. As hurricanes and “rain bombs” hit South Carolina, the climate-fueled weather patterns are dictating our business decisions. But, by doing our part to generate energy that doesn’t pollute our air and water, we can make a difference and reduce costs.
City Roots is trying to do the right thing by the environment and by our customers, but Dominion is not. Farmers are businesspeople, and, as a businessman, I can understand why Dominion is threatened by the number of South Carolinians who are beginning to produce their own power. The more power that customers generate themselves, the less power customers are buying from Dominion. In this case, the “market threat” felt by Dominion shows that our energy market isn’t designed to maximize Dominion’s profits over customer needs or sustainability efforts.
Given that the price of the sun is the same in South Carolina as in Virginia, I’m especially bothered that South Carolina customers are being offered a very different — and much worse — deal than those in Dominion’s home state. Let’s hope the Public Service Commission will insist that Dominion keep the door open for investments in clean, renewable energy from the sun. For our part, we would like to continue feeding the community and the grid by harvesting the sun.
Eric McClam is the owner of City Roots, South Carolina’s first urban organic farm that is internationally recognized for its production of USDA Organic vegetables, microgreens and agricultural tourism.
