The Facts About Net Metering
RAPID CITY -- We've heard it time and time again, Governor Granholm touting Michigan's ability to harness the wind.
So a northern Michigan tried to do just that, and at the same give a little power back to all of us.
But he hit some snags.
That's the subject of this fact finder.
When it comes to alternative energy Roger Elliot knows more than most. He and his wife heat their Rapid City home using geothermal energy and were exploring the possibility of adding a wind turbine to fill their rest of their home energy needs.
Roger says "I was looking at a windmill generator in the $12,000 range."
But cost aside Roger knew even with a small windspire he would generate more electricity than he could use. He wanted to feed the power back down to the lines, for others to use. It's something called net metering. Here's how it works; you have one meter that tracks how much power comes into your house from the power company, another that meters how much leaves your home and your windspire. Your energy use is the difference, the net metering.
Roger says "there was some hesitancy on the utilities with regards of me hooking up and feeding energy back in the grid."
That's when Roger got in touch with me. He needed some answers. He thought the state was encouraging people to buy windpower generators, but felt as if none of the state regulated utilities was willing to take the excess electricity once they did.
Roger says "they weren't telling me no, they weren't giving me warm fuzzies to continue."
So what are the facts?
I did a little digging for Roger to see what his rights were, and here is what I found out.
Buried on the last pages of Michigan Senate Bill number 213 are the state's regulations for net metering. By April 4th a net metering program will be in place for every regulated utility in the state. In other words, if you want to generate power up to a certain point, you can and the power company has to take it.
But there are exceptions.
I called Roger's utility company, Great Lakes Energy, they do offer Net Metering, and in fact, pay homeowners for any power they feed back into the grid..but they say, in Roger's case, the 300 feet between his house and the current power line is just too far for Roger to sell his electricity.
Marc says "are you going to try and keep harnessing the wind?"
Roger says "there is always a lot of wind up here on Torch Lake, if the lord is going to make it, I will jump right on it and see what I can do."
