Anita Batman once thought her home in Greenwood might be the first in town to generate solar power for both a house and the citywide power supply.
She intended to save money by selling electricity to Greenwood Utilities at a fixed rate, a process known as net metering.
But she eventually decided against that plan because she is dissatisfied with an interconnection agreement proposed by Greenwood Utilities and switched instead to powering her house only. “It would have eaten up my savings with their punitive fees,” she said.
Tony Sinclair, the city-owned utility’s chief executive, declined to comment on the proposal, which covers more than 30 pages and was developed last summer after Batman began asking for an interconnection earlier in the year. She said she made the first contact about her plan in January 2016. The proposal is dated Aug. 26, 2016.
Terms of the proposal included $15 per month in fees and a purchase rate of 3.68 cents per kilowatt hour. Greenwood Utilities sells electricity to residential customers for 9.68 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 200 hours, 8.41 cents for the following 300 hours and 7.58 cents for all additional hours.
Batman said she didn’t think the terms were a good deal for her and others who might want to try net metering in Greenwood. She was concerned that she might be “setting a bad precedent for the next person.”
Recently, Mississippi Solar Inc., which is based in Philadelphia, began setting up a system at her house. The system, which will be contained to the house, includes 15 battery-backed solar panels installed on the roof of her garage. The system costs $24,000 and includes eight batteries. Mississippi Solar’s John Wilbanks, who was supervising the installation, said these would not have been necessary with an interconnection to Greenwood Utilities. The batteries cost $10,000.
Wilbanks said his firm is installing systems all over the state and noted that the Tennessee Valley Authority has offered incentives in its service areas. “It’s a lot more attractive in areas where you have TVA power,” he said. “What the utility here is offering is the bare minimum compared to the rest of the state.”
Chris Stanley, a spokesman for the TVA area that covers western Tennessee and northern Mississippi, said TVA this year buys electricity from customers at the same rate it sells it. In the past, it also has added a premium to the rate. The incentive was intended to help with the price of solar equipment, which has dropped.
Wilbanks, who first worked with solar installations in 2009, said, “Prices have come down significantly since I started.”
Batman is pleased, however, that she soon will be powering her home with electricity generated by sunshine. “I am going to have lower usage from Greenwood Utilities,” she said.
And even though she will not be selling excess energy to Greenwood Utilities, she still figures the system will pay for itself in several years.
