Senate moves to investigate use of net metering funds

Sen. Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz

By THE STAR STAFF

Sen. Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz, the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) minority leader in the upper chamber, said Wednesday that the Senate approved his request for information to oversee the use of funds generated by the Net Metering Law.

“This Law 115-2007 establishes a distribution of accumulated and unused electricity credits for customers with solar panels in their homes,” he said.

According to the law, 25% of those accumulated credits are allocated to the Department of Education (DE) to provide credits or reductions on the electricity bills of Puerto Rico’s public schools.

“How is this money being used? How much is it?” Hernández Ortiz queried. “Yesterday [Tuesday] in the Senate, we approved our request for this information.”

Net metering is a billing system that allows customers who generate their own electricity using renewable sources (such as solar panels) to receive credits for the excess energy they send to the grid, which they can then use to offset their bills. Specifically, it employs a bidirectional meter that records both the energy consumed from the grid and the energy produced and exported to the grid, allowing for the calculation of the difference and the application of corresponding credits.

On Aug. 14, the PDP delegation in the Senate condemned a recent action by the LUMA Energy consortium, which imposed a $300 fee on each customer connected to a net metering system, allegedly to conduct a supplementary study.

“According to data provided by LUMA, there are 142,000 customers connected to solar panel systems in Puerto Rico,” the delegation stated. “If studies are necessary, let them cover the costs. The homes with solar panels have been installed specifically to avoid the issues caused by LUMA.”

It is estimated that 32,000 customers have received notices demanding the $300 fee. This could represent $9.6 million for the company.

“But if we consider the total number of customers connected to this system, it amounts to a potential $42.6 million for LUMA in the end,” Hernández Ortiz said. “We strongly condemn this action. From the Senate, we have always defended the Net Metering Program because we stand with consumers.”