Denton, TX utility proposes payment cuts to solar panel owners

Denton’s municipally owned utility Denton Municipal Electric has proposed slashing payments to solar panel owners from the current rate of $0.1065 to between $0.0379 to $0.0702/kWh sold back to the grid. On Friday, the city’s Sustainability Frameworks Advisory Committee considered the proposal and heard from the public. Environment Texas City Hall Advocate Ian Seamans told the committee “net metering policies dramatically increase the benefits of solar for homeowners. You are much more likely to install solar on your home if you have net metering in your district. Our reports across Texas and California show this. When California adopted NEM 3.0, which is similar to this plan, we saw 17,000 solar industry layoffs, mass bankruptcies across the solar industry in California, and a complete flatlining of rooftop solar across the state. What we don’t want is more of that in Texas.”