Idaho Commission Issues Directives for Idaho Power On-Site Generation Study

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission on Dec.30 issued an order that governs the topics and concerns that will be covered in a comprehensive study that examines the costs, benefits and compensation of excess energy that is generated by Idaho Power customers who produce on site generation. The parameters of the study are expected to minimise or eliminate cross subsidies that could exist between participants and non participants of on site generation.

The key aim of the on site generation study and subsequent revisions is to establish a sustainable on site generation program that is fair and equitable. The state is currently encouraging and rewarding on-site clean energy, in order for Idaho to reach its energy climate goals and be in sync with the United States net zero emissions target for 2050. On Dec.29, 2019, the commission ordered Idaho Power to conduct a study of the costs and benefits of distributed on-site generation to the company’s system. That order also granted legacy treatment to customers who had installed or submitted an application to install with a financial commitment, an on site generation system under Schedules 6 and 8 (residential and small general service customers).

Idaho Power encourages customer interest in clean energy. Customers who have installed their own generation sources can offset some or all of their energy needs. Those customers who generate on site remain connected to the grid and use energy from the grid during times they aren’t producing their own. Furthermore, when customers produce more energy than they use, they send it back to Idaho Power’s grid and earn an energy credit for the excess energy they produced.

The commission, in a December 2019 order, instructed Idaho Power to prepare and report a credible, transparent study of the costs and benefits of distributed on site generation to Idaho’s power system. The most recent order on Dec. 30, 2021 is a follow-up of the previous order and moves the study process further by listing the topics and issues that will be covered in the study.

Idaho Power expects to complete the study design phase of this process during the first half of 2022, so that it can begin the study review phase in the second half of the year.