DTE offers to replace excess solar power that solar system owners put back on the grid. DTE currently pays about 8 cents per kilowatt hour for this additional solar power, but offers to pay about 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour. DTE takes this excess solar power and sells it to customers in the same area for 16 cents per kilowatt hour. Thus, DTE devalues solar energy and thus takes money from the owners of solar systems.
This is simply wrong and must be stopped.
DTE also proposed to pay solar panel owners two new monthly fees, called a "needs fee", which would add about $66 per month. DTE's goal is to make solar power so expensive to own that it is impossible for a solar power owner to save money, thereby reducing the financial justification for installing solar power. .
This is an obvious ploy by the DTE to prevent payers from installing their own solar systems, thereby cutting off a source of free market competition.
Even if those proposals are rejected, DTE will end the distributed generation program for residential solar customers next year. Their alternative tariff plans pay solar consumers significantly less for the additional energy, and the tariff is not known until the end of each month. DTE wants to remain a monopoly utility by forcing individuals and businesses to buy expensive electricity which is getting more and more expensive every year! Electricity rates in Michigan are already among the highest in the Upper Midwest.
DTE knows it can't compete with solar power and doesn't want to lose customers. DTE is therefore trying to eliminate Michigan's solar market by raising taxes and lowering the price it pays for solar power.
Since 2008, homeowners and small businesses have been empowered to install and generate electricity that saves money and contributes to a cleaner environment. DTE must not be allowed to sabotage Michigan's solar industry.
I urge the Michigan Public Service Commission to reject DTE's proposal.
