SC sets national net metering example - FierceEnergy

 By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

South Carolina is setting a national, and unprecedented, example with an agreement not to seek any solar specific charges until 2021, according to The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC), a national group that helped with the negotiations.

New SC net metering agreement: Full retail rate, no solar fees | Utility Dive

South Carolina is an outlier when it comes to solar regulation. As Utility Dive reported last month, the state is doing something few others are — devising a regulatory framework for high solar penetration before it reaches them. 

COLUMBIA, S.C.: Conservation groups, SC utilities reach solar net metering agreement | Business | The State

BY RODDIE BURRIS

rburris@thestate.comDecember 11, 2014 

Under the settlement, residential and commercial utility customers who install solar panels on their rooftops before 2021, when the settlement agreement expires, will receive full retail credit for any excess power that flows back onto the electric grid. They also will be eligible to remain on this rate until Dec. 31, 2025 without any solar-specific charges or fees.

The utilities are to file, within 60 days of the settlement’s approval by the Public Service Commission, additional solar programs and incentives with the PSC designed to spur investments in residential and commercial solar use.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/12/11/3868426_conservation-groups-sc-utilities.html?sp=/99/101/&rh=1#storylink=cpy

Commissioner Elam Appointed to the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Telecommunications Services

Public Service Commission of South Carolina Commissioner Elliott F. Elam, Jr. has been appointed to the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Telecommunications Services. Commissioner Elam's appointment fills the position vacated by the Honorable Geoff Why, former Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable.

Solar Storm: Rooftop Panels Spark Fights Between Utilities, Startups : NPR

Peter Overby

Utilities say consumers who put solar panels on their roofs should help pay to maintain the lines that carry the power they sell back into the system. Panel leasing firms say that's anti-competitive.

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Why it’s not okay to have a second refrigerator

By Chris Mooney | Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Nadel adds that these older refrigerators, aged 15 to 25 years, will use some 750 to 1000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy each year. "At the national average electric rate of about 13 cents per kWh, this works out to about $97-130 per year," he notes.

Fort Jackson gets $43M energy-saving project

Facility improvements include a comprehensive high-efficiency lighting project with LED lighting technologies, an extensive 20,500-point controls upgrade, central plant improvements including a 2.4 million gallon thermal energy storage tank and water system upgrades including irrigation controls.