Supreme Court: Empire District must offer solar rebates

On April 3, the Missouri Supreme Court reaffirmed its Feb. 10 ruling in favor of Renew Missouri and the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, confirming that Joplin-based Empire District Electric Co. must offer solar rebates to its Missouri customers.

The debate now centers on when Empire will be required to implement the rebates.

Renew Missouri filed a motion with the Missouri Public Service Commission asking the state entity order Empire to begin offering rebates by April 15. On Monday, the PSC directed Empire to respond to the motion no later than 10 a.m. on April 8.

Empire spokeswoman Amy Bass said the utility company filed a motion April 1 - in advance of the court motion - asking the commission to schedule a conference to further discuss the processing of the case. She said Empire is still waiting on the commission to respond to that motion.

The 5-2 ruling in February from Missouri’s highest court determined an exemption claimed by Empire was invalidated by the approval of Proposition C in November 2008. That proposition requires utilities acquire 15 percent of electricity through renewable resources by 2021, and to offer rebates to customers seeking to install solar energy systems.

Empire claimed an exemption to those requirements under a section of Senate Bill 1181, passed prior to the ballot vote by the General Assembly in May 2008, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

“The court has ruled that because of the timing on that, it was not appropriate,” Bass said of Empire’s original exemption claim. “We will be following the court and the commission’s direction going forward.”