Supreme Court: Empire District must offer solar rebates

With a mandate from the Show-Me State’s highest court, the question now is not if, but when, Empire District Electric Co. (NYSE: EDE) must offer solar rebates to its qualifying Missouri customers.

On April 3, the Missouri Supreme Court reaffirmed a Feb. 10 ruling in favor of complainants, including Renew Missouri and the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, that an exemption claimed by the Joplin-based utility provider was unconstitutional.

Empire originally claimed an exemption to offering the rebates under a section of Senate Bill 1181, passed by the General Assembly in May 2008. The 5-2 February Supreme Court ruling found the exemption invalid with the November 2008 voter approval of Proposition C.

The proposition requires utility companies to acquire 15 percent of electricity through renewable resources, such as solar, by 2021 and to offer customer rebates for installing solar systems.

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

Following the court’s mandate, Renew Missouri filed a motion asking the Missouri Public Service Commission to order Empire to begin offering rebates by April 15. On April 6, the PSC directed Empire to respond to the motion no later than 10 a.m. April 8.

In its two-page response filed April 8 with the PSC, Empire said it “has no objection” to the closure of the complaint nor being directed by the commission to file a proposed solar rebate tariff, as it would do so without an official order. Empire’s response said the issue “is one of timing.”

Bass said the 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. The company’s April 8 response said the request was made in order to expedite the filing process of the proposed rebate tariff and to work on a mutually agreeable timetable, which officials project to be April 30.

“The longer Empire waits to file their tariff, basically their customers are the ones being harmed,” said Elizabeth Gower, spokeswoman for Columbia-based clean energy advocate Renew Missouri. “Their customers have been waiting for this to happen, so the quicker it can happen the better.”

Renew Missouri officials pointed out the statutory solar rebate is scheduled to drop to $1 per watt from $1.50 per watt on July 1.[[In-content Ad]]