NV Energy must update its business model, as others are

Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 | 2 a.m.

The fight between NV Energy and the commercial solar industry shows how cemented the utility is in its business model and how the Nevada Public Utilities Commission is doing nothing to nudge the monopoly to reflect the evolving energy industry.

Elsewhere throughout the country, utilities are coming to grips with — if not outright welcoming — changing technology and the importance of tapping electricity generated by customers with rooftop photovoltaic solar panels.

But NV Energy seems obstinate when it comes to finding a way not only to accommodate residential solar power producers but to embrace them as an important component of a robust, diverse electricity system.

Utilities across the country have identified rooftop-generated electricity as a valuable contributor to the power grid. In fact, depending on the location of distributed energy sources such as solar panels, those home-brewed megawatts may be the most valuable asset a utility can have during peak consumption hours or grid disruptions.

Such a strategy is being adopted in New York, Vermont and California, where lawmakers ordered utilities to accommodate two-way distributed energy such as that from solar panels.

Rooftop solar power, along with other forms of independently generated electricity, have “the potential to offer customers more choices, more control over their energy bills and cleaner power,” according to Southern California Edison. Taken collectively, these nickel-and-dime energy producers, if strategically located, can eliminate the need for large power plants and new transmission lines, utility officials say.

But Nevada’s Warren Buffett-owned power company seems strictly focused on making money for investors while giving the bum’s rush to solar households. It has shown no eagerness to explore how it can better serve its customers as the energy landscape moves into a new paradigm.

Other states, in the meantime, are moving in innovative directions. New York’s sprawling electricity landscape, for example, has sprouted with a multitude of individual power suppliers, especially among renewables, chosen by consumers based on cost and environmental criteria.

In Vermont, Green Mountain Power, a privately owned, regulated power monopoly, has for years aggressively courted rooftop solar power. In 2008, Green Mountain proposed, and regulators agreed, to offer financial incentives to customers for installing rooftop solar, as a way to economically meet community power needs during peak-demand hours. Without that rooftop solar power, Green Mountain would have to pay top dollar to fill its grid with electricity during peak hours, spokeswoman Dorothy Schnure said.

Because they don’t buy as much power from the utility, solar customers aren’t as financially attractive to Green Mountain as are traditional customers. But rather than charge solar customers more, the utility has found other sources of income, such as installing electric vehicle charging stations around the state and leasing efficient heat pumps to customers who had been using oil or propane.

“Our business model — being consumer-centric and offering other new products and services that use technology — gives our customers a better experience and saves them money,” Schnure said. “People are going to solar and other renewable power sources, so we decided to find ways to benefit the customers while remaining financially healthy. We have been flexible and nimble, and it’s working for everyone.”

Monopolies are regulated, but maximum profits are not part of the deal. Even if it takes Gov. Brian Sandoval and the Legislature to lean heavily on NV Energy, the utility needs to learn what it means to be flexible and visionary, and evolve as other utilities are, by working with solar-powered homeowners.