20181120Comment.pdf

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From:
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To:
Subject:
Name: Joseph Schueler
Case Number: IPC-E-18-15
Ema il : [e-mail]
Telephone: [phone]
Address: 1002 N 8th St
Boise lD, 83702
Name of Utility Company: ldaho Power
Comment: Dear Commission,
My wife and I purchased a 24 panel solar array to offset our power consumption on our primary residence in Boise, lD.
We invested 538,000 of our own capital and will see a return on this investment in roughly ten years. We understand
that we have sacrificed opportunity investments that those funds could have been used for, including paying down debt
that would immediately result in savings that would benefit us more directly. Why then did we invest, you may ask?
We sleep better at night is my response. This is the type of attitude and investment in our environment you should be
promoting, not making more difficult so please keep that in mind when assessing this issue. We are proud of this
investment and wholly support the continued advancement of solar generation in every possible manner that results in
lowered carbon emissions. To that end, ensuring on-site solar generating residences have the ability to make this
private investment for a public good is critical to our nation and our planet in ensuring a healthier and more sustainable
future for those who will follow us. I would like to comment on a couple reasons why as follows:
1. Every resident must run a cost benefit analysis on some level when considering whether solar production is right for
their finances, their long term planning, and even the logistical feasibility of such a development on their home with
many factors diminishing their return. The direction their house or roof line faces, adjacent foliage or neighbor
obstruction, access to power, condition of roof, etc. all factor in. We have passed the time when the question of
benefits to solar power generation are being discussed. lt is now a necessary part of our energy production that we
encourage solar and is in fact past the time when we should have made major investments in this technology. Most
residential customers won't due to cost and the time it takes to realize a gain. When so many hurdles already stand in
the way of this positive development, any finding of this commission to diminish the returns and period for net benefits
to private investors in solar will have a detrimental and damaging effect on an outcome ldaho needs and everyone
desires, even enough to personally invest their own hard earned money into furthering this noble cause. lf you raise
rates on solar power generators, you effectively diminish the possibility of any solar power generator realizing their
return on investment while deterring massive numbers of people from doing the same healthy investment in our power
grid system. I hope the absolutely ridiculous and damaging effects of raised rates on solar power generators above that
of traditional utility consumers and how it will inhibit future solar power generation is also be factored into this study.
Whether your findings suggest a benefit to a public utilities company, who is not the beneficiary of ldaho utilities, but
the company contracted to service all ldaho citizens over independent energy producers or not, your decision will
invariably improve solar power generation or deter it and that, to me and hopefully to you, is equally if not more
important than how a for profit contract company manages its finances for the reasons that follow.
2. The death rate currently sits at seventy nine in the devastating California wilderness fires and that death count is
rising with close to a thousand still missing or unaccounted for. This most recent example is sadly not the exception, but
is more and more becoming the rule when faced with natural disasters in virtually every quadrant of our nation.
Massive earthquakes, the accompanying tsunamis, record number and intensity hurricanes, unheard of blizzards,
[e-mail]
Tuesday, November 20,201811:10 AM
Beverly Barker; Diane Holt; Erik Jorgensen; Matthew Evans
Case Comment Form:Joseph Schueler
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drought and deforestation, wilderness fires in every western state depleting federal and state fire suppression coffers,
bug infestations and mud slides. I could go on, but I think these examples and the impending increased frequency,
duration, and magnitude of their effects in coming years is more than an ominous warning. We must do more about
how we produce, consume, and manage energy in the United States and solar is perhaps one of the most viable
solutions, especially when funded by individual consumers to offset their own consumption. We ought to be training
our nation to manage our own production and consumption. To somehow disconnect our actions right here in ldaho
from the effects that energy consumption has on adjacent populations is not only short sided; it is dangerous. I love
how ldaho Power harnesses sustainable water energy, yet that too has it side effects and negative impacts on the
environment. How has your salmon fishing and native ldaho angling been going in recent years? ! believe the
commission is already aware of the damaging impacts on native river habitat and ecology resulting from the use of
dams. Wind power is yet another excellent investment in sustainable wind power. Yet that too effects migratory bird
patterns, kills invaluable bird species at high rates, and has long term repair and maintenance costs not observed by
solar power generation when a private financed option. We maintain and repair our own systems at no cost to tax
payers or other utility consumers. Both dams and wind power are commonly seen as a necessary evil, yet here we have
a viable and sustainable alternative that is relieving some of those effects while improving our fossil fuel energy
independence and a public utility company wants to detract from its success for what reason again? Oh yeah, so they
can own the utility supply and produce their own solar for us to buy from them at whatever rate they choose. Hubris, I
say. Good business acumen, but flawed in its original principle; that we work for the utility company instead of the
utility company working for its consumers and their innate right to free choice in the market of energy production. They
have a monopoly on the market and have benefited greatly from the production of utility supply and I appreciate their
work greatly, but never forget who the utility rights belong to. They belong to the public, not the contract holder of the
production agreement. Open the gates to independent solar generation and even incentivize it and allow this state to
develop a widely patterned and sustainable source of independent energy that feeds the grid while mitigating long term
repair and replacement costs while also distributing the power grid thereby mitigating the effects of a large scale
environmental disaster that could occur on any one large scale energy producing system. Maybe a little competition will
help them keep their rates low for once.
3. We've been on the net meter now for about four months. ln that time, our system has helped us lower our utility bills
a great deal. lt has also encouraged us to be more aware of our consumption while watching our production as well. By
the end of the first year, we will have a very stable picture of both aspects of what a good consumer should be aware of.
Units in and units out. lndependent solar generation naturally accomplishes what the utilities commission should see as
a goal for all ldaho power consumers. We developed our 24 panel array as a 90% offset of our current consumption.
The reason we chose not to invest in TOOYo energy offset is we didn't want to spend more money to result in overages
that did not return to us in the current system, as we do not get paid out for any net energy provided to ldaho Power.
That does not mean we will not end up helping power the grid. Besides our generation through non peak energy
production periods, we are now incentivized to lower our footprint to ensure that former 90% production meets today's
100% energy consumption needs. The result is us finding new efficiencies in our home, our lighting, our insulation, our
windows and doors, when we turn our lights on and off, our thermostats, and the list goes on and on. We can carve out
105 of our energy use to be entirely energy independent by 2020. How many traditional consumers do you know who
have that type of incentive to be better with their energy? l'm sure they are out there, but how many invested 538,000
just to try and also save costs on the demand side? You see, when passion is there to make a positive change, nothing
will stop it. Please incentivize what results in hope and opportunity and economic activity to far more than just utilities.
tt drives commerce, trade, and long term home valuation investments that prepare ldaho for the energy needs of the
21st Century.
I could continue and am unsure what the word count limit is here, but as shown above, there are too many benefits that
offset costs to the public to in any way detract from independent solar power generation. We could afford to do this by
the skin of our teeth and have tightened the belt as well just to ensure we could realize this return in 10-20 years. l'd
happily continue to share the many reasons this is needing your support and do not hesitate to contact me for any
further comments or questions regarding this very important issue for ldaho.
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Respectfully,
I tJoey Schueler
1002 N 8th Street
Boise, lD 83702
(208!.724-7047
U niq ue ldentifier: 24.7L9.22O.243
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