20211126Comments(2)_2.pdf

From:PUCWeb Notification
To:Jan Noriyuki
Subject:Notice: A comment was submitted to PUCWeb
Date:Thursday, November 25, 2021 2:00:19 PM
The following comment was submitted via PUCWeb:
Name: GARY RICHARDSON
Submission Time: Nov 25 2021 1:49PMEmail: [e-mail]
Telephone: [phone]Address: 746 N SANTA PAULA CT
BOISE, ID 83712
Name of Utility Company: IPCo
Case ID: IPC-E-21-21
Comment: "I have been an Idaho Power customer since moving to its service area in 1977. Fora decade (1986–1996) I served as the IPUC's public information officer and have watched the
company grapple with its approach to alternative energy technologies over the past 40 years.In 1977-78, as the Idaho Conservation League's first field organizer, I helped organize
testimony urging the commission to eliminate the inverted rate structures that encouragedcustomers to use more power, which meant burning more coal and borrowing at high interest
rates to build more coal plants. Our case for conservation rates was rejected when first arguedduring UP&L's then-unprecedented, 30-percent rate-hike request in 1977. However, we
succeeded at the next Idaho Power rate case in eliminating inverted block rates. It has beengratifying to witness the company's evolution away from coal, increasingly embracing non-
carbon-based alternatives to add to its hydro base. However, I am puzzled by the company'sapparent fixation with centralized over distributed solar-power resources. In 2020, although at
80 I realized I'm unlikely to live long enough to recover the $24,000 investment, we decidedto "do the right thing" and had an eight-kW solar array installed on the roof of our 60-year-old
home in Boise's Aldape Heights. I grappled with whether or not to include a battery with oursystem and opted not to because of the initial expense. So, I recognize that there is value in
having the utility act as my “battery” when the sun isn't shining. On the other hand, I learnedduring a few outages that when Idaho Power's system fails, I cannot draw power from my
solar array. I understand the dangers of having customer-generated power fed into IPCo'sdistribution system during an outage. There is a balance to be reached between the utility-as-
battery customer benefit and the cost of utility outages' disrupting customer on-site generation.Perhaps there is a switch that could fix that. Customers' excess on-site generation is fed into
the local distribution system, except in rare circumstances, avoiding costs incurred bytransmitting the company's centrally generated and purchased power. That avoided-
transmission-cost benefit to the utility must be factored into any adjustment to net-meteredrates. IPCo and other utilities serving the sunny West are missing tremendous opportunities to
invest in distributed generation resources by financing solar arrays on their customers' roofs. Imay not live long enough to realize the financial benefit of my $24,000 investment in 8 kW of
generating capacity. However, a public utility could use its financing capabilities to power thecommunities it serves with solar arrays installed on its customers' homes and businesses.
Rather than penalize those who have stepped out ahead by financing their own on-sitegeneration resources, the utility should use the information gathered by their study to join with
these alternative-energy pioneers to develop system innovations and incentives and build a strong local network of distributed on-site resources throughout their Idaho service territories."
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From:Teresa Stunz
To:Jan Noriyuki
Subject:In Reference to Case IPC-E-21-21
Date:Friday, November 26, 2021 9:58:34 AM
Greetings Secretary,
I understand the value of rooftop solar is under attack. It sounds like the only argument that it
should be devalued is that the utility provider wants to make more profit and divest in solarwhile simultaneously asking residents to donate extra money toward clean energy.
Rooftop solar is the only rational way to do solar (solar farms require new infrastructure, lookterrible and can be more easily damaged by weather out in the remote places they are). Solar is
getting more and more affordable and sustainable every day, it makes sense to have solar onrooftops and if the panels stop producing, the utility doesn’t have to credit the customer for the
power. This is a very smart way to invest in our communities, paying people for the true valueof THEIR OWN investments.
Thank you for your time
Teresa Marie Stunz Fangamou
5312 W Targee Boise 83705