SIT DOWN — A meeting between solar advocates, electric utility consultants and Waynesville town leaders Monday night resulted in a compromise on solar incentives for residents. Alderman Anthony Sutton (middle) and solar champion William Hite (right) trade points of view.

SIT DOWN — A meeting between solar advocates, electric utility consultants and Waynesville town leaders Monday night resulted in a compromise on solar incentives for residents.

GENERATING ENERGY — Solar panels have become a hot discussion topic for the Waynesville town board as it hashes out the buy-back rate for surplus energy solar customers generate.

MAKING THE CASE — Solar advocate and Waynesville resident William Hite lobbies Waynesville leaders to provide solar incentives during a joint meeting meeting Monday night.

SIT DOWN — A meeting between solar advocates, electric utility consultants and Waynesville town leaders Monday night resulted in a compromise on solar incentives for residents. Alderman Anthony Sutton (middle) and solar champion William Hite (right) trade points of view.

SIT DOWN — A meeting between solar advocates, electric utility consultants and Waynesville town leaders Monday night resulted in a compromise on solar incentives for residents.

GENERATING ENERGY — Solar panels have become a hot discussion topic for the Waynesville town board as it hashes out the buy-back rate for surplus energy solar customers generate.

MAKING THE CASE — Solar advocate and Waynesville resident William Hite lobbies Waynesville leaders to provide solar incentives during a joint meeting meeting Monday night.

How far should Waynesville go to make solar appealing to homeowners?

Solar advocates and town leaders have been working to find common ground to the complicated question — one that pits the financial realities of the town’s electrical utility with incentives for homeowners to go solar.

“At what point are we willing to pivot as a society? How do we make this truly an incentive for as many people as possible to come on board with solar?” said Susan Williams, a solar advocate. “Let Waynesville be a leader as a visionary town. You can’t put a price on the value of that.”

A two-hour sit down Monday night brought together town leaders, enviro-minded residents, the solar industry and the town’s electric utility consultants to hash out the particulars.

The debate centered over how generous the town’s financial incentives should be for those going solar. Waynesville isn’t alone in its machinations.

“People are having this conversation all over the country,” said Alderman Chuck Dickson.

Indeed, the debate is playing out with dozens of utilities who are trying to safeguard their own bottom line from a proliferation of solar panels on homeowner’s roofs. Waynesville isn’t of the same ilk as corporate utilities, however.

“You get to invest in what you believe in, which is clean energy. It’s the future and it’s coming. We aren’t going to rely on fossil fuels forever because they aren’t going to be there,” said Edward Wright with Rhino Renewables solar firm.

At the crux of the solar debate is how long it takes homeowners to break even on the upfront cost of solar panels.

Under the town’s old solar program, it could take three decades for the installation of solar panels to pay off. To wit, there’s only a handful of residents with solar panels out of the town’s 3,000-plus electric customers.

“We will never have a return on our investment,” said Mary Alice Lodico, one of the few on Waynesville power who’s gone solar. “I’d like to see it not be a disincentive.”

The pay-back period hinges on how much solar homeowners make when selling back any surplus power.

At times, solar panels produce more power than the homeowner needs, and that power is sold back to the utility. Other times, however, solar panels don’t produce enough and homeowners have to buy the extra power they need.

This is where the math gets complicated. The town purchases its power at a whole sale rate, marks it up, and sells it to customers at a retail rate.

Under one scenario, the town would pay the lower wholesale rate for any power it buys back from solar customers.

“In this case, the town is made whole. You’re buying it at the same wholesale rate,” said Louis Davis, a consultant with UTEC who advises the town on its electric utility. “The town technically doesn’t need this power. You’re already getting plenty of power at a cheap wholesale rate. So if you are going to displace that, you are going to do it at the same cheap rate.”

The pay-back period on a solar installation is prolonged if solar customers only get the wholesale rate on the surplus power they sell back to the town.

“If you are wanting to encourage solar power, this is probably not the most aggressive,” Davis conceded. “It just depends what direction what you want to go.”

That’s what solar advocates hope to change. They lobbied the town to credit solar homeowners dollar-for-dollar for the surplus power they generate — called “net metering.”

“Net metering is a pretty elegant solution. It’s credits for credits,” said Wright..

Doing so would incentive solar, but would come at a cost to the town.

“There’s a net loss of revenue that would need to be made up,” said Mike Brennan with UTEC.

Aside from buying and reselling power, the town has to pay for its electric grid somehow.

“The profit margin on buying and reselling power goes to support the poles, the lines, the transformers, the substations and the men and women that work to deliver the electricity,” Louis said.

If the town doesn’t make a profit margin on solar customers, it would have to offset that lost revenue elsewhere, which could mean higher rates for other electric customers.

“Let’s be honest, the majority of people in Waynesville can’t afford it. We have to be very cognizant of asking people who don’t have the means to subsidize solar,” Alderman Anthony Sutton said.

But Alderman Jon Feichter countered that the impact would be negligible.

“We’re not talking about thousands of Waynesville customers suddenly moving to a solar install,” Feichter said.

At the outset of the meeting, the town had two choices at opposite ends of the spectrum.

One offered such generous incentives that the town would lose money in order to subsidize those going solar. The second option was so conservative that the homeowners couldn’t justify going solar.

Waynesville Alderman Chuck Dickson advocated for finding middle ground.

“What is in the middle of the two extremes? I think that’s the bottom line,” Dickson said.

Dickson said he supported so-called net metering that would give solar customers a dollar-for-dollar credit for surplus power they produce.

“My big ask is we set up a rate schedule that incentivizes solar development in Waynesville. I think we should be bold,” Feichter said. “But I also understand we have a fiduciary responsibility to the residents of Waynesville.”

To that end, aldermen wanted to ensure solar customers don’t get a free ride, but instead still pay their fair share toward upkeep of the electric grid.

The solution came down to a monthly surcharge that solar homeowners would pay as a flat fee, regardless of any power they buy and sell. The town instructed its utility consultants to come up with a flat fee that would offset losses to the town under a net metering formula.

Alderman Anthony Sutton called it a “hybrid solution.”

Mayor Gary Caldwell also agreed.

“We want to attract solar but keep the town’s pockets to where we can afford it,” Caldwell said.

While the meeting had solar advocates feeling discouraged at times, they left feeling optimistic. They commended the town for its open collaboration with solar stakeholders.

“The high water might not cover the stumps now. But when you grow the economy, the high water will cover the stumps,” said Michael Boss. “For now, go all in. Go net metering and see what happens.”

Besides, the town should see a boon to its electric utility in coming years as electric vehicles become mainstream. As more drivers forgo the gas pump and instead charge their vehicles at home, the town will more than make up for its lost power sales to solar customers.

“People are going to buy electric vehicles at a much greater rate than they are going to put solar on their roofs because they are fun and aspirational,” said William Hite, a Waynesville resident and solar champion. “Solar panels sit on a roof. You can’t take solar panels out to dinner.”

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Your comment has been submitted.

There was a problem reporting this.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.

Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.

Get quarterly updates  Check here to sign up!

Don’t miss out! Be a WNC insider with The Guide’s e-newsletter and you’ll always have plans.

Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.

Check your email for details.

Invalid password or account does not exist

Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.

An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.

Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.

A receipt was sent to your email.