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By Guy Page
Reduced power rates subsidies and increasing interest rates, leading to reduced sales of solar arrays, preceded the June 3 filing of bankruptcy of the parent company of Vermont’s legacy solar power company, SunCommon.
Four days after state regulators dropped the guaranteed ‘net-metered’ payment price for solar power by two cents per kilowatt-hour, iSun, parent firm of SunCommon, filed for bankruptcy.
State law obligates utilities to buy power from the owners of permitted solar power arrays. The cost per kilowatt-hour established by regulators was once more than 20 cents per kilowatt hour, but now is below 15 cents – still far above the market rate for power, which hovers around five cents per kilowatt hour. Ratepayers without solar power in effect subsidize the high rates utilities must pay to solar power array owners. When the solar net metering law passed more than a decade ago, the Legislature justified the high set rate as a means to reduce carbon emissions and reduce spiking energy costs at hours of peak consumption.
As reported last week in VDC, the Vermont Public Utilities Commission on May 30 announced that all net-metered solar power installations seeking permits after August 1 will receive two cents per kilowatt less than the current rate. A petition for bankruptcy filed June 3 in the State of Delaware is signed by Jeff Peck, founder of Peck Electric, which became iSun after Peck Electric acquired SunCommon and then became a publicly-traded company on the NASDAQ.
The PUC decision was good news for owners of currently-installed solar generators, but bad news for companies like SunCommon trying to entice new customers.
“These cuts represent the seventh reduction to net metering compensation since 2017, a period that has seen a 32% drop in net metering installations,” Peter Sterling of industry trade group Renewable Energy Vermont said June 5.
As competitor Green Mountain Solar explained in a June 3 press release:
Vermonters who already have solar panels and net-metering agreements with their utility will not be affected by the upcoming rate decrease. In fact, along with these changes comes the announcement of a new blended residential rate for solar net metering, which will increase the base net-metering rate to $0.1839 per kWh, up from $0.1765. This will also take effect on August 1st, 2024. The value of your solar does increase with rising utility rates, and we are seeing that in effect at the state level with this update.
For those considering transitioning to solar, there is still an opportunity to secure the current rate by submitting the necessary permits before August 1st. Those who sign before August 1st, will earn $0.1639 on their solar going forwards. After the August 1st deadline, any new solar customers will earn $0.1439 (two cents less).
This effectively means that customers who submit permits after August 1st will receive 12% less credit for their solar energy production, due to the additional $0.02 reduction per kWh.
Renewable power industry spokesmen say the cut will cost rooftop solar owners almost $5000 in lost credits on their electricity bill over 10 years.
In addition to the prospect of reduced income, solar installers like SunCommon also face a serious challenge in skyrocketing interest rates. As seen below, interest rates under three percent have jumped to 7.5% in just two years.
A rooftop solar power installation costs $15,000-$20,000. Not as pricey as a new car, but still too much for most families to pay out of pocket. Knowing this, solar power companies offer financing. When interest rates are low, so are monthly payments. But high interest rates give prospective buyers pause.
Although the news of the bankruptcy seems abrupt, the proverbial stormclouds have been building all year long. As Solar Power World reported June 5:
“The publicly traded company was acquired by The Peck Company Holdings in 2021. iSun spent the last few months restructuring and working to correct course. In March, the company announced a new CEO, followed by a restructuring of the executive team and a reverse stock split in April. The future is uncertain after filing for bankruptcy.”
While Vermont’s net-metering law requires regulators to make solar power accessible to Vermonters of all incomes, the PUC’s overall mission requires it to deliver electricity at the lowest possible cost. Under the Scott administration, the PUC has apparently given weight to the latter.
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Seems a good time to note that two possibly three state house reps are employed by suncommon, lest anyone should forget the conflict of interest regarding the house shenanigans involving “green” energy.
Also a good time to note that one, or possibly three, of our national congressional delegation have maybe invested in Sun Common and have worked behind the scenes to emphasize the need for “green” energy legislation in Vermont to maximize that investment…
This could be just the beginning of the end for solar in its present form. If we adopt the drill baby drill attitude, and he morons in charge take advantage and build nat. gas generators or nuclear. Finally the greenies get educated and find out that petro is not the enemy…but a good friend, the clouds will open and heavenly music will resonate throughout the land. Happiness, contentment, and prosperity for all.
There is No Market for the Solar and Wind scams. These scams are subsidized with our Tax Money. Solar & Wind Turbines are not sustainable, dependable, or can ever be a base power, and also toxic. The whole world runs on Oil. All major economies run on oil. Look how the poorer nations are kept under the Globalists thumb by suppressing them from using base power. America is blessed with rich reserves, great land, and strong Patriotic people who want their Nation to succeed for generations to come. Liberty is from God, not man.
Here’s a great article everyone concerned should read. Maybe the end of the green climate push is near.
https://therealnhsteve.substack.com/p/vermont-will-not-make-fossil-fuel?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-restack-comment&r=287426&triedRedirect=true
This whole solar power stuff is funny money-and not the laughing kind
The rest of the story (and an old story at that):
One of the reasons interest rates are listed as a cause for iSun’s default that goes unmentioned in this specific article is because iSun borrowed $40 Million to buy SunCommon from the two VPIRG lobbyists who started SunCommon while they were lobbying the legislature for solar subsidies.
This raises at least three points.
First, the VPIRG lobbyists, Board President, Duane Peterson, and Clean Energy Program Director, James Moore, took whatever money they received from the deal and ran when they sold SunCommon.
Second, when interest on the $40 Million debt iSun incurred to purchase SunCommon increased, exacerbated by the net-metering rate decreases (that Peterson and Moore surely knew was on the horizon), the cost of iSun doing business exceeded its revenues (i.e., iSun started losing money). And why do interest rates increase? Because, in large part, the government continues to increases the money supply with so-called ‘green’ subsidies into inefficient programs.
Does anyone remember Solyndra? As Forbes warned – ‘How Many $570M Green Energy Failures Are Hidden Inside Biden’s Infrastructure Proposal?’
Third: This is what happens in Vermont’s legislature “When government — in pursuit of good intentions tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the costs come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom.” – – Milton Friedman
At least Friedman gave the government the benefit of the doubt with his assumption that the government has ‘good intentions’. In this case, as with EB-5 and multitudes of other crony deals, fraud is more likely the cause. If I were an iSun share holder, I’d be looking hard at the deal with Mssrs. Peterson and Moore for possibly misrepresenting the SunCommon value. In the final analysis I suspect taxpayers are going to bear a lot of these costs too.
Oh, when will we ever learn? The answer my friend is (literally) blowin’ in the wind.
Good points, Jay. I may add some of these to an update
Business Wire December 14, 2023: “iSun, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISUN) (the “Company,” or “iSun”), a leading solar energy and clean mobility infrastructure company with 50-years of experience accelerating the adoption of innovative electrical technologies, today announced the closing of an $8.0 million senior secured loan with Decathlon Capital Partners, the country’s largest revenue-based funding investor, to refinance in full the prior senior secured convertible facility which had become overly dilutive. “The transaction, which carries a 48-month term, is a straight debt instrument, thus avoiding any equity dilution. Debt service payments begin at a smaller initial level and increase over the course of the loan in several step-ups, tracking the Company’s revenue growth. Along with Decathlon’s collaborative approach and covenant-light terms, these features make this an ideal funding instrument for iSun at this stage of the company’s life.
Business Wire April 24, 2024: iSun, Inc. Announces Reverse Stock Split
Buiness Wire April 25, 2024 iSun, Inc. Announces Rescission of Reverse Stock Split
What is even more interesting, the financials reported since 2020 as well as the top stock holders and mutual fund holders. Big money market casino lending, profiteering, and hemorraging capital like water through a sieve. This scheming has little to do with energy and more with high stakes gambling with big money market players holding the strings. Let’s be real shall we? How much State pension money is vested through Vanguard, Fidelity, Blackrock, Renaissance Technologies, LLC et.al? How much money has the State of Vermont got tied with these players? Is there collusion between State agencies, legislators, burearucrats, coporations and the big money, multi-national lenders/investors? Targetted “issue” driven legislation and regulations is profitable to those holding the stock options and collateral is it not? Pandora’s box indeed.
It looks like VT Digger is still pursuing the truth somewhere else. They haven’t been digging very deep into this. Maybe there’s some green energy money flowing in their donation bucket.