FRANKFORT — Over the protests of Kentucky's fledgling solar industry and the state's leading environmentalist, the Kentucky Senate gave quick passage Wednesday to the bill long-sought by utility companies to change how they credit customers with rooftop solar panels.

The Senate voted 23-12 to pass Senate Bill 100. It now goes to the House which, like the Senate, has put it on the fast track so it can be considered in committee as soon as Thursday morning.

On Wednesday afternoon, most of the Senate's Republican majority was satisfied with the explanation of the sponsor, Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard. Smith said that under the bill the Kentucky Public Service Commission would be trusted to set a value for the credits given to solar customers for any excess power they return to the power grid.

Some senators were not buying that.

"The PSC (Public Service Commission) didn't write this bill. The utility companies did," said Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville.

The latest:Solar bill sought by utilities continues to zip through General Assembly

McGarvey and Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, complained that the bill did not allow the commission to consider the benefits as well as costs to the utilities in their transactions with solar customers.

Neal also complained about the majority's rapid handling of the bill – which was filed late Monday and brought to a floor vote in less than 48 hours.

Earlier versions of the bill were defeated in each of the last two years by opposition from the Kentucky solar industry and the Kentucky Resources Council.

SB 100 deals with compensation utilities pay solar customers under the practice known as net metering. When the solar energy panels of a homeowner or business generate more power than needed, the extra power goes back to the power grid for use by others, and the solar customer is credited at a one-to-one rate for the power they send back.

Utilities say that practice pays solar customers more than it costs the utilities to generate their own power, and is therefore unfair to customers who don't want, or can't afford, to install solar panels.

Sen. Matt Castlen, R-Owensboro, described the current practice as "protectionism" for solar customers and said the bill would bring fairness to all customers.

Background:Kentucky bill would limit what solar customers earn from excess energy

Earlier Wednesday, when the bill was heard by the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, Tom FitzGerald, the Kentucky Resources Council director, stressed a 2017 U.S. Department of Energy study that concluded the rate impact of the solar customers on other customers is negligible.

FitzGerald said there are only "1,000 or so rooftop customers statewide" in Kentucky. He said the goal of the regulated utilities is "cornering the market on the sun."

Jamie Clark, of Synergy Home, a heating, cooling and solar contracting company in Lexington, testified that under the bill it will take customers much longer to recover an investment in solar panels. The result, Clark said, is that under SB 100, "you're effectively killing the solar industry in Kentucky."

Matt Partymiller, president of the Kentucky Solar Industries Association, said in a statement late Wednesday he was alarmed by the pace that the Senate and House are handling the bill.

"The power grab by monopoly utilities is quickly becoming an abuse of power," Partymiller said.

Column from Matt Partymiller:Our lawmakers can't let utility companies kill solar energy in Kentucky

Reporter Tom Loftus can be reached at 502-875-5136 or tloftus@courier-journal.com. Twitter: @TomLoftus_CJ.