Las Vegas fire captain gathers petitions to reinstate previous solar rates

Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Capt. Richard Birt will present a petition letter with signatures from more than 500 valley firefighters to a governor-appointed energy task force today urging it to reinstate previous solar rates.

Birt, 50, has been living off a $25,000 solar panel system since moving off the NV Energy grid in 2006. He spent the better part of eight weeks from January to March collecting signatures in favor of reversing a 2016 law that made solar energy more expensive for customers of NV Energy.

Birt amassed 508 signatures, accounting for nearly half of the firefighters between the Las Vegas and Clark County departments.

“I just want to be able to say, listen, I have 508 of my brothers and sisters in a public service safety profession who are concerned for our community,” Birt said. “Our voice needs to be heard.”

All NV Energy customers used to pay a fixed monthly service fee of $12.75, and under a policy known as net metering, the energy giant reimbursed solar-equipped customers about 11 cents per kilowatt-hour of excess electricity generated.

Eager to take advantage of the desert sun’s potential and the associated discounts, a skyrocketing number of Las Vegans installed solar panels on their roofs. Last December alone, 1,311 applications were filed to start the installation process.

But a decision by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission forced solar customers to start paying a $17.90 monthly service fee starting Jan. 1. Over the next four years, that fee will rise to $38.51. And while solar customers will still pay 11 cents per kilowatt-hour of power bought from NV Energy, the value of their excess credits, which the PUC placed at 9 cents per kilowatt-hour this year, will fall to just 2.6 cents by 2020.

The PUC’s decision prompted companies like SolarCity and SunRun to cease Nevada installations. Applications for rooftop solar plummeted to 90 in January — down 93 percent from December’s 1368 applicants, according to Chandler Sherman, spokeswoman for the Bring Back Solar Alliance.

Last month, just 18 Nevadans applied to go solar, Sherman said.

Tyler Elliott, 33, is one of the firefighters who signed Birt’s petition, even though he hasn’t installed solar panels at his Las Vegas home. Elliott, like Birt, said he thought NV Energy should “embrace solar instead of discouraging it.” He emphasized the safety of his own family in the event of a power outage — something he believed wouldn’t happen with solar panels.

“It used to be a great deal all around, but now it’s ridiculously expensive,” Elliott said.

Another petition signer, Las Vegas Fire Capt. Chris Brewer, had solar panels for nearly one year before the rate hikes went into effect. He purchased his solar system for $38,000 from Sol-Up to power his northwest valley home,.

Brewer said he feels “ripped off” by NV Energy, who hiked the rates when “they realized customers were saving money.”

“It’d take care of energy costs, but we also want to look out for the environment,” Brewer said. “It’s just seems very unfair that they’re taking all of this money out of our pockets.”

A spokesperson for NV Energy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.