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Jul 12, 2023

Homeowners with non

by: Courtney Fromm Posted: Feb 7, 2023 / 06:11 PM MST Updated: Feb

by: Courtney Fromm

Posted: Feb 7, 2023 / 06:11 PM MST

Updated: Feb 7, 2023 / 06:11 PM MST

MORRISON, Colo. (KDVR) – Some Colorado homeowners said they have been waiting months for their solar panels to be connected to the power grid, and are blaming Xcel Energy for the holdup.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission told FOX31 that it is aware of consumers waiting long periods of time for solar panel installations and interconnections to Xcel.

"The PUC has been keeping an eye on this for months and our hope is they put the hammer down," Mike Kruger, President and CEO Colorado Solar and Storage Association said Tuesday.

The PUC said they don't regulate the installers, but do regulate the utility. As a result, the PUC said they initiated an investigation as part of a proceeding in July 2021 directing staff to investigate and report.

But Kruger said this isn't the first time Xcel has faced an issue like this.

"Its been a disaster from the beginning as a Coloradan this is frustrating. This happened in Minnesota and it was a disaster and [Xcel] ended up fined," Kruger said.

One homeowner, Stacie, who bought her home outside of Morrison 16 years ago, said she installed solar panels in September of 2022 and they still aren't working.

"We were told Xcel needs to come and put a net metering meter on the house and hook us up with our electric panel and hook us into the grid but that just hasn't happened," Stacie said.

Stacie said her family spent around $30,000 installing the panels with the company Blue Raven Solar. She said the company has offered to cover her payments for 18 months while the panels aren't working due to not being hooked up to the grid.

"When you put out $30,000, you sign loans and don't have a working product its frustrating. There is no communication. If they could just let us know we’re on there radar that would be nice," Stacie said.

She also mentioned she has called over to Xcel and is waiting to hear back.

FOX31 reached out to Xcel, and it responded with the following statement:

"Rooftop solar is one of the tools we can use to reduce carbon emissions in Colorado.

We’ve safely connected more than 70,000 customer solar systems to our grid in Colorado. Recently, we’re seeing a significant increase in application volume given a combination of federal and state incentives. Specifically, the Xcel Energy solar program team completed over 18,000 applications to connect solar to our grid in 2022 – a 34% increase compared to the previous year.

As a result of this increased volume, we have experienced increased processing times mainly due to the time it takes engineers to complete reviews of each individual installation. This is extending review timeframes by approximately 2 months. We are hiring and contracting for additional resources to help.

Other factors can delay steps in the interconnection process. It requires a coordinated effort between solar installers and the company to share detailed, accurate information to ensure the solar systems can be connected to the grid in a safe matter. We rely upon installers to understand their steps in the process and to provide accurate and timely information to coordinate these efforts. The pricing agreements are between installers and the customers.

You can learn more about the residential solar installation process on our website, https://co.my.xcelenergy.com/s/renewable/solar-application-process, detailing information on renewable energy credits, applications, metering, billing, estimators and more.

Again, we appreciate our customers’ participating in our rooftop solar program and the benefits it brings to all our Colorado Customers and we want our new solar customers to know we are working to address their concerns with the time it takes to connect to the grid."

A weekly PUC commissioner meeting that will be held Wednesday will discuss the topic of affordability, but they are also going to talk about solar interconnections.

The webcast of the PUC weekly commissioner meeting can be found here.

Their meetings begin at 9 a.m. and anyone can watch.

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