Oklahoma Republican Gov. Mary Fallin signed into law SB 1456 on
April 21, 2014. The bill reverses a 1977 law that outlawed utilities from
charging solar users extra.

While solar installations nationwide are projected to set records this year (an increase of 45 gigawatts), the state of Oklahoma seems intent on putting a damper on new solar and wind installations in the state.

SB 1456 easily passed through the state Senate and House, and was promptly signed into law by Gov. Fallin. The bill allows utilities to apply to the Oklahoma Corp. Commission to charge solar and wind turbine users a higher base rate to "make up for the infrastructure costs for sending excess electricity back to the grid."

Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co., and Public Service Co. of Oklahoma have about 1.3 million electric customers, but only about 500 solar customers. The bill, however, specifically targets new installations of power generation systems and selling the excess energy back to the grid. Those who already have solar/wind systems installed will not be affected.

The new state law is certainly no incentive to perspective solar customers in Oklahoma. Oklahoma utilities argue they should be compensated for use of their infrastructure; the counter argument is that energy fed back into the grid benefits utility companies and alleviates pressure on power utilities during peak demand.

The first state to charge solar panel owners was Arizona. In 2013, regulators there gave the state's largest utility, Arizona Public Service (APS), the authority to charge homeowners with solar panels a fee for plugging into the grid and, in some cases, selling electricity back to the grid. APS wanted to charge solar people a steep rate ($8 per kw), but settled for 70???(R)???AE???(R)???? per kilowatt of installed capacity as a monthly charge.