Iowa's electricity monopolist Midamerican Energy has written a bill to let it "monopolize the sun"

Iowa State Representative Gary Carlson [R-91/[email protected]] introduced House Study Bill 185, co-drafted by lobbyists for Midamerican Energy, one of Iowa's regional energy monopolists, with a long history of trying to subvert the "net metering" rules that allow Iowans to put solar panels on their roofs and sell power back into the grid when they are generating more than they are using.

The Midamerican/Carlson bill guts net metering, which will add about $300/year to the power bills of households that install solar panels, using a common anti-solar argument that falsely claims that solar users are more expensive for utilities to service and thus receive a subsidy from households that do not have solar (in reality, part of the installation cost of solar paid by homeowners includes the infrastructure costs to connect to the grid).

Kerri Johannsen from the Iowa Environmental Council called this "a clear attempt to monopolize the sun in Iowa."

800 Iowans earn good, middle-class livings as solar installers.

MidAmericans characterization of the costs of solar to the grid and, in particular, the idea that solar customers are super-users is alarming and seems to rely on average Iowans not understanding how the grid works. In fact, the poles and wires that deliver power to our homes are the same ones that deliver power to the grid. Solar customers are not given special or different wires and using the grid in both directions does not put added stress on that equipment. Thats just not how it works. Solar customers also pay for interconnection costs, including any necessary upgrades to the system, up front.