Utility's Extra Charge on Solar Power Users Is Unjustified Greed

MidAmerican is pushing through an extra fee on solar power users even though MidAmerican grid users already pay $26 per month whether they use the grid or not! The Republican legislature, paid off by utilities and anxious to do the wealthy utility's bidding, is portraying the money grab as the solar power users' "paying their fair share." Gullible voters buy that argument despite the fact that solar power generators provide their own solar panels -- their own costly infrastructure, in other words, and often generate extra solar power that MidAmerican profits from by paying pennies on the dollar for during peak usage times and can then turn around and sell for more money than they pay the generators.

Some analysts have opined that MidAmerican is on the cusp of generating solar power themselves and want to monopolize sun power like they monopolize wind power. According to the Des Moines Register, MidAmerican Energy, which was involved in drafting the bill passed so far by the Republican majority in the Iowa Senate, posted a net income in 2018 of $682 million. This represented a 13 percent increase from 2017.

An extra charge on solar power users, if passed by the Republican majority in the Iowa House and signed by the Republican governor, is indefensible.

It surprises me not at all that according to the Des Moines Register ("Follow the money to shed light on new sunshine tax," 3/21/19), Rep. Gary Carlson (R-Dist. 91, Muscatine, Fruitland, Stockton) and Sen. Jake Chapman (R-Dist. 10, Adel) have received money from both MidAmerican Energy and other utilities. Carlson in the House and Chapman in the Senate sponsored the bills that support the MidAmerican money grab.