LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — For years, Las Vegas homeowners have turned to rooftop solar panels to slash electricity bills and gain energy independence.
Now, a new daily demand charge from NV Energy could threaten those solar savings — leaving some questioning if their investment was worth it.
WATCH | Rooftop solar owners share concerns with Channel 13
Greg Franklin and his wife Julie have lived in their home for 35 years and have tried everything to cut costs.
Greg tells Channel 13, he swapped every bulb for LEDs and installed double‑pane windows, yet his monthly utility bill for power still reached hundreds of dollars.
“Everything we can to get the power bill down, and it was still $285 a month,” Franklin said.
Last year, Franklin invested $24,000 in 25 rooftop solar panels, tapping Southern Nevada’s abundant sunshine to power his home. The payoff was almost immediate.
“I’ve been between $19, $20 dollars every month since,” Franklin said of his NV Energy bills.
That relief may be short‑lived.
NV Energy’s new daily demand charge — which calculates a customer’s highest 15‑minute energy use each day and multiplies it by the current per‑kilowatt‑hour rate — could raise Franklin’s low energy costs.
“Now all of a sudden, my bill’s going to double. So my payoff isn’t 7 years anymore,” Franklin said.
When asked via email where the idea for a daily demand charge came from, an NV Spokesperson wrote the following:
“Implementing a demand charge helps mitigate the $100 million annual shortfall caused by customers with rooftop solar systems and will lower bills for more than 90 percent of customers who do not have rooftop solar.”
Franklin isn’t convinced.
"You beat your head on the table going, what do I have to do to keep caught up? How are you losing $100 million a year when I'm providing my own power during the day. And I'm only using your power at night," Franklin said.
"Over the course of the year, I looked it up this morning. I've given them, since I put the system up 2.2 megawatts of power more than I've used," he continued.
A historic first in utility billing
While NV Energy notes that commercial customers have paid demand charges for decades, economist and rate design expert Ahmad Faruqui says this is unprecedented for residential customers.
“In my view, they have taken a huge risk here,” Faruqui said.
Faruqui argues that residential customers lack the tools and knowledge that commercial customers like hotels and casinos use to manage demand charges.
"They have the know-how and the technologies to manage their demand. Residential customers don't know what is in their bill. They won't even know what to do to lower it because who's tracking their usage in 15 minute increments?" Faruqui said.
According to Faruqui, this is a distinct program he's not seen before.
"It's the first-of-its-kind because it is mandatory. It's the first-of-it- kind because it's based on 15 minutes, and also because it's being offered by an investor owned utility," he explained.
According to Faruqui, while other utilities in the country may have similar demand charges, it's either optional or from smaller power companies.
"It's very rare, but when it's there — like in Missouri and Georgia and a few other places, like Arizona actually, next door to you guys — it is optional. It's not suddenly imposed as a straitjacket that you have to fit into," Faruqui said.
Hitting at a time of broader rate increases
When asked for comment about the impact on solar customers, NV Energy Spokesperson Meghin Delaney wrote the following via email:
"Currently, customers who do not have private rooftop solar cover the shortfall created by those with rooftop solar systems. As mentioned, the demand charge helps mitigate the shortfall and will lower bills for more than 90 percent of customers who do not have rooftop solar."
She continued, explaining the PUCN's conclusion:
"The Commission order lays out the following: The evidence suggests that NEM ratepayers will see a change to their bills. It is not disputed that some costs to serve NEM customers are currently being paid by other customers. The amount of the subsidy, and the reasonableness of the subsidy, are disputed. As such, NEM customers are not properly allocated their cost of service. The size of this cost shift is growing and must be addressed. By asking all residential customers to pay for the cost of the distribution system constructed to serve them, the daily demand charge is a reasonable tool to limit the growth of this calculated subsidy."
For locals like Greg Franklin, the timing of this is frustrating.
"So here we are, we're retired, fixed income. We go ahead and we go out of pocket to put the solar up, and they decide, well, we changed our mind, we're going to charge you more," Franklin said.
This has been continued coverage from KTNV's recent Let's Talk event where we chatted with locals about their concerns about the utility's billing changes.
RELATED | Las Vegas homeowner says he's stuck paying for a solar system he can't use
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.