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1. Does the City offer options to increase the use of renewable energy for my house?

Yes, the City offers the EcoSmart Choice program to all customers. The EcoSmart Choice program allows the customer to add an additional charge on their monthly electric bill which is used to purchase Renewable Energy Certificate’s (RECs). A REC is created when a renewable energy resource produces energy and the REC is sold into the REC market. By purchasing RECs, the customer is directly supporting renewable energy resources.

2. Are Tipp City electric customers permitted to install rooftop solar?

Yes, but customers must review & complete the interconnection application.  Once approved a Tipp City Zoning Permit will be required along with a Miami County Building Permit.  The project must meet all requirements within the interconnection application, Tipp City zoning regulations, and Miami County Building regulations for a project to move forward.  

3. Am I credited for excess power generated from my rooftop solar panels back to the City?

Yes.  Tipp Electric will allow you to use your excess power generated as a credit to reduce your monthly electric bill.  This credit cannot be carried forward and the City does NOT currently provide any monetary compensation for additional power generated once you’ve reduced your monthly bill down to zero (customer charge still applies).  

4. Why am I still responsible for paying a customer charge if I’m generating electricy from my solar array?

As a public power utility, the City of Tipp City operates a not-for-profit electric utility. Most of the Utilities Department's expenses are fixed costs, meaning the expenses don't change much based on a customer's usage. The City's electric rates are based on a Cost of Service Study that examines all of the expenses to provide the electrical needs of our community. The expenses include, but are not limited to, power supply contracts, transmission and capacity obligations, the cost of infrastructure such as electric poles, lines, and transformers, and finally, the cost to ensure our staff and equipment are available and equipped to respond to electrical issues anywhere in the city at a moment's notice, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The rates that are charged to customers are designed for full-service requirement customers (a customer that purchases all of their energy needs from the City). In this way, the City ensures that our expenses are equitably collected from each customer based on their use of the electric system. The Cost of Service Study is the best way to ensure that the customer charges are fair and equitable.

When a customer installs rooftop solar, they become a partial-service requirement customer. This means that the customer does not purchase all of their energy needs from the City because they are offsetting some or all of their energy needs with their own generating system. The customer relies on the City to provide all of their electric service at any given time.  The customer also depends upon the City's electric distribution system in order to receive a credit for their excess generation.

The Monthly Customer Charge is necessary to recover the unavoidable fixed expenses mentioned above that are incurred by the City. Again, these costs include system maintenance, transformers, debt service, capital improvements, power supply, transmission, capacity, buildings, equipment, and labor.