Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Chairwoman Ramirez previews FTC’s solar energy industry workshop, (Jun 23, 2016)

By Michael Menzhuber, J.D., LL.M.

Gaining a deeper understanding of the laws, regulations, policies, subsidies, and incentives that apply to solar distributed generation was the purpose of the FTC’s "Something New Under the Sun: Competition and Consumer Protection Issues in Solar Energy" workshop held in Washington, D.C. on June 21, 2016, according to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in her opening remarks.

Ramirez began by noting the possibility of a future in which individuals and small communities will generate a growing amount of their electricity needs, instead of drawing power from a distant generation source like a utility company. She then discussed the FTC’s commitment to ensuring that solar distributed generation (rooftop solar) develops in an environment of "vigorous competition and responsiveness to consumer demand." She continued by discussing the complexity and multi-layered nature of the environment for solar power and the goal of the workshop to help to identify and isolate competition concerns, such as the use of the regulatory process to block or impede the adoption of rooftop solar.

Ramirez stated that the FTC has had a longstanding interest in electricity markets, including solar power. She then went on to identify activities by the FTC in this area such as: conducting a prior solar power workshop, the issuance of comments to assist states in reforming electricity markets, the issuance of consumer education guidance, and an example of an enforcement action.

Ramirez concluded by noting the workshop’s series of panel discussions on: (1) the growth of solar energy generation; (2) issues surrounding net metering and other ways to price excess electricity generated by rooftop solar customers; and (3) competition and consumer protection.

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