Iowa pork producers stall utility efforts to upend solar net metering

In their push to upend the economics of rooftop solar, Iowa’s major electric utilities are up against an opponent as politically potent as they are: the state’s pork producers. Hog farmers in the nation’s top pork-producing state have made clear that they don’t want legislators messing with their net metering arrangements.“Their voice is making a huge difference,” said Kerri Johannsen, who directs the Iowa Environmental Council’s energy program. “The things they are doing are definitely a big part of what’s held this bill up.”The bill, which the Senate speedily approved on a 28-19 vote on March 19, is moving much more slowly now that it’s awaiting a vote on the floor of the House. The House Commerce Committee recommended passage on March 5 and the bill has been sitting ever since. House leadership could call it up for a vote at any time. Or not.The bill eliminates the current net metering law and replaces it with several alternatives that, as one clean energy lawyer put it, are structured “so that no one would want to select any of them.” The options include: