Over the past few years, Utah has gone from wearing a dunce hat to head of the class for its efforts to encourage the production of renewable energy.

A new study has identified Utah as one of two states that earned a double "A" rating for adopting policies that encouraged their residents to use solar and other renewable energy systems to generate their own electricity.

"What was surprising about this year's study was that Utah went from earning 'Ds' and 'Fs' the last few years to being one of the leading states in the country," said Shaun Chapman, who co-authored the study titled "Freeing the Grid" for the Network for New Energy Choices.

The New York-based organization promotes environmentally responsible energy development.

Utah and Massachusetts were the first states to earn double "A" ratings in the study's four-year history, he said.

Sara Baldwin of Utah Clean Energy, an advocacy group promoting the use of renewable energy systems, said this year's ranking represents a validation of the efforts by regulators, the state's utilities and advocates to develop a cleaner energy future.

"As it happened, it [2010] was a golden year for Utah," she said.

The study ranked states on their "net metering" policies and the "interconnection rules and procedures" that energy customers must follow to be able to plug their renewable energy systems into the electrical grid.

In 2002, the Utah Legislature required the state's power companies to offer a "net metering" program that enables the electric meters of participating homeowners with renewable energy systems to track the excess electricity they generate so they could be paid for that power.

"We've made a lot of progress with our net metering program," said Dave Eskelsen, a spokesman for Rocky Mountain Power.

When the state's net metering program first started, the price the power company paid for the excess power was around 5 cents per kilowatt hour. That price represented the utility's "avoided cost," which was the amount it didn't have to spend to generate that electricity.

In 2009, though, Rocky Mountain Power started paying the retail rate for the electricity it receives from its customers' renewable energy systems. And that rate, which increases with the amount of electricity that is placed onto the utility's power grid, is now between 7.5 cents to 11.5 cents per kilowatt hour from May through September. The rate is 7.8 cents per kilowatt hour from October through April.

The average American household uses around 10,500 kilowatt hours of electricity a year, or approximately 875 kilowatt hours a month, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Baldwin pointed out that earlier this year the Utah Public Service Commission approved new interconnection rules and procedures that Utahns need to follow to connect their renewable energy systems to the grid. "And those new rules really helped streamline the process," she said.

Chapman said that since the study was launched, most states have made progress in their efforts to encourage residents to use and adopt renewable energy systems. "But this year Utah really stood out." —

Utah's renewable energy scorecard

The state has gone from the bottom to the head of the class for its net metering and interconnection policies that encourage the use of renewable energy systems.

What is net metering? It allows the meters of homeowners with renewable energy systems to track the amount of excess electricity they generate.

Net metering grade

2007 • F

2008 • D

2009 • A

2010 • A

What are interconnection standards? They are policies that consumers must follow to hook their solar- and wind-power systems to the electric grid.

Interconnection grade

2007 • F

2008 • F

2009 • F

2010 • A

Source: Freeing the Grid — 2010; Network for New Energy Choices