Alabama

Alabama solar fee lawsuit moves forward in federal court

Published

2 years ago

October 3, 2024

Alabama solar fee lawsuit moves forward in federal court

A federal lawsuit challenging the fees levied on people who install solar panels on their homes will move forward, after a judge in Montgomery denied a motion to dismiss the case.

“Solar energy offers a unique opportunity for residents of Alabama to take control of their energy costs, reduce their carbon footprints, and contribute to a cleaner environment,” said Madison Naves, communications coordinator with GASP, one of the plaintiffs. “Unfortunately, however, the Alabama Public Service Commission has signed off on Alabama Power’s punitive charges that are stifling the growth of rooftop solar across Alabama Power’s territory.”

In 2021, plaintiffs, including the environmental group GASP, sued the Alabama Public Service Commission in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. Alabama Power later joined the case as an intervenor defendant.

The plaintiffs argued that the PSC violated federal energy laws by allowing Alabama Power to charge fees to people who use solar panels.

Alabama Power and the PSC had asked for the case to be dismissed, arguing that the court did not have jurisdiction and that the plaintiffs did not make a claim for which relief can be granted.

But U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled against the defendants on Monday, arguing that the court does have standing to adjudicate claims made under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), a federal law designed to encourage renewable energy use.

“This case is about alleged price discrimination against small-scale solar-power production in Alabama. But the merits of that issue are not the focus of this opinion,” Thompson wrote in his opinion. “Based on the well-pleaded allegations in the complaint, the court currently finds that it has jurisdiction over the plaintiffs’ three claims under PURPA.”

A representative for the PSC declined to comment. A representative for Alabama Power did not respond to a request for comment.

Alabama Power customers who use solar panels—or any other type of additional, non-emergency power generating source—are charged a fee based on the capacity of their system. The utility previously told AL.com that this fee is necessary to cover the cost of providing backup power to those customers.

But the plaintiffs argue that these fees are discriminatory and unfair, and that they’ve discouraged solar panel use in Alabama.

“As a result, Alabama, despite its abundance of sunshine, lags almost every other state in the U.S. in customer-sited solar deployment,” the plaintiffs said in an amended legal filing in 2023.

In 2020, the PSC allowed Alabama Power to continue charging the “solar fee” and approved an increase from $5 per kilowatt per month to $5.41 per kilowatt per month. The plaintiffs then appealed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to end the fee. FERC declined to act in 2021, allowing plaintiffs to sue.

Alabama lags behind some neighboring states in solar power use. As of the second quarter of 2024, 0.85% of the state’s electricity is generated from solar power, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. In Georgia, 6.21% of the state’s electricity is generated from solar, and in Florida, 7.65% of the state’s electricity is solar.

The Southern Environmental Law Center represents GASP, as well as plaintiffs Mark Johnston and Teresa Thorne. The other two plaintiffs, James Bankston and Ralph Pfeiffer, are represented by Birmingham law firm Ragsdale, LLC. An attorney for Bankston and Pfeiffer did not respond to a request for comment.

Alabama Power is represented by Balch & Bingham.

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Alabama

Tennessee football will be chasing different teams for SEC supremacy | Adams

Published

9 hours ago

May 31, 2026

Press Room

Tennessee football will be chasing different teams for SEC supremacy | Adams

After the SEC added Texas and Oklahoma for the 2024 football season, I split the conference in half for evaluation purposes.

My top half: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Texas A&M.

These teams comprised my bottom half: Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.

Track records and NIL support factored into my rankings. The latter is obviously a challenge, because NIL money isn’t well documented. So, my rankings were an educated guess at best.

I singled out Texas, Texas A&M, and LSU because of their obvious NIL resources. All three are loaded. Tennessee probably has as much NIL power as any other SEC program.

The Vols will play Texas, Texas A&M, and LSU this season. So, they will face a greater challenge than in 2024 and 2025 when the SEC’s interim schedules were in place.

But projecting future success and failure in the NIL era of SEC football is hardly an exact science. And I’m already questioning my preliminary rankings. Four schools stick out: Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Missouri, and Vanderbilt

Oklahoma went 6-7 (2-6 in the SEC) in 2024 but made the College Football Playoff last season, only to lose in the first round to Alabama. That’s not what I expected from one of college football’s most prestigious programs.

Perhaps, the Sooners don’t have as much NIL money as the SEC’s most affluent members. Now, I’m wondering if they even can keep up with in-state rival Oklahoma State, which has been on a spending spree in multiple sports, including football.

Ole Miss has been a surprise in a good way. Former coach Lane Kiffin became the “Portal King” because of his relentless recruiting of highly touted transfers. But he couldn’t accomplish as much just on his track record or name recognition. He needed money.

And the Rebels provided it, which helps explain how they went 34-7 from 2023 through 2025.

Missouri has fared better than expected. The Tigers are 29-10 for the past three seasons. I thought there was a better chance of coach Eli Drinkwitz getting fired than winning 29 of 39 games in three seasons of NIL football.

Vanderbilt’s success has been stunning, though you must wonder whether it’s sustainable. The Commodores’ 10-3 record in 2025 was mainly a testament to the play of quarterback Diego Pavia, who was the Heisman Trophy runner-up to Fernando Mendoza.

Florida and Auburn are wildcards.

The Gators were slow coming out of the NIL gate. They also have a recent history of hiring more bad coaches than good ones.

Maybe, they got it right with Jon Sumrall. And perhaps, Auburn did the same with Alex Golesh. But the Tigers were wrong about their previous two hires, Bryan Harsin and Hugh Freeze.

Texas, LSU and Texas also have missed on coaches. But they have the money to buy their way out of a bad deal.

The Aggies paid Jimbo Fisher a $77 million buyout in November 2023. LSU had to pay Brian Kelly $54 million after firing him in October 2025.

Such spending tells me Tennessee will have more difficulty long-term keeping up with Texas, Texas A&M and LSU than they will with traditional SEC powers like Georgia and Alabama.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com.

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Alabama

Live Game, Weather Updates: Tuscaloosa Baseball Regional, No. 7 Alabama vs. USC Upstate

Published

19 hours ago

May 30, 2026

Press Room

Live Game, Weather Updates: Tuscaloosa Baseball Regional, No. 7 Alabama vs. USC Upstate

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – 7-seeded Alabama continues NCAA regional action in the Tuscaloosa Regional on Saturday against USC Upstate. The Crimson Tide is coming off a monstrous offensive effort on Friday that saw the team score the most runs in program NCAA Tournament history with 21. The Spartans scored in each of the first four innings to upset Oklahoma State and advance to Saturday’s winner’s bracket game.

Alabama Baseball Regional Tournament Central: Schedule, How to Watch, Bracket Breakdown

Live Updates (Refresh Your Browser For Latest Updates at the Top)

Pregame

Tonight’s start time has been delayed as we’ve entered a weather delay.

Alabama vs. USC Upstate will have a first pitch time of 6:23 p.m. CT. The grounds crew is currently tending the field in between matchups.

5:13 p.m. CT – Oklahoma State beat Alabama State 8-7 in 11 innings to eliminate the Hornets from the Tuscaloosa Regional. The Cowboys move into tomorrow’s elimination game against the loser of Alabama and USC Upstate on Sunday.

Starting Lineups

USC Upstate

Alabama

How to Watch: 7-Seed Alabama vs. USC Upstate in the Tuscaloosa Regional

Who: 7-seed Alabama (38-19, 18-12 SEC) vs. USC Upstate (34-28, 13-11 Big South Conference)

What: NCAA Regional Game 4

When: Saturday, May 30, 6 p.m. CT

Where: Sewell-Thomas Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

TV: ESPN +

Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network. LISTEN LIVE

Series: Alabama and USC Upstate have never played in baseball.

Last Meeting: The Crimson Tide and Spartans have never played in baseball.

Last time out, Alabama: The Crimson Tide used 15 hits, and took advantage of eight walks, four errors, and four wild pitches to beat Alabama State 21-3 in their first NCAA Regional matchup of the weekend. Alabama had four different players hit home runs as the Crimson Tide cruised to an easy win.

Last time out, USC Upstate: The Spartans upset Oklahoma State 8-5 in their first game of the NCAA Regional. USC Upstate struck out 10 batters and scored in each of the first four innings to upset the Cowboys.

Tuscaloosa Regional Information

Alabama, (37-19)
Oklahoma State, (37-20)
USC Upstate, (31-27)
Alabama State, (31-21)

Friday

Game 1 – #2 Oklahoma St. (37-20) vs. #3 USC Upstate (33-28), 1 p.m. CT, ESPN+
Game 2 – #1 Alabama (37-19) vs. #4 Alabama St. (34-21), 6 p.m. CT, SEC Network

Saturday

Game 3 – Oklahoma State vs. Alabama State – 1 p.m. CT
Game 4 – USC Upstate vs. Alabama – 6 p.m. CT

Sunday

Game 5 – Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 – 2 p.m. CT
Game 6 – Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 – 7 p.m. CT

Monday

Game 7 – IF Necessary – Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 – TBD

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Alabama

Oklahoma State Baseball Live Scoring for NCAA Regional vs. Alabama State

Published

1 day ago

May 30, 2026

Press Room

Oklahoma State Baseball Live Scoring for NCAA Regional vs. Alabama State

The Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Alabama State Hornets meet in the first game of Saturday’s action at the Tuscaloosa Regional on Saturday.

The Cowboys (37-21) and the Hornets lost their first games of the tournament on Friday. The loser of this game will be eliminated. The winner of this game will advance to another elimination game on Sunday between the loser of the USC Upstate-Alabama game, which follows OSU-ASU

Oklahoma State fans can keep up with the game here, including lineups and inning by inning details on the game. Check out Oklahoma State On SI’s NCAA Tournament Central for everything related to the Tuscaloosa Regional.