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.

Alabama football is set to make its first SEC road trip of the Kalen DeBoer era on Saturday, when it faces Vanderbilt in Nashville. The Commodores enter the game 2-2, while Alabama is coming off a thrilling win over Georgia at 4-0, and is the newly crowned No. 1 team on the AP media poll.

The game is scheduled to kick off at 3:15 p.m. CT Saturday in Nashville. The game will be aired on the SEC Network.

Before that, here’s what to know about Vanderbilt.

The coach

Weirdly enough, Clark Lea and Kalen DeBoer go all the way back to South Dakota. While DeBoer was running the show at Sioux Falls in the NAIA, Lea took his first full-time coaching job at South Dakota State, as linebackers coach in 2007.

“I think we’re both still pretty young, if I can say that, but we were certainly young then” Lea said Tuesday. “Kalen had already built a great reputation as a head coach and I used to see him at clinics. It’s been a lot of fun to follow his career, because I admire the way that he worked his way up through the ranks.”

Lea returned to Nashville to coach at his alma mater in 2021. The Commodores have continued to struggle throughout his tenure, largely due to the innate disadvantages Vanderbilt faces in the SEC.

His best season at VU came in 2022, when the Commodores went 5-7 overall, winning two SEC games.

Prior to joining Vanderbilt, where he played football from 2002-04, he worked as the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame under Brian Kelly, a role he was promoted to after Mike Elko left for Texas A&M. Lea’s career also includes stops at Wake Forest, Syracuse, Bowling Green and UCLA.

The quarterback

After struggling to a 2-10 record in 2023, Lea and company went looking in the transfer portal. VU found quarterback Diego Pavia.

Pavia joined the Commodores after spending the past two years of his career at New Mexico State, having started at New Mexico Military Institute. He won Conference USA’s player of the year award last season with the Aggies, helping them knock off Auburn in the process.

He’s been a bolt of lighting for the Commodores this season. Pavia, listed at a dubious 6-feet tall, 207 pounds, has thrown for 721 yards and six touchdowns so far, and has rushed for another 279 yards and two scores.

The Commodores scored a unique challenge for opponents in Pavia, who they often use in the option game. He’s the key to Vanderbilt’s offense this season, and a change of pace from anything Alabama has seen so far.

The season

Vanderbilt, as is customary, wasn’t expected to do much this season. The Commodores exceeded those expectations in their first game, beating Virginia Tech 34-27 in Nashville.

The next week, VU took down Alcorn State 55-0. After that, things took a turn.

The Commodores lost to the Sun Belt’s Georgia State on the road in Week 3. Then it took traveled to Columbia, Mo., where Missouri was expected to crush Lea’s group.

That didn’t happen. Vanderbilt led much of the way, before the Tigers pulled off the win in double overtime due to a missed VU field goal.

Vanderbilt enters Saturday’s game off a bye week.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WIAT) — The eighth annual Worlds of Works showcased to freshman students what life has to offer after graduating high school.

The two-day career expo, organized by West Alabama Works, is being held at Shelton State Community College. Students are emersed into 11 different career pathways such as healthcare, agriculture, public service, construction and welding.

Interactive booths are set up throughout the college, allowing students to see what health care, agriculture, law enforcement, hospitality and trade workers do every day.

“It actually helps me understand the careers a lot more,” Central High Schooler Shamiya Dotson said.

Junior League of Tuscaloosa hosts ‘Period Pantry’ initiative through mid-October

The hands-on career fair provides students with a unique experience to help them decide on what they want to study in college or what career they’ll pursue.

Although ninth graders have three years until they walk across the graduation stage, WOW’s executive director Donny Jones said it is important students start thinking about their future now.

“The reason we have our ninth graders come is because in the ninth grade, they are making decisions for all of their career technical choices for the tenth, eleventh and twelfth grade,” Jones said.

More students in West Alabama are pursuing a trade post high school. Jones says WOW is one reason the area is seeing an uptick in enrollment.

“We’ve been tracking our career technical enrollment and we’ve seen anywhere from 5 to 18% increase year over year in the different CTE programs,” Jones said.

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