Mishawaka Utilities Electric Division allows Behind the Meter Power Generation for Customers

As of June 2021, Mishawaka Utilities Electric Division does allow Behind the Meter (BTM) generation for residential and commercial customers.  The Electric Division will provide a new Net meter (at no cost to the customer) that is only capable of forward rotation under the normal load for energy supplied by our company.

If the customer does generate energy, it will not go back onto the grid, and they will not be offered credit because our meters do not allow reverse rotation.  For example, if a customer starts the day with their meter reading showing 1000 kwh and the customer produces 20 kwh of energy back on to our grid, the meter will not reverse to 980 kwh.  The meter will still read 1000 kwh consumption for that day.

Mishawaka Utilities purchases power from the Wolverine Power Cooperative, that is very diversified in its production of power, and does not generate or allow the generation of any supplemental power on its own or by others as a part of the guidelines set forth in our purchasing agreement.

Incentivized program for alternative power sources, we do offer our customers the option of installing BTM generation. The idea of BTM generation is to help offset a customer’s individual usage, not provide generation back to the utility lines.  We advise our customers to keep this in mind when having a solar assessment completed to ensure the potential solar generation system is not overbuilt with the hope of selling power back to the city.

Each customer is required to fill out our Application for Interconnection with the Mishawaka Utilities Distribution System when planning to have a solar generation system installed.  Once the application is received and the customer decides to move forward with solar power system installation, their chosen licensed electrical contractor will be required to follow specifications set forth in the National Electric Code (NEC) book.

During the installation, the City of Mishawaka’s electrical inspector will be verifying compliance with the NEC specifications and will issue final approval upon successful completion prior to any interconnection with the existing City system.