Senator Jonathan Dismang and Representative Lanny Fite received the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas PowerUp Legislators of the Year awards for their work during the 94th General Assembly.
Presented at the Summer Directors’ Conference on July 31, the awards, given by CEO Vernon “Buddy” Hasten, honor lawmakers supportive of the cooperatives’ mission of providing reliable, affordable, responsible power to more than 1.2 million member-owners.
Dismang and Fite sponsored the Cost-Shifting Prevention Act of 2023 (SB295), which was signed into law by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders on March 13 as Act 278.
The purpose of the legislation, supported by the cooperatives, is to “ensure fairness to all ratepayers” by addressing the cost shift from solar customers with private net metering facilities to customers who cannot afford or do not want to pay for private net metering systems.