Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Cooperative is one of 23 cooperatives under Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives that offers solar panel leasing.

Two years ago, Guernsey-Muskingum Electric built a 60,000-wattage array of solar panels on Pleasant Hill Road in New Concord. Members of GM Electric were able to lease a number of solar panels if they wished to participate in the usage of solar electric.

“For those who wish to support and use solar energy but don’t want to make the initial investment in their house or put something on their roof or take up yard space, they can participate in leasing however many number of panels,” Brian Bennett, the manager of marketing and member services, said.

As of last month, all of the 288 panels that make up the array were currently being leased.

Solar leasers are required to pay a premium. Currently, they are paying roughly 2.4 cents more per kilowatt-hour than regularly generated electric users who do not lease solar panels. It costs GM Electric members roughly 11 cents per kilowatt-hour to generate electric, thus costing electric and solar users 13.4 cents per kilowatt-hour.

“It’s a stable rate,” Bennett, who has worked for GM Electric for 29 years, said. “As long as it doesn’t get damaged or we have additional costs that you don’t expect.”

In theory, over a period of time, as electric rates could increase, the amount of generated electric used should outweigh the premium cost of the leased solar panels.

GM Electric differs from other electric providers because it has no investors. Each person who uses the co-op’s lines is considered a member. Each member is able and encouraged to take part in the “political process” of the cooperative by voting annually on the seven district board members, Bennett said.

Additionally, at the end of the year, the cooperative allocates a sum of leftover money to each member in the form of a credit on their December electric bill or in the form of a check if a former member has since moved out of the area.

The potential to allow GM Electric members to lease solar panels in other areas of Ohio that are not being leased has been considered, but no decision has been made at this time. Having all of the solar panels leased allows the cooperative an area of expansion but it is unknown if the co-op is going to install more solar arrays in the future.