FULTON - Judy McKinnon has been interested in solar energy ever since her days as an environmental studies major back in the early 1980s.
It is no surprise, then, that this longtime supporter of renewable energy and her husband, Jim Stevermer, are the first household in Fulton to take advantage of net metering.
The couple had a set of 16 solar electric panels installed on the roof of their home. The energy produced by those panels can be used either in their house or sent out to the city's electric grid.
"Over the course of a month, their solar panels will generate a given amount of electricity," explained Bill Johnson, Fulton's director of administration. "If they generate more (electricity) than they consume, the city will give them a credit for that. If they produce less, they will buy anything above and beyond at the normal residential rate.