A new poll, commissioned by The Alliance for Solar Choice,
finds that more than three out of four Florida voters (77%) support
net metering, a successful renewable energy policy that gives residents,
schools and businesses full retail credit for the excess solar energy they put
back on the grid. Utilities sell that clean energy to the customers' neighbors
at the retail rate even though they paid nothing to generate, transmit and
distribute it.
Harstad Strategic Research Inc surveyed 801 likely Florida voters
from February 6-11, 2014. Poll results show that broad, bipartisan support for
net metering and rooftop solar energy exceeds 75 percent across all key voter
groups in the state. Only 13 percent of voters oppose net metering, with 10
percent unsure.
"Preserving net metering and alleviating barriers to
financing will keep the Florida solar industry poised for
growth," said Dr. Stephen Smith with the Southern Alliance for Clean
Energy.
"Turns out that Floridians really do want to put the
sun in the Sunshine State. That slogan isn't just for license plates –
it's a call to action," said Adam Browning, Executive Director of Vote Solar. "People
are looking for leadership to tap into a powerful source of energy for the
state."
Seventy-one percent of Floridians oppose changing the
existing rooftop solar policy by imposing a new fee on net metered solar
customers. This policy change has been proposed by large utilities companies in
other states as an effort to boost their profits and kill customer choice.
"This poll sends a strong message to Florida utilities
that customers won't stand for attacks on rooftop solar," said Bryan
Miller, President of the Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC) and VP of Public
Policy for Sunrun. "The findings are consistent with polls
nationwide that show overwhelming public support for rooftop solar and
opposition to anti-solar monopoly utilities."
In the past year, utilities have failed at several attempts
to stop rooftop solar growth by undermining net metering, which is a policy on
the books in 43 states. These utilities are following the anti-rooftop solar
playbook put forth by their trade association, Edison Electric Institute (EEI).
Many utilities across the country adhere to this playbook, and they have even
resorted to dirty tactics to preserve their antiquated monopolies. As
demonstrated by the broad support of this recent poll, is unlikely that this
playbook would succeed in the Sunshine State.
I just lost all respect for CleanTechLaw for posting this. It flat out lies.
ReplyDelete"Utilities sell that clean energy to the customers' neighbors at the retail rate even though they paid nothing to generate, transmit and distribute it."
Whoever wrote this is either an idiot or a liar. Same goes for whoever was responsible for editing. The whole point, and potential problem, with net metering is that utilities - and therefore ratepayers - PAY THE FULL RETAIL RATE for net metered solar. In fact, they lose money because the costs of maintaining the distribution system that transfers the electricity from the solar house to its neighbor is not redeemed.
For record, I fully support net metering and distributed generation, but there are important issues that need to be addressed. This type of fallacious piece can both mislead the unwary and discredit legitimate efforts of the solar industry.
Finally, I followed the links to look at the actual poll the articles references. No numbers were given to poll participants about what the cost to solar producers would be of a fee, nor was it clear in the questions that it is non-solar ratepayers who cover the shortfall in distribution costs. That hardly constitutes informed responses.