Last week we formed a non-profit company (501c4) Floridians For Energy Independence (www.ffei.org) to reach out to the 8,000 people who installed solar in Florida in the past 12 months who are currently waiting to see if the 2010 Legislature will pay the promised rebates.
We mailed post cards to all 8,000 voters and asked them to call their lawmakers THIS week and tell them to earn their vote this election year by passing a Solar Energy Public Benefits Funds. It is important that our elected officials be reminded that this is an election year and they should not count on getting our votes just because they are currently in office. We have to take back our control over our elected officials and tell them that we are not going to stand idle while they provide incentives and opportunities for the big corporations and electrical utilities, and ignor the average Floridian family.
We are the only organization that is supporting a sustainable program to provide incentives to individuals to install solar. Without this program, the solar industry will be dead in Florida. Just about every state has some form of a public benefits program, but the 2010 Florida legislature seems dead set against giving the public the RIGHT to install solar on our rooftops.
Please go to www.ffei.org to learn about the public benefits fund and call your legislators this week. The 2010 legislative session ends this coming friday, April 30,2010 so we need your action today.
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We installed solar hot water in Nov. 2009 and the state of Florida has not given us our rebates. Now they are giving for appliances? How can they do this? Mary Scholz
ReplyDeleteI purchased a 5 Watt photovoltaic system(solar electric) understanding I would have a Florida state rebate of $20,000. Now I find out this was only "if they had funds left"! I didn't get the solar hot water system - now I'm glad since I am in a whole lot of hot water!
ReplyDeleteWe had the solar water installed counting on these liars returning our tax money.
ReplyDeleteToday is April 27, 2010. The House and Senate completed negotiations on their combined budgets today. There will be no funding for the solar energy trust. We lose.
ReplyDeleteNot only is this state incompetent, they are liars, I was told, I was shown that the state would pay a rebate if I purchased a solar water heater, it was the biggest treason I had it installed. This State government, this Federal government are nothing but looters of the people. They take our money and spend more than we give, They take our rights and give them to illegal's. Looters of the people, liars and cheats. But what can you expect from a Governor who doesn't know what party he belongs to and embraces a President who is nothing but a do nothing liar. I'm disgusted with the whole bunch, get rid of the liars, get rid of the do nothings and give us a reason to want to live in our beautiful state. Charlie Jesus Crist can't walk on water, He stays in shallow water and it appears that he will drown there. He just doesn't have the courage to go in the deep water with the big fish, Like Governor Chris Christe of N.J., a man of his word.
ReplyDeleteI have said many times that Obama hasn't saved one job, saved one house, saved one dollar LOL or one life, So like our governor who hasn't saved one job, one house and one dollar.
Charlie you need some courage to protect us and nurture our state out of this economic and housing failure. Charlie Crist is more like Charlie the tuna a hipster wearing a Greek fisherman's hat and glasses, whose goal is to be caught by the StarKist company. Charlie believes that he is so hip and cultured that he has "good taste," and he is thus the perfect tuna for StarKist. Charlie is always rejected in the form of a note attached to a fish hook that says, "Sorry, Charlie." The reason given for the rejection was that StarKist was not looking for tuna with good taste but rather for tuna that tasted good. The citizens of Florida are looking for a man of character, not a character who has no taste, no vision, no courage to make the hard decisions for our state and certainly not a liar, Sorry Charlie You out, Marco are you ready to lead, challenge, create jobs, solve the housing disaster.
The king is dead long live the king . . . We will be watching carefully for a man of charater. Mike Galt
I have been told in an e-mail from Representative Aubuchon's office that the solar rebates will not be discussed in the legislature this year.
ReplyDeletePat Young
I installed solar hot water in Oct 2009..
ReplyDeleteI called them and they said I'm on a list for the $500 rebate but it would take time...HOW LONG???....
Trust in state gov't promises?????
Kolman Brand...
I had the solar hot water installed in Dec. 2009
ReplyDeleteand the state of Florida has not given us our rebates. Minerva Jimenez
We installed a system but did not do it because of the rebate but rather to do "the right thing" or better said, put our money where our mouths are. I am disappointed to read most of these posts that are complaining or did it to get something for next to nothing. I have not heard here anything about what I mentioned or the need to take advantage of the current situation and install the systems while the are available and are reasonable affordable. We have reached Peak Oil, our economy is shot and our money is worthless. When I look out my window and see the 12 panels I see money well spent and an investment that should last nearly 35 years. So, what I would like to see on this site are discussions on how to make our individual home energy efficient and independent. I am willing to share my knowledge and experience in this area with anyone who will gladly seek alternatives now while we still can. Any questions? J. Koch @ newsguy31@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteAs we all know you need to count your fingers after shaking hands with most politicians. This is a perfect example. They get us to commit to working toward energy independence on a promise to help make it more affordable, they get the publicity for the program, then leave those that did the right thing holding the bag, and they move on to the next media generating event - the appliance rebates. Yes I'm mad about them not funding the solar rebates, but even madder that they looked seriously at giving the IOU's permanent shovel in the ground full cost recover for installing renewables when then continue to force independent renewable energy producers to sell their electricity to the IOU's at what the IOU's tell them is the avoided cost. Let me put this in perspective. FP&L says it costs them 50 cents per kw to install new solar PV (their full cost recovery shovel in the ground cost for this energy) while they will only pay an independent biomass renewable energy producer 5 cents per kw for the renewable energy they can deliver directly to the grid.
ReplyDeleteI am not sorry I installed my 10 KW PV system. It was the right thing for me to do, I still get my Federal Investment Tax Credit, and given the way the IOU's will drive the price of electricity up using the bogus cost recovery mechanisms they PSC continues to allow, my payback on my investment will get shorter every day. My system is sized so that I should net out at zero purchased/sold on an annual basis. I really have no desire to further amplify the earnings of the IOU I must sell any excess power I generate year to year at the avoided energy cost of less than 3 cent per kw and have them turn around and sell it to my non-renewable neighbors at 12 cents or more. I will continue to work to find ways to get my rebate, and, am interested in any organizational ideas out there to call they crooks to task. The session is over so hope is dim, sorry this effort started so late.
Any questions you can reach me at JRover3500@yahoo.com
I installed the water systems counting on the County and state rebates and keep waiting for them, To this I will add that the way that OUC figures my elecricity bill wiyh the solar heater meter is another ripoff. If the meter says that I used 200 klwt, they should not charge me for those klwt , what they do is charge me around 9 cents then will give me bach around 3 cents and still charge me 6 cents for enery that I saved using the solar heater. that was not the way it was explained to me. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteOpen letter to all Florida House Representatives
ReplyDeleteTwo years ago, my wife and I decided to investigate installing a photovoltaic
system on our house. It was the right thing to do. It was environmentally
responsible. It made fiscal sense, but it was beyond our reach financially. It
was made possible for us by the promise of incentive rebates and your support
for this program. We made cutbacks in our lifestyle, told our three children we
could make do without a few things. We refinanced our house and took out an
equity loan to finance the installation of our system. It has been a difficult
year trying to keep up with the extra payments, but knowing it would get a
little easier once the rebate came through seemed to make the hardship
worthwhile. Now you and the legislature have stabbed us in the back. Rep Hasner,
supposedly a solar advocate, says there isn’t any room in the budget. Are we so
short-sighted that we would kill a burgeoning new industry in Florida for some
short term budget relief? People will lose jobs. Businesses will close. People
will lose their houses. How will the destruction of this tax base possibly help
to balance a budget? There are thousands of Floridians who made the tough
decision to do the right thing based on the promise of this rebate. We held up
our end of the deal. It is time you held up yours. Please bring pressure to bear
where needed to make sure this program is granted new life.
Sincerely,
An abused Florida homeowner
We also invested in solar hot water. The Republicans in the state govt. lied to us. They fund insurance companies and other industry but screw the people. Vote Democratic, don't nget Bushwacked again.
ReplyDeleteIf you've reached this point you've probably been a victim of the Florida State Solar Scam. You have my sympathies, I have been too for the maximum amount. I'm on a fixed income, wanted to do something for the environment and avoid the looming increase on energy taxes needed to feed our country's debt. As a result of believing in my country I now pay the banks in excess of the cost I save by producing & conserving energy. It's a nice sentiment but it doesn't work. Don't support Florida solar initiatives. It's just a scam and they don't pay up regardless of what you hear or see in writing, the news and especially from politicians.
ReplyDelete