Turning Our Backs on Sunshine

On April 20th the U.S. had a wake up call to move away from fossil fuels and develop more renewable energy sources when BP Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing 11 people and spilling over 70,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf each day. While the rest of the nation was reeling from the accident, Florida’s legislature was focused on passing legislation during the last 8 days of the session and renewable energy was not key on the agenda. Florida did what Florida has always done when it comes to renewable energy—stuck their heads in the sand. It is only now that Florida realizes that we are directly affected by offshore disaster. We are losing millions of dollars from tourism in anticipation of the oil spill destroying our coastline. Now Governor Crist is being called upon to call a special session for renewable energy in light of the massive oil spill in the Gulf. It’s about time.

The 2010 legislative session ended April 30th without passing a solar initiative for Florida’s residents to help reduce the cost of installing solar. Additionally, over 8,500 people are waiting to see if the state will make good on their promise to pay over $25 million in outstanding rebate applications. Paying those on the waiting list is not a solitary issue. Florida needs a sustainable program to provide incentives to individuals to install solar. During the past session Senator Mike Bennett and Representative Michelle Vasilinda tried to attach a public benefits fund to other legislation as an effort to pay those on the waiting list, and to provide financial incentives to reduce the cost of installing solar, and make it financially feasible to the average citizen. But their efforts failed.

Why is the issue of providing incentives for solar to individuals so antagonistic to the Florida legislature? The .25 public benefits fund would create a $30 million fund for solar rebates. The cost to the average family would be a mere $3.00 a year, yet this bill did not even make it out of committee. Republican leadership was up in arms against an additional $3 tax on Florida’s citizens. But at the same time, the House was willing to allow the utilities to increase an IOU ratepayer’s annual utility bill by $150 next year, followed by $100 increase in 2011 and an additional $100 in 2012 (total of $350 over the next three years) so the ratepayers could build additional solar farms for the utilities. The House supported this bill, because an additional $150 a year expense to a ratepayer is NOT a tax, but a recovered cost paid to the utilities. I thought that our elected representatives were supposed to vote for programs that their constituents wanted. How about asking all the IOU ratepayers just how they feel about an additional $150 increase next year? I am sure that the overwhelming response would be NO WAY!

The Florida legislature is an anomaly when it comes to renewable energy. We live in the “Sunshine State” but we do not encourage distributed electrical generation on individual rooftops. Our citizens are crying out to reduce their utility bills, and instead our lawmakers were poised for a $150 year increase. A cataclysmic offshore disaster occurs, and the local news just about ignores it for the first week.
Overwhelming, the Florida legislature always comes up on the side of the utilities, not the citizens. The rest of the nation is on track with trying to empower the private sector with green job creation, to provide affordable renewable energy to drive private sector investment, but not so in Florida. By eliminating financial incentives for solar in the private sector, the Florida legislature has caused unemployment in the solar industry to reach 30%. Every day we read about the job loss in the solar industry in Florida. The Florida legislature is NOT creating green jobs; they are aggressively contributing to the demise of the solar industry in Florida. It’s time that the lawmakers realize that they need to listen to their constituents, not the utilities. They need to make solar more affordable and accessible for residents and businesses and to accelerate demand through incentives. The 8,500 individuals who installed solar last year should be applauded not penalized. We pay over $40 billion a year in subsidiaries to the oil and gas companies. I wonder how much of the $40 billion went to BP alone? We owe $25 million in solar rebates. The legislature needs to do the right thing, pay those on the wait list AND provide a sustainable mechanism so that Florida’s families can ensure their own energy independence and quality of life by installing solar.