‘Pay for your own solar, parasite’

The big California question: How much, and for how long, should property owners be financially incentivized to put solar power on their rooftops?

In allegedly the “greenest” of states, the California Public Utilities Commission in December proposed dramatically dialing back financial perks for those considering home power generation, pruning the amount and length of savings offered to current solar panel owners.

My column raising all sorts of questions about the CPUC plan — which is supported by the state’s three giant private industry utilities — got all sorts of replies from readers.

Some see little value in paying more for energy so a neighbor can eventually get a financial return on his investment in an electricity-generating roof. They note solar owners tend to be from a wealthier demographic and can afford higher energy bills.

Then there are others who, like me, have solar rooftop systems. They wonder why the CPUC’s thinking doesn’t significantly value the $15,000 or so invested in a typical solar system — or the 7% of energy produced statewide by these mini-power plants. That upfront cost gets solar owners cheaper energy costs and helps to keep the grid running smoothly. Not to mention aiding the state’s aggressive clean-energy goals.

The mailbag was so chockfull of divergent opinions, I will conduct a debate of sorts on the benefits of these solar subsidies by simply using reader replies from both sides of this argument.

“Pay for your own solar, parasite.”

“It’s a huge lie that the rich are robbing from the poor. No one, including the poor, paid a cent toward our rooftop solar. After the utility companies shut down rooftop solar, they will build solar farms, and guess who will pay for that? Yes, everyone including the poor.”

“The more well-to-do residents who own solar production get an average benefit you calculate to be $129 a month. It seems to me that this demographic needs to come to terms with the declining need for subsidies. There certainly is no reason to force payment of a pre

For almost a decade, tech companies have tried to transform the traditional home sales process.

Ibuyers first appeared around 2014, making it possible to sell your home online almost as easily as collectors sell their wares on eBay. The ibuyers’ product targets homeowners, making it possible to sell your home without having to list it, fix it up or open it up to strangers.

Now there’s a new breed of disruptors called “power buyers” who are trying to streamline the process for buyers.

Companies like Knock, Orchard, Homeward, Ribbon and Accept Inc. provide cash offers, bridge financing and “buy-before-you-sell”

programs that allow shoppers to buy a home before selling their old one.

Power buyers are like a rich uncle, providing dollars upfront so you can make an all-cash offer to buy a home.

Knock co-founder and CEO Sean Black — who also helped found online real estate site Trulia

— said power buyers are just the latest development in what he calls “the transaction revolution.”

“All of us collectively are just trying to fix a very broken transaction,” Black said during a recent fireside chat moderated by the Southern California News