Trying to kill solar again
Dear editor:
Here we go again! Some members of our esteemed Legislature are racing forward into the past. House Bill 1370 filed by Rep. Lanny Fite of Benton and Sen. Jonathan Dismang of Searcy would cripple the solar industry in Arkansas. The idea is to eliminate 1-1 net metering passed by Arkansas four years ago, a policy used in many states to encourage solar power growth in the U.S. Homeowners and businesses install solar and when they produce more power than they use, the excess is sold to power utilities at the same rate that those power utilities charge their customers. Simple: 1 to 1.
Power companies have urged legislators in multiple states to instead pass laws to allow the power companies to pay less for the power solar owners generate. A lot less. Thus increasing profits and killing off the possible competition that increasing numbers of solar owners will pose in the future. Greed, stupidity, backwardness — that’s some Arkansas politicians’ answers for the future. It’s embarrassing.
Solar means less pollution, less reliance on centralized power generation, cheaper power for solar owners and choices for consumers. The news of late is full of stories of people shooting up power distribution stations putting hundreds of thousands of customers in the dark for days or even weeks. More solar would lessen the impact of such actions.
These bill sponsors are shills for the power companies trying to grab more profits, kill public solar in our state and burn more coal. The big power companies instead want to build solar facilities themselves to sell that power at a profit, thus controlling it completely.
I urge my fellow citizens to contact their legislators and tell them to vote no on House Bill 1370. And since these clowns keep trying to sneak this kind of dollars for power companies into law, please vote these legislators out of office in the next election. They care about power companies’ profits far more than the future good of the people of this state. Hundreds of companies and local organizations have come out against this plan as a rip-off to all of us. Greedy is what greedy does!
Steven Snellback Lonsdale