Help protect Solar Choice in the Sunshine State!
In the midst of a global pandemic, an economic crisis, and an active hurricane season, we should not be making moves to roll back an important policy known as ‘net metering’ which enables solar owners to be fairly compensated for the extra energy they generate and provide to the electricity grid.
Solar has had enormous growth in Florida in the last four years due, in part, to policies like net metering that are beneficial for everyone regardless of how they utilize energy in their home or businesses.
Now is not the time to fix something that isn’t broken.
We must urge the Florida Public Service Commission to protect good solar policies like net metering so that Floridians can choose how to power their homes and businesses.
Please take the time to personalize the letter below to the Florida Public Service Commission and share why you value Solar Choice in the Sunshine State, especially if your home or business is powered by solar energy.
Fill in your information and click next to edit and submit your letter to the Florida Public Service Commission
Dear Commissioners,
As we struggle with a global pandemic, an economic crisis, and an active hurricane season, it is not the time to create more uncertainty by signaling a change in solar policies that are helping to make our state a leader in clean solar power and providing good paying local jobs.
At the start of 2020, Florida was ranked 4th in the nation for solar energy production, employing thousands of people and powering the Sunshine State with clean, affordable, homegrown energy. The economic downturn has already put many of these jobs and future solar development at risk - we don’t need sudden regulatory changes in solar policies to create even more uncertainty here in Florida.
Our current net metering rule allows a number of Floridians to grow a segment of the solar market by choosing to power their homes and businesses with Florida’s number one natural resource, sunshine. Florida citizens and customers overwhelmingly support the current successful net metering policy allowing compensation for the solar energy they generate and provide to the electricity grid.
Please protect the opportunity for business and homeowners to generate clean solar power and support local jobs by preserving our successful net metering rules here in Florida.
Thank you,
[Your Name]
Floridians deserve
a fair choice
Florida is poised to become the Southeastern leader in solar energy—finally living up to its nickname The Sunshine State.
However, harnessing this cleaner, sustainable power source depends on maintaining fair and clear policies for how we power our homes and businesses.
How we help
Floridians for Solar Choice is a broad grassroots coalition launched in 2015 to ensure Floridians have the right to power their homes and businesses with clean, affordable electricity by harnessing the power of the sun.
In 2020, Florida ranks #4 among states for producing electricity from the sun, employing over 12,000 people statewide in the solar installation and maintenance industry.
On the surface, it seems that the Sunshine State's future with homegrown clean solar energy looks bright. However...
Are there attempts to sabotage solar?
Solar Choice means customers should have the right to install rooftop solar on their homes and businesses and be compensated at a fair price for the extra power they provide to the electricity grid.
However, a utility front group and the Florida Public Service Commission may be quietly preparing to end net metering in the Sunshine State during a pandemic.
Net metering allows solar owners to earn money or credits for any excess solar energy their system produces, which leads to savings for the homeowner and helps make rooftop solar affordable for more families and businesses.
Rooftop solar in the crosshairs?
Florida's net metering policies currently allow solar customers to receive full, fair retail credit from their utility for the excess energy they produce and send along to the electricity grid.
And it's not just solar owners who benefit.
All electricity customers could see higher bills if net metering programs disappear, which would be yet another blow to our economy when we can least afford it.
Floridians deserve better.
What is net metering?
Winning the Right for Solar Choice
In 2015, when past legislative efforts to overcome barriers to solar were thwarted by large monopoly power companies in Florida, a broad grassroots coalition called Floridians for Solar Choice came together to try and give Floridians a voice and a choice on energy in the Sunshine State. The FSC coalition attempted to place a constitutional amendment on the Florida ballot that would give Florida’s families and businesses the right to choose solar power.
Despite approval from the state Supreme Court, it became too costly to gather the signatures necessary for FSC's proposed amendment appear on the ballot so the coalition pivoted to address two other proposed amendments related to solar energy rights.
On the August 2016 primary ballot, Floridians overwhelmingly supported the legislative proposal known as Amendment 4, a bi-partisan proposal to remove the burdensome personal property tax and real estate taxes on solar energy. Supported by a broad coalition, Amendment 4 passed with more than 72% of the vote and was enacted into law in 2017 by the Florida Legislature.
And in November of 2016, Floridians rejected the utility-backed Amendment 1, which was a deceptive attempt to suppress solar. Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente agreed with a diverse coalition of solar supporters who felt that Amendment 1 was “masquerading” as a pro-solar energy initiative but was really a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Our collective efforts in 2016 paid off, but we knew it was important to keep watching to safeguard solar policies in the Sunshine State.
What needs to be
done now
Now it looks like solar net metering may be under threat.
The Public Service Commission will be holding a workshop to discuss customer-owned renewable generation on September 17, 2020.
If there's one thing we learned from our fight for solar rights back in 2015 & 2016, it's that we have the power to influence our energy choices when solar supporters like you join together!
Floridians for Solar Choice, Coalition Partners
350.org
All WoMen Rising
Audubon Society of the Everglades
Central Florida Solar Advocates
Christian Coalition of America
Clean Water Action
The Cleo Institute
The Climate Reality Project
Collier Citizens for Sustainability
Conservancy of Southwest Florida
Conservatives for Energy Freedom
Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship
Democratic Environmental Caucus of Florida
Earth Ethics, Inc.
Earthjustice
Ecology Party of Florida
Environmental Coalition of Miami & the Beaches (ECOMB)
Environmental Defense Fund
Environment Florida
Evangelical Environmental Network
Everglades Coalition
Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy
Florida Retail Federation
Florida Solar Energy Industries Association
Florida Alliance for Retired Americans
Florida Green Chamber of Commerce
Florida Renewable Energy Association
Florida Restaurant and Lodging Assoc.
Florida Wildlife Federation
Friends of the Everglades
Green Party of Florida
Greenpeace USA
H & H Design and Construction Inc.
Hands Across the Sand
Hernando County Democratic Club
IDEAS for Us
Interfaith Justice League
League of Women Voters of Florida
Libertarian Party of Florida
Libertarian Party of Seminole County
Mosaic
National Equal Rights Amendment Alliance, Inc.
Oceana
Organize Now
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Florida
Progress Florida
ReThink Energy Florida
Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida
Republican Liberty Caucus of Tampa Bay
Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation
SEIA
Sierra Club Florida
Solar Education Association of Florida Keys
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
South Florida Audubon Society
South Florida Wildlands Association
Space Coast Climate Change Initiative
Space Coast Progressive Alliance
Stewards Of Sustainability
Sunshine State Interfaith Power and Light
Surfrider Foundation
The Tea Party Network
Tropical Audubon Society
Union of Concerned Scientists
Unitarian Universalist Justice Florida
U.S. Green Building Council North Florida Chapter
Venice Area Audubon Society
Women4Solar
WTEC
WISE – Women in Solar Energy