Solar Surcharge stalled

Legislation which would add a surcharge to utility bills to pay for the installation of solar power on new homes stalled yesterday in the Assembly Appropriations Committee:

SB 1652 would raise $100 million annually over the next decade by tacking a 25-to 30-cent monthly surcharge onto residential power bills. The money would be disbursed to home builders to subsidize the installation of photovoltaic power systems on new homes.

The legislation would also mandate that at least 5 percent of new homes come solar-equipped, and increase that by 5 percent each year until half of all new homes had photovoltaic systems. By comparison, fewer than 1 percent of new homes now are built with such systems.

As noted earlier, the Schwarzenegger administration prefers incentives over regulation to promote renewable energy.