'Major win' for solar PV as Florida governor vetoes net metering adjustments

• Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has actually vetoed questionable legislation to transform the state's net metering laws that would have substantially stripped down the benefits of having residential solar and allowed utilities to include additional charges to customers' power bills.

Initially handed down 8 March by Florida's Senate, the bill-- called HB 741-- would have seen property solar consumers pay repaired prices connecting to transmission and also backup energy generation chosen by Florida's Public Service Commission along with eliminating benefits for reducing the utility's electricity need.

Moreover, it would certainly have seen roof solar proprietors given a credit report at existing retail rates until 2024, after which the rates will certainly phase down till the credit report is entirely removed from 2029.

DeSantis claimed HB 741 would have allowed utilities to "enforce surcharges to recover lost revenues resulting from property solar generation that surpasses the general public utilities estimate", adding this would include in the "economic crunch" Floridians are currently experiencing caused by high inflation in the US.

A recent poll by Mason-Dixon disclosed that 84% of Floridians extremely supported rooftop solar, with 94% of Democrats and also 76% of Republicans supportive of Florida's present net metering system.

By vetoing HB 741, DeSantis has actually sent out the bill back to Florida's House of Representatives, where it will be questioned better. It would certainly take two-thirds of votes in both the House and the Senate to overturn DeSantis' veto.

The veto was warmly received by Florida's solar sector. "The roof solar market uses more than 9,000 Floridians as well as gives every Florida resident the freedom to choose exactly how they produce and also make use of electrical energy," said Justin Vandenbroeck, president of the Florida Solar Energy Industries Association, which had previously claimed the proposed legislation would certainly have placed US$ 18 billion of financial task in danger.

" His decision to veto this bill will certainly enable our industry to continue expanding and also give more property owners in our state the chance to decrease their electrical bills with solar."

Katie Chiles Ottenweller, southeast director for advocacy organisation Ballot Solar, said she was "heartened to see the governor placed consumers and also energy freedom ahead of syndicate utility profit margins" and really hoped the veto would certainly "sends out a clear message that attempts to attack Floridians' solar rights will certainly fall short."

Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) called the veto "a major win for power freedom and Florida's clean energy economy", keeping in mind just how the bill would have "undercut the state's growing roof solar market by phasing down net metering as well as enabling utilities to charge potentially unlimited charges on hundreds of solar customers in the state."

Its president as well as chief executive officer, Abigail Ross Hopper, claimed the veto indicated that "Florida's power economic climate is open for business", branding the state "one of the fastest-growing solar markets in the nation".