Our state needs policies that promote solar power and competition.
Every new solar panel helps all of us by creating jobs, cutting pollution, and eliminating Duke Energy’s case to continually raise rates to build expensive power plants we don’t even need.
According to a February 2015 poll by Conservatives for Clean Energy, over 86% of NC voters – across the political spectrum – support policies promoting solar power. But Duke Energy is using its corporate muscle to limit the growth of solar.
In March 2015, the Washington Post detailed how the nation’s utilities and the Koch Brothers are uniting to fight solar:
Three years ago, the nation’s top utility executives gathered at a Colorado resort to hear warnings about a grave new threat to operators of America’s electric grid: not superstorms or cyberattacks, but rooftop solar panels….Two-and-a-half years later, evidence of the “action plan” envisioned by [officials of the Edison Electric Institute, the trade association that represents the nation’s investor-owned utilities] can be seen in states across the country. Legislation to make net metering illegal or more costly has been introduced in nearly two dozen state houses since 2013. Some of the proposals were virtual copies of model legislation drafted two years ago by the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a nonprofit organization with financial ties to billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch.
North Carolina needs electricity competition, not Duke Energy’s gluttonous monopoly.
2015 Solar Legislation
NC House Bill 245, the Energy Freedom Act, would have opened up North Carolina electricity markets to third party (“no money down”) sales of electricity, making solar power accessible to nearly everyone. More info here. Unfortunately, the bill never got out of committee, thanks to lobbying by Duke Energy and other fossil fuel interests. The sponsor, Rep. John Szoka (R-Cumberland), has indicated an interest in pursuing the legislation again in the future.
North Carolina’s 35% renewable energy tax credit was scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2015. NC Senate Bill 447 (the Energy Investment Act) would have extended the credit for 5 years for smaller renewable energy systems and by 2 years for systems larger than 1 megawatt. Unfortunately, that bill did not pass, and efforts to extend the credit in the budget process also failed.
More background
Does Duke Energy Think You’re Stupid? (round 2 of Duke Hates Solar campaign)
News release on Duke’s 2014 attempt to kill large-scale solar at the Utilities Commission
See how Duke implemented further solar-curbing measures in the 2017 energy bill, HB589
NC WARN’s white paper detailing our “Duke Hates Solar” charges
NC WARN’s fact sheet refuting Duke’s “solar hurts the poor” arguments
More reasons we say: Don’t Let Duke Squash Solar in NC
Read about more solar policy roadblocks in North Carolina
Media
Solar’s Future In NC Hangs In Balance Over Tax Credit — WUNC Radio, August 25, 2015
A Church Challenges Duke Energy Over Solar — WUNC Radio, August 21, 2015
Freedom Act would allow third-party sales of solar power in N.C. – News & Record, June 27, 2015
North Carolina’s solar industry is booming. So why are state Republicans threatening to strangle it?, IndyWeek, June 3, 2015
Solar Power and Competition are Good for All Customers, Winston-Salem Journal, May 2, 2015, Op-Ed by Rev. Nelson Johnson and NC WARN Executive Director Jim Warren (see, also, NC WARN’s fact sheet refuting Duke’s “solar hurts the poor” arguments)
Ministers’ Conference of Winston-Salem, Elected Officials Support Solar Competition, News Release, April 10, 2015
Pastor to Duke Energy CEO: Stop Targeting African-Americans with Your Anti-Solar Campaign, April 7, 2015
Desperate Fossil Fuel Interests Seek to Undermine Clean Energy Choices in Communities of Color, Huffington Post, April 24, 2015
Republicans Push to Expand Solar Power in NC, News & Observer, April 7, 2015
Poll Shows Huge Bipartisan Support for Solar Power and Competition in NC, News Release, March 25, 2015
How to Break Duke Energy’s Stranglehold on North Carolina’s Power Industry — and Maybe Save Our Coasts in the Process, IndyWeek, March 25, 2015
Bill Allowing Renewable Power Sales Direct to NC Consumers Could be a Boon for Solar, Charlotte Business Journal, March 17, 2015
Utilities Wage Campaign Against Rooftop Solar, Washington Post, March 7, 2015
NC Solar Industry In Jeopardy If Utilities Get Their Way, WFAE, July 24, 2014
Solar Energy in North Carolina: Gone in a Puff of Smoke? Creative Loafing Charlotte, July 8, 2014
The Koch Attack on Solar Energy New York Times editorial, April 26, 2014
Recent News
NO DEALS FOR DUKE ENERGY GAS EXPANSION — STATEMENT FROM NC WARN
Newly announced settlement negotiations are deeply troubling in carbon plan fight. Late today, the NC Utilities Commission was openly told that negotiations are underway among select parties that could settle the highly contentious carbon plan case that’s in its second week of hearings.
SEE ALL Duke/Kochs' Control of Government POSTSNC Republican leader: Duke Energy has too much political power — News and Observer Oped by R. LEE CURRIE JR.
McClatchy’s recent eye-opening investigative reporting on Duke Energy’s lavish campaign contributions intended to influence elected state lawmakers should alarm conservatives, moderates and liberals alike — for it’s a tale of chronic abuse of corporate power at the expense of millions of financially-strapped consumers.
SEE ALL Duke/Kochs' Control of Government POSTS