Solar Advocates Take Dim View Of New Fees

from the ridiculous dept

With all the electric power problems the state of California has had recently (no matter whose fault they really were) you would think they would be encouraging people to look for alternative sources of power. However, that does not appear to be the case. Since the state got itself locked into ridiculously high energy deals, they're now looking to tax people who have "escaped" the system. In other words, if you've set up solar panels, so you don't need to pay an electricity bill to PG&E, they now want to tax you. What's amazing is that they don't even try to hide the reason they're doing this. The state admits that they're paying too much for electricity and need some way to make up the bill.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Chris, 10 Mar 2003 @ 1:07pm

    No Subject Given

    Expect to see more of this. States got caught up in the euphoria of the dot com bubble too, and spent money based on projections of incoming tax revenue that were pipe dreams at best. Those bills are now coming due and the states are short billions. Cutting spending never seems to be part of the solution.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    alternatives(), 10 Mar 2003 @ 6:11pm

    Youv'e got taxes!

    If you want to be 'grid intertied', the power company has to let you do that.

    But now you get to carry insurance for the honnor, $200 or so. Here's what's neat tho. The power company is self-insured, so if they got hit with a big pay-out...guess who's pocket they'd dip into? Yup, the customers.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.