Make solar accessible in Boone!
Ed Miller, General Manager, New River Light & Power; Nick Katers, Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Management, Appalachian State University; Sheri Everts, Chancellor, Appalachian State University; North Carolina Utilities Commission.
We won a small victory when we came together to urge New River Light and Power to rescind a proposed $99 fee on solar customers in the town of Boone!
But our fight isn’t over to make solar power accessible to residents and businesses in Boone. We must keep up the pressure on New River to create policies that encourage rather than discourage customer-owned solar power and work to meet Boone’s Community Climate Action goals!
Add your name to our petition to tell New River to support solar power in our town!
Sponsored by
To:
Ed Miller, General Manager, New River Light & Power; Nick Katers, Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Management, Appalachian State University; Sheri Everts, Chancellor, Appalachian State University; North Carolina Utilities Commission.
From:
[Your Name]
The undersigned residents of the Town of Boone and members of the Appalachian State University community urge you to begin the process of replacing the utility’s “forced sale” policy for solar, which has long restricted the ability of Boone residents and businesses to install solar, and which has stifled development of the rooftop solar industry in our town. Specifically, we urge that you:
• Create a stakeholder process to gather public input on any new customer-owned solar policy the utility is considering.
• Develop a new solar policy that is simple, straightforward and easy to understand by customers wanting to install solar on their property.
• Ensure that any new solar policy fully compensates customers for all of the financial benefits customer-owned solar provides to the utility.
• Add no new fees or penalties for solar customers that would undermine the financial benefits of their investments in solar.
• Structure any new policy so that it supports the climate and clean energy goals set by the Town of Boone, Appalachian State University, and the State of North Carolina. A policy that encourages customer investments in solar would help achieve those goals while enabling the Town of Boone and the university to benefit from the jobs and economic benefits that a strong local solar industry could provide.