(task) solar program to end

NYRS

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solar finance

>> State to end solar loan program
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>> December 5, 2014 by MARK HARRINGTON / mark.harrington@newsday.com
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>> New York State is ending a popular program that allows utility customers to repay the cost of home solar-energy systems through state-backed loans on their electric bills.
>> The move comes less than six months after the program was announced, and as PSEG Long Island prepares to announce the 10,000th residential solar-energy program funded through rebates next week.
>> In letters to solar installers Thursday, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, or NYSERDA, which administers the program, said the state was ending green-energy loans to all but low- and moderate-income customers, beginning April 1.
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>> The authority said it was seeking to "avoid directly competing with newly emerging and growing private sector solutions."
>> An NYSERDA spokeswoman said, "Other lenders are looking to get into this business and we don't want to be competing with other lenders."
>> Long Island solar installers, whose customers were among the last in the state to have access to the on-bill loans, said ending the program would have a major impact on their business, and solar-energy adoption. Many saw their business more than double since introduction of the loans in July.
>> "I'm flipping out over it," said Kevin MacLeod, an installer at KPS Solar in Bay Shore. "It puts 70 percent of the industry at a disadvantage. The only business profile that's going to work is a lease."
>> Local installers have been competing with big national providers of leased solar systems since LIPA began allowing rebates to apply to its systems in 2013.
>> Mike Bailis, vice president of SUNation Solar Systems in Oakdale, said the state "put a beautiful program together and they didn't have any long-term vision." Bailis said with rebates expected to come down to 30 cents a watt in coming weeks, state incentives to push the industry are drying up.
>> The state's decision comes as PSEG Long Island is preparing to announce the 10,000th residential home solar system next week. The Huntington homeowner's $27,000 system was helped with a PSEG rebate but not on-bill financing, said Bailis, whose company did the installation.
>> The letter to installers said the on-bill loan program, through the state's Green Jobs-Green New York initiative, would be available to households with incomes of less than or equal to 80 percent of the area median income starting April 1. NYSERDA said that figure for Long Island would be $84,133 for a family of four.
>> "Thanks to a very fast-growing solar market, the state is able to focus its resources on where they are most needed: low- to moderate-income households," the NYSERDA spokeswoman said.
>> Loans for small businesses and nonprofits for green-energy programs will also be discontinued beginning April 1.
>> The NYSERDA spokeswoman said the on-bill payback option will be discontinued, even if customers find third-party financing companies to provide loans.
>> But she said, "through anticipated legislative action," NYSERDA will "pursue and support adoption of open source on-bill recovery programs where financing is made available by private capital providers."
>> Bailis and MacLeod expressed concern that the on-bill financing program was ending in response to pressure by leasing companies on state officials because it provided local installers with strong option for leased systems.
>> The NYSERDA spokeswoman said, "I don't know anything about lobbying. We see this as really a policy decision."
>> < back to article
>> 52 comments Comment
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>> deal-tracker • a few seconds ago
>> That's right ...election was last month....so much for NYS commitment to Solar energy.....
>> TrevorBolder JulyBaby11 • an hour ago
>> Voice of reason...And logic
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>> Babybee • 2 hours ago
>> Meaning the banks don't want competition!
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>> cupsogue4 • 2 hours ago
>> Psegs bottom line. Lilco. Lipa. Pseg. All have ripped us off over the years. Come on
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>> undefined • 2 hours ago
>> Every solar installation is hurting PSEG's bottom line. Utility rates are going up because revenues are going down and cost of maintaining the operation continue to climb. This is what we need, more alternative energy resources, not less.
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>> 13mike13 undefined • an hour ago
>> PSEG should be putting the panels on everybodys homes for free and selling the electricity to homeowners at a reduced rate. Essentially building mini, money generating power plants on everybodys homes instead of building 100+ million dollar new power plants or even worse, running lines out of state and paying a premium to someone else. Instead these idiots are letting 3rd parties come in, install the panels, pay pseg a reduced rate and sell them the extra generated....idiots...
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>> AndrewC22 • 2 hours ago
>> The feds in the DARPA agency should have been spearheading this along time ago. After all. Aren't we supposed to be 80 years ahead of out time. Yet they still keep nickel and diming us. Stop it already. They have the technology.
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>> Truth14 • 2 hours ago
>> I own my system, if you lease it, you are a fool! The leasing company gets all the rebates, and owns the roof on your house. You are now paying them instead of PSEG. My bills are $0, if you lease you save $30 -$50 a month. Don't be stupid.
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>> med11782 Truth14 • an hour ago
>> you actually have to get "permission" to get your own roof fixed from the company.....
>> read the fine print people....FOLLOW THE MONEY again and look who will make out when the loan program goes away.
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>> bksworld • 3 hours ago
>> "The authority said it was seeking to "avoid directly competing with newly emerging and growing private sector solutions."" Why is "competition good for the ACA, but not for energy?
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>> JDKsez bksworld • 2 hours ago
>> What newly emerging and private energy solutions are they talking about???
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>> 13mike13 JDKsez • an hour ago
>> you know, the middle man, whose going to install your panels, collect all the rebates, sell you the electricity your panels generate, and charge pseg for the electricity your panels over-generate... god bless america
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>> 82452 • 3 hours ago
>> The leasing program is an even bigger scam. People I know that have the program are saving plus or minus $30 a month. It is a big rip off.
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>> null • 3 hours ago
>> Too late to get in on the scam?
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>> LItechie • 4 hours ago
>> How about a portable solar panel that automatically toggles off your breaker and back feeds your house during daylight hours (not grid tied). Can't tax that or turn it off. Just need a panel that sits on your deck and can power your house.
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>> jpoulos116 LItechie • 3 hours ago
>> Not going to Jack with "a portable solar panel" except run some LED's for lighting. How about: encourage use of modern technology instead of burning something for energy, or is that expecting too much since We stopped living in Caves and the Wheel was invented?
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>> LItechie jpoulos116 • 3 hours ago
>> Believe in Moore's law. 10 years from now that one portable panel could potentially power your block. Just need to maximize surface area.
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>> jpoulos116 LItechie • 3 hours ago
>> I live Moore's law, I distribute electrical supplies. Still staying away from LED Lighting because of Moore's Law.
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>> 82452 LItechie • 3 hours ago
>> They probably have it now but need to get rid of the inventory on hand.
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>> svmc114 • 4 hours ago
>> In an unrelated story gary melius opened a loan company for those who want to install solar panels at their homes.
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>> cupsogue4 • 4 hours ago
>> Why doesn't ny just pull the plug on Long Island. Were done for. So expensive. We don't stand a chance.
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>> yogiscully cupsogue4 • an hour ago
>> Why don't we just become the 51st state? Most of our tax dollars don't come back to Long Island to benefit us anyway. Over taxed and under represented...again
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>> socrudo • 4 hours ago
>> No reason wealthy people should get lo cost loans or grants . Give it to the people who need it
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>> jwherman socrudo • 2 hours ago
>> 84 thousand for a family of four on long island is not wealthy .
>> For a family of two is not wealthy it is getting by
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>> kbjb • 4 hours ago
>> They have to save the money for the big corporate giants that lease the systems or the major solar farms.
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>> HermanZGerman • 4 hours ago
>> What about climate change you hypocritical globe killing liberals?
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>> jwherman HermanZGerman • 2 hours ago
>> Crawl back in your hole troll
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>> TrevorBolder jwherman • an hour ago
>> Unfortunately, he is correct. No warming for over 15 years, which was basically the length of the last warming trend.
>> Global Warming morphed into climate change to protect the subsidized scientists, lol.
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>> null HermanZGerman • 4 hours ago
>> what does climate change have to do withy being a liberal, Teddy Roosevelt was a republican, and he would be in favor of doing every possible to help the environment
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>> stymie null • 2 hours ago
>> TR was a progressive. Nice try though.
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>> bellportdad stymie • an hour ago
>> republican progressive
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>> HermanZGerman null • 4 hours ago
>> That is liberal logic for you like climate change it relies less on provable fact and more on who says it.
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>> LItechie HermanZGerman • 4 hours ago
>> I am a conservative and believe that solar is a way to decrease dependencies on foreign nations. So does drilling for oil and gas. Harness all forms of energy to drive the economy. Let innovation and the free market decide what is best
>> HermanZGerman LItechie • 16 minutes ago
>> I want it as an alternate source for my home
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>> sjohston • 4 hours ago
>> Good bring back nuclear power
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>> rscurtis sjohston • 2 hours ago
>> Too bad Mario and Big Richie cut up the Shoreham plant that you're still paying for.
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>> jpoulos116 • 5 hours ago
>> Mindless FN Idiots running this State.
>> marker • 5 hours ago
>> So I guess if you want solar, you gotta pay for it.
>> jpoulos116 marker • 4 hours ago
>> You have to pay either way. The Government should do EVERYTHING it can to encourage people to reduce dependence on finite resources like Oil and Gas. But Noooooo... they are going to wait until it's a crisis and then save Us from Ourselves, it's so screwed up.
>> hermanZGerman jpoulos116 • 4 hours ago
>> You do realize that more efficient cars reduced gas used and taxes paid so they have to make it up somehow. If you have solar they will tax your sunshine, wind power your wind, your water power or whatever.
>> jpoulos116 HermanZGerman • 4 hours ago
>> It's NOT about the DIRECT cost. It's about the impact on Businesses that are involved. I happen to supply a company that was mentioned in another article about a Solar Installation. If He slows down, I slow down, if I slow down the people that work with Me slow down, so do the Companies that I buy from, and in the end all of the Mom and Pop Businesses that ALL of People that have been affected slow down. My main gripe is that the FN Idiots that are running things will wait until there IS a crisis and tell Us that if We don't do such and such We will have no one to blame but Ourselves.
>> READ BETWEEN THE LINES... the state is backing off so the Major Financial Institutions will benefit. Those Financial Institutions don't make LARGE Political Contributions, NOOOO Never. "is abruptly ending"... Politicians, giving the Hand that feeds them THE SHAFT.
>> dgeliades jpoulos116 • 2 hours ago
>> The big banks cant possibly be cut out of this now can they? They have absolutely no shame.
>> HermanZGerman jpoulos116 • 3 hours ago
>> I'm all for solar power until the government decides to tax how much sunshine I get per square foot. That's why I like God as the higher authority. He give the sunshine for free.
>> jpoulos116 HermanZGerman • 3 hours ago
>> Not Andy or Obama...???
>> HermanZGerman jpoulos116 • 19 minutes ago
>> They've never heard a bad idea they didn't like.
>> pariah1 HermanZGerman • 4 hours ago
>> You're right Herman. With people buying more efficient cars and driving less they don't go to the pumps that often. Taxes on gas for infrastructure repairs have declined and there is talk about equipping cars with GPS systems that monitor how many miles individuals drive on a daily basis. Those who drive more will pay higher gas prices than those who drive less. There will be a sensor in the gas pump that will be able to determine how many miles you've driven since your last fill up and it will adjust the price automatically. I think this is a pilot program right now and if it were to go through, there isn't anything any of us can do about it.
>> SoloCup pariah1 • 2 hours ago
>> There's already a device that does this- it's called a "fuel tank."
>> zzeke1 pariah1 • 2 hours ago
>> What about the fact that there are more cars on the road than there were 10 years ago??
>> Revenue from gas tax is not in serious decline. Cost of maintenance, repairs, and new infrastructure have skyrocketed.
>> LItechie pariah1 • 4 hours ago I think insurance companies encourage gps tracking for deciding your rate
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>> MaryAnn Johnston