Los Angeles Electric Rate Linked to Solar Power [View All]

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/science/earth/11solar.html

March 10, 2010

Los Angeles Electric Rate Linked to Solar Power

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles averages more than 300 days of sunshine a year, and it often seems as if environmentalists outnumber rattlesnakes in many parts of the sprawling city. It would seem, then, that solar energy would be a thriving local industry here.

But that has never been the case, and experts cite cost as the main reason.

Now, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest municipal utility in the United States, is poised to pass a roughly 5 percent rate increase on electricity use. The proceeds would be earmarked for renewable energy purchases and programs, including one that would repay people or businesses that use solar panels to contribute to the power grid.

The commission that governs the utility, which is losing about $6 million a week or an estimated $500 million by the end of the 2011 fiscal year, is expected to vote next week to increase by seven-tenths of 1 cent the current user rate of 12 cents per kilowatt hour. Some proceeds from the increase — which is subject to a City Council vote if the Council chooses to do so, which would not be unlikely — would be used to shore up the budget shortfall, in the hope of protecting the utility’s bond rating.

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