16.02.2015: US pro-solar group Tell Utilities Solar won’t be Killed (TUSK) claims that utility South Carolina Gas & Electric (SCE&G) has launched a new attack on consumers in the form of a so-called solar bait and switch. After supporting the fundamental solar policy of net metering, the utility is now backpedaling, the group claims. Instead of proposing net metering, SCE&G's latest proposal would impose hidden taxes on solar customers and would prevent consumers from using the energy they generate on their own rooftops. According to TUSK, SCE&G has proposed a buy-all-sell-all arrangement, or a FIT. This type of solar support mechanism has negative tax implications for PV system owners, the group claims, citing a memo from US law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flam. Not only that, Tusk says, rooftop PV systems owners participating in a FIT scheme like the one proposed by SCE&G also have their right to actually use the energy they produce taken away. Consumers are forced to sell all of the energy generated on their roofs to the utility, get taxed on the sales and then buy any power they need from the monopoly. SCE&G's scheme would take South Carolina in the opposite direction of what landmark solar legislation signed by Governor Nikki Haley intended, TUSK concludes, and it would further entrench the utility’s monopoly. © PHOTON http://dontkillsolar.com/tusk/ http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/south-carolina-utility-seeks-t
o-hit-customers-with-hidden-taxes-300035028.html |
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