(The Center Square) — The chair of Georgia’s Public Service Commission wants state lawmakers to give more authority to the state board that oversees companies that sell rooftop solar panels.
“I do want to take this opportunity on the record to encourage the Georgia General Assembly to look into increasing the capabilities of the electrical licensing board so that we can cut down the number of consumer complaints that we receive from the rooftop solar industry,” PSC Chair Tricia Pridemore said during a hearing last week.
Solicitors often go door-to-door in Georgia and imply they are working on behalf of in partnership with Georgia Power. Earlier this year, a Fox 5 Atlanta report indicated that salespeople overpromised the benefits, often leaving homeowners on the hook for paying off loans they took out to fund rooftop solar panel installations.
During this year’s legislative session, Georgia lawmakers considered a measure, House Bill 1494, which would have required sellers of distributed energy generation systems to disclose written disclosure statements, including the total system cost, before a sale. It would have also required installers to be licensed as a general contractor or a residential contractor or hire someone licensed as an electrical contractor.
Georgia lawmakers return to the Gold Dome next month.
Separately, the solar industry expressed disappointment in the PSC’s decision last week not to expand a rooftop solar pilot program that the commission created in 2020.
“The PSC’s small and temporary increase for exported rooftop solar energy will not encourage any economic development in the Georgia rooftop solar market,” Allison Kvien, Southeast regulatory director at Vote Solar, said in a release.
“Policymakers should be working to expand solar access, not stifle it,” Kvien added. “As we begin a new legislative session in a few short weeks, we’ll be looking to state legislators to take real action and make Georgia a place where people have the ability and the real, economic option to manage their energy bills through rooftop solar adoption.”
By T.A. DeFeo | The Center Square contributor
