Resource Management Commission, Austin Energy discuss reforms to homeowner solar incentives

The Resource Management Commission held an extended discussion on March 25 on a resolution urging Austin Energy, by way of City Council, to undertake several key reforms to residential solar incentive programs.

The resolution, titled “Resolution on Changes to Residential Rooftop Solar Program,” was presented by Commissioner Dino Sasaridis, who co-authored it along with commissioners Alison Silverstein and Paul Robbins.

In his presentation, Sasaridis laid out a case for reducing “friction” in the installation process by streamlining customer education requirements and the inspection process, while adding consumer protections like a rule that would mandate detailed 10-year warranties.

Sasaridis said one of the overall goals of the changes was to reorient the solar installation scene in Austin from a “vicious circle” of solar as a luxury good to a “virtuous circle” of solar as a commodity.

He presented a case study of Adelaide, Australia, a comparably sized metropolitan area with a similarly sunny climate which he noted has a roughly 35 percent solar “penetration,” or adoption rate, contrasted against a roughly 6.7 percent rate in Austin. He argued that this was due at least in part to differences in their policies on installations and that his resolution would help to bridge the gap.

“The point I’m making here is that we’re not doing good. We’re way off the mark,” Sasaridis said.

The average residential solar adoption rate across the U.S. was around 5 percent as of 2023, with Texas in the top three states for photovoltaic solar. The same year, the cost of residential solar per watt was roughly double that of commercial installations.

Sasaridis framed this problem the resolution is attempting to help solve not only in terms of the long-term environmental benefits of alternative energy sources, but also as addressing a coming crush of power demand brought on by the rapid electrification of activities formerly powered by fossil fuels – like driving, using power tools and heating.

“There’s sort of a tsunami of electrical load coming for us,” he said.

One of the resolution’s prescriptions would change a mandated online course and test for would-be solar-adopting homeowners to an “engaging (less than) 5-minute video” and a compact informational brochure to be made available digitally.

Another would make it possible for inspections of solar installations to occur online and asynchronously, in a system in which contractors would take and upload photos and videos of installations for review by inspectors. In the event of an on-site inspection, the resolution advises these to be asynchronous too, eliminating a standing requirement for contractors to be on-site.

That component of the resolution received the most pushback, with Commissioner Martin Luecke criticizing the idea that video inspections could provide the same level of safety and invoking his experience in performing solar installations himself.

“Having seen mistakes made, put it that way,” he added.

Tim Harvey, who works for Austin Energy’s Customer Renewable Solutions, echoed Luecke’s critiques in an extended back-and-forth with Sasaridis and said the utility had tried virtual inspections in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and found them impractical and unsafe.

“What I don’t want is for this commission to twist Austin Energy’s arm to start requiring remote inspections when we’ve tried it and it did not work,” Harvey said, further noting that he and the rest of AE’s leadership continued to have “serious concerns” about the prospect of virtual inspections.

Richard Génecé, the vice president of the larger Customer Energy Solutions division of Austin Energy, also pushed back against the resolution’s claims of “friction” related to the existing course-and-quiz method of educating solar buyers, which he noted has been well-reviewed by customers and holds a 100 percent satisfaction rate from the associated survey.

“I’m unclear what the friction you’re referencing is, ’cause it’s certainly not with people who take the quiz and retain the information afterwards and are educated against the bad actors and all the other things the quiz accomplishes,” Génecé said.

The resolution was first presented in early February, then edited in response to feedback from Austin Energy staff as well as a conflict of interest that apparently arose for Sasaridis related to provisions that addressed battery storage under the incentive program. Language related to batteries was struck from the final version approved by the commission. Commissioners are expected to vote on the resolution at their next meeting.

Sasaridis noted that other commissioners were free to take up the issue of batteries in the future, calling the struck content “all good ideas.”

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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