Power-rebate program irks Nevada contractors
Las Vegas Review-Journal --Sep. 2
Sep. 2--Photovoltaic systems convert electrons from sunlight into electricity soundlessly, but some electrical contractors are making a lot of noise about how a rebate program meant to encourage use of the alternate power systems was handled.
Those sums, which represent a rebate of $5 a watt, typically pay half the
cost of installing the solar systems.
The state law allowed the two utilities to collect the cost of the rebate
program through higher electricity rates.
And even though the amount of the rebates appear generous, many local
contractors are arguing that the total number of rebates was not. The two
utilities have funds to provide rebates for a maximum of 200 kilowatts this
year, and that allocation is already gone.
Any additional applications will be considered for next year when the rebate
amount drops to $4 a watt.
All of this year's allocations were made before Nevada Power considered any
applications from Free Energy Store's customers.
And that has left Cathy Geever of the Free Energy Store in Las Vegas and some
other contractors fuming, because they were unable to get any of the
Legislature-mandated rebates to install photovoltaic systems for residential and
commercial customers.
"This is an outrage," Geever said. "Is this the way Nevada
regularly does business? What special connections do (electrical contractors)
have that the rest of us don't have?"
Bob Balzar, director of Nevada Power's conservation program, is unsympathetic
to the contractors' plight, though.
Nevada Power and its sister utility in Reno, Sierra Pacific Power Co., made
the rebates available on a first-come, first-serve basis under the
SolarGenerations program. (Visit www.solargenerations.com for more information.)
The solar rebate program began on Aug. 1, and "it was fully subscribed
by Aug. 13," Balzar said.
"I'm sorry the allocation came from the state, not Nevada Power,"
Balzar said. "It was first-come, first-serve," he noted, adding that
all rebate applications were date- and time-stamped as received.
The utilities proposed the process used to select who got the rebates, and
the state task force approved that method, he continued.
The Nevada Renewable Energy Task Force recommended 46 commercial and
residential applications totaling 198 kilowatts.
Nelson Electric, got 15 Northern Nevada customers on the list; Bombard
Electric, eight Southern Nevada customers; Electrical Concepts, eight Northern
Nevada customers; and Quality Control Systems, six Southern Nevada customers.
The recommendations will go to the Public Utilities Commission for approval.
"(The complaining contractors) are just unhappy, because they didn't act
fast enough," Balzar said.
Further, the utilities' customers, not the utilities, selected which
electrical contractors they wanted to hire to install the systems, he said.
Geever complained that her company filed applications for $230,000 in rebates
for about 45 customers but Nevada Power required additional documentation. When
Free Energy returned with the completed forms a week later, the company was told
the allocations had all been taken, she said.
"This is less than two weeks into a program that's supposed to be 12
months long," she said.
Tim Hay, chief of the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said
he would have liked to see the rebate "pie" cut into more and smaller
pieces for small businesses. Many of the residential applicants that made the
list are big users and affluent households, he said.
Average consumers may not have been as ready to respond quickly with rebate
applications, he said.
"I'm sort of reserving judgment on how that part of the process
operated," he said.
Allocations for schools and public buildings are still available, however.
But Hay also is questioning why Fallon Naval Air Station should get some of the
rebates. He believes it should go to a government agency that would use the
solar system on a publicly accessible government property, such as a civic
auditorium.
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