By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent
If it feels like deja vu, you’re not the only one.
On Wednesday, Vivint Solar followed its fellow residential solar installer Sunrun in filing a petition with the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) for a declaratory statement assuring their customers they won’t be regulated as utilities if they install solar on their homes.
Sunrun broke the floodgates with the FPSC’s decision a little more than a month ago to issue, on a 5-0 vote, a statement declaring that neither Sunrun nor its customers would be considered regulated utilities once they had installed solar on their rooftops. The decision surprised some, who said the utilities – which wield significant power at all levels of politics in the Sunshine State – would never allow it.
No timetable has been set yet for hearing Vivint Solar’s petition, and just because the FPSC issued a statement for Sunrun does not mean they will do the same for Vivint.
Still, the precedent has been set.
Though other states have certainly been down this road before, the issues pending before the FPSC seem particularly important, given the state’s slow move toward solar in the first place. Low electricity prices, combined with the stranglehold the utilities have had on politics in Tallahassee, kept solar from growing in the state for the longest time.
That started to change during the 2016 elections, when utilities tried a ham-fisted maneuver to keep rooftop solar from becoming mainstream through the ballot process. Called Amendment 1, the effort cost the utilities millions of dollars and, when the truth about the amendment came out, Florida voters rejected the constitutional amendment overwhelmingly.
Since then, the utilities – or at least Florida Power & Light, the state’s largest – have been building their own solar farms hand over fist. But with the Sunrun decision last month, the market is primed for third-party rooftop solar providers to enter the state and compete directly with the utilities for the right to provide power to Florida consumers.
Only time will tell how it will all play out, but based on Vivint Solar’s filing, they’re betting on the future of third-party solar in the state.
More:
Florida Public Service Commission OKs Sunrun’s Petition – So It’s Full Speed Ahead
You can read the entire petition below.
Vivint