Power Up: LADWP to Relaunch an Improved Solar Incentive Program
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has announced their soon-to-debut retooled Solar Incentive Program (SIP) to help get more local customers set up for solar power, and reaping the benefits.
Late last year, the L.A. City Council asked the LADWP (voted one of the nation's 19 most-hated companies) to come up with a revised plan, since the plan they were running lacked adequate financial and personnel resources to be run efficiently. In short, they were running out of money to help the customers as planned.
The new SIP, as approved by the Board of Water and Power Commissioners on Tuesday, comes with "double the budget for the next three years, a faster and more transparent customer experience, and revised incentive levels that are more in line with market pricing and allow greater participation," says the LADWP in a news release. That budget will be $60 million, designed to meet the demand, which far outpaced what the LADWP imagined when the SIP initially launched.
To afford this, the LADWP says they will use long-term bond financing, and to guard against having to shut down the SIP as they have currently, the new SIP mandates they put the program on hold until the next fiscal year as soon as the new reservations hit the $40 million level.
Applications for the new SIP open on September 1, 2011.
