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from the stick-it-where-the-sun-don't-shine dept.
CleanTechnica has written a series of articles about the deceptive wording on Florida's Amendment 1, which is meant to slow the Sunshine State's rooftop solar growth and even penalize it — despite language that initially makes it look like a pro-solar amendment. A new press release from the US Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) reveals that Florida voters are waking up to the deception, but that the big utilities are playing hardball now to keep it up, pumping millions of dollars more into misleading ads before election day.
Fortunately, all of the press (and Elon Musk tweeting) about Amendment 1 have made many voters aware that it is a proposal to benefit utility monopolies like Florida Power & Light, not the people of Florida. But Florida's utilities aren't willing to give up. In fact, they are showing how valuable they consider this anti-solar legislation to be, pouring $3.5 million more into misleading advertisements in the closing days before all ballots are cast. SEIA writes:
"Polls conducted this past week indicate a sharp momentum shift on the anti-solar Amendment 1 ballot initiative in Florida. As public backlash mounts, the electric utility interests funding the deceptively worded amendment have doubled down, reportedly spending another $3.5 million to continue to deceive Floridians."
Lying at such low elevation, Floridians should have particular interest in not contributing to the higher global mean temperatures that drive higher sea levels.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Tuesday November 08 2016, @03:31PM
So we are supposed to be all outraged when one huge industry that is in bed with the government does PR to push it's position against another huge industry that is in bed with the government?
In a situation like that, EVERY ad and 'news' article is assured to be propaganda. The article above is an example.
The incumbent power company has been in bed with the State government for generations, carefully tending their monopoly. They have also been delivering on their end of the bargain though, you flip the switch and the light goes on with a reliability rate that is the envy of the world at prices very competitive with the rest of the world. This cozy arrangement has allowed them to borrow huge amounts of money on very favorable interest rates to build and maintain the existing grid and generating capacity.
The upstart is mostly in bed with the FedGov vs the State, and seeks a monopoly in the form of subsidies to sell solar at far below market rates to drive in a huge installed base and displace the incumbent long before the tech is actually ready so they will be the entrenched monopoly in the future.
Note that green doesn't really enter into it, rooftop solar is currently so inefficient it is only green PR.
So people are supposed to pick which of these deeply entrenched players to support. It is actually fairly easy though. Since the solar is deeply subsidized it is only a winning move to support it if you A) intend to install it yourself and B) are reasonably certain you will be in the minority. You can't win if everybody does it because you will then be paying more in taxes than the subsidy. You should oppose in all other cases. The only path to victory is a lie, which is the Progressive specialty so has a fair chance, to convince a majority they can be one of the minority who can win.
The winning move for everyone of course is to slowly deregulate the energy industry and minimize the monopoly. Every single time you see a distortion in the market you should look for where the government is meddling and fix that. The grid is probably a natural monopoly and might not be suited to making entirely private. But everything else can and should be, then allowed to compete in a free and fair market. When solar or some other alt energy can compete it should. Period.