TNO wins unanimous vote for Community Solar Overhaul

Together New Orleans weekly news entry, Liana Heath. All photographs by Liana Heath.

Rule changes called “game-changing”; will help thousands save 20% on electric bills each month

Reforms position New Orleans for big influx of federal funding tied to Community Solar

“We believe the action taken by the Committee today will fix our Community Solar program and create a strategy to help families with their utility bills, not just month-to-month, but over the long haul. We commend the City Council and Councilmember Moreno for her leadership in spearheading this process.” - Evelyn Turner, TNO leader from Level Ground Church

Nearly 150 community members organized through Together New Orleans gathered in New Orleans City Council chambers this morning in support of rule changes passed unanimously by the Council’s Climate Change and Sustainability Committee today.

“We commend the City Council. The action they took today will fix the problems in the Community Solar program and allow our project, and hopefully dozens of others, to move forward and serve the families that need it most,” said Sr. Alicia Costa, Congregational Leader of the Sisters of the Holy Family, which is part of Together New Orleans, the broad-based coalition of faith and community organizers that intervened in Council docket to reform the Community Solar rules.

Community Solar allows residents to subscribe to solar panels installed anywhere in the city to reduce their electricity bills. The programs makes the savings of solar power accessible to more people, especially renters. Community Solar subscribers are projected to enjoy, at a minimum, a 20 percent savings on their electric bills.

“Community solar can be a game-changer in our city for the potential subscribers - who will see their light bills permanently decreased, and it will also help us meet our renewable goals through sizable increases to local renewable production. So, today, we believe, is a breakthrough moment toward getting many projects built and having our program finally thrive,” said Councilmember Moreno.

New Orleans ranks third in the nation for the most expensive energy based on the percentage of income the median household spends on energy. The City Council first created the Community Solar program in 2018, but there have not ben any projects since then because the rules made them unfeasible.

“Together New Orleans intervened in this docket to represent the interests of low-income families, renters and people on fixed incomes like me,” said Evelyn Turner, a leader with Together New Orleans from Level Ground Church. “The increases in our electric bills these past two summers have been nearly unbearable.”

“We believe the action taken by the Committee today will fix our Community Solar program, creating a way to help families with their utility bills, not just month-to-month, but over the long-haul. We commend the Council and Councilmember Moreno for her leadership in spearheading this process.”

To support its intervention in the docket, Together New Orleans commissioned two studies with assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy.

“All of this pointed us to the same place, which is that solar credit was artificially and significantly devalued in the current analysis,” said Jeff Conner, a leader with Together New Orleans through St. Mark’s United Methodist Church.

Together New Orleans worked with Councilmembers on rule changes, especially relative to increasing the price for solar credit per kWh, that will enable the program to succeed.

“These changes fix the problem, and isn’t it nice to have a problem solved,” said Reverend Conner.