The rooftop solar debate is about one word—competition
The Wall Street Journal
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are posted for discussion purposes only.)
Regarding your editorial “Big Solar’s Subsidy Bubble” (Aug. 31) you omit my immediate previous employer from my background: the nation’s largest utility—Exelon. I ran renewable energy policy there when the utilities launched the now infamous attack on rooftop solar in a paper called “Disruptive Challenges.” That paper spells out that the rooftop solar debate is about one word—competition.
Monopoly utilities proceeded to launch attacks against competition for the last three years and have lost in every corner of the nation. Why? Because Americans are voting with their wallets, choosing to personally invest in rooftop solar. The utilities were right. Rooftop solar is the most “disruptive challenge” that their antiquated monopolies have ever faced.
Rooftop solar is nonpartisan. Some of its strongest supporters include the Christian Coalition, Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey. Conservatives support competition more than anyone.
In particular, I share Gov. Jeb Bush’s recent call to phase out all energy subsidies, and I challenge utilities to accept this mutual disarmament today. Utilities won’t answer this challenge because government bailouts for things like nuclear mishaps are indeed too big to fail. Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, another strong conservative, recently called for a level playing field on the solar investment tax credit, which Congress is debating now. Conservatives understand that unilateral disarmament isn’t free markets, it’s big government picking winners and losers at its worst.
Bryan Miller
Sunrun
San Francisco
