TNO wins unanimous vote for Community Solar Overhaul
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 organizations 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 program 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 been 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 the 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 fixed,” said Reverend Conner.
About Together New Orleans & Together Louisiana
Together New Orleans is a broad-based coalition of 54 congregations and community-based organizations in the greater New Orleans area, with the capacity to address community problems large and small. The coalition is deliberate about crossing the lines of race, religion, neighborhood, and political affiliation. It works on issues affecting families and communities, and we are a strictly non-partisan organization.
Together New Orleans is an affiliate of Together Louisiana, a statewide network of more than 250 religious congregations and civic organizations across Louisiana, representing more than 200,000 people. It is one of the largest grassroots organizations in the history of Louisiana.
The mission of Together Louisiana is to give faith and community-based organizations an opportunity to develop the leadership capacity of their members and affect change on a larger scale than they could alone.
Together Louisiana is currently working on issues that include tax fairness, access to healthcare, flood recovery, access to healthy food, workforce development, criminal justice reform and improving infrastructure and transportation.
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