Luke Metzger: Texas, warm up to solar (OpEd Dallas News)

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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-metzger_17edi.ART.State.Edition1.445196e.html

The Texas Legislature will have the chance this session to embrace a solar future for our state.

Rep. Garnet Coleman and Sen. Rodney Ellis have filed legislation – HB 2226 and SB 1357 – to build a solar power market here. The TexSun Solar Energy Rebate Program would create a five-year, half-billion-dollar incentive operation to give solar the jumpstart it needs to get up and running.

The program would provide rebates to make it cost-effective for about 50,000 Texas homeowners and businesses to put solar panels on their roofs.

The rebates would be funded by a surcharge on our electric bills of 65 cents a month, something polls show a strong majority of Texans would gladly pay to help develop solar power. Homeowners using the panels would benefit from dramatically lower electric bills that would save them money over the lifetime of the photovoltaic (PV) system, including immediate savings if they finance the system themselves.

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