Why Cutting Solar for All Hurts All Georgians 

For Georgia residents struggling with high utility bills, there are few options for relief. But the federal Solar for All program has been a bright spot for ratepayers and the clean energy economy alike. The initiative is part of the Biden administration’s signature climate bill—the Inflation Reduction Act—and provided $7 billion in access to solar energy and energy bill assistance to one million low-income households across the United States that wouldn’t otherwise have it. Georgia’s piece of the pie was $156 million.   

Solar for All’s goal is to cut household electric bills at least 20 percent, saving at least $400 each year. Georgia BRIGHT is Georgia’s Solar for All provider, a nonprofit that hoped to help 16,000 low-income families reduce their power bills. In its first 24 hours, nearly 500 eligible households applied to participate. Three days later, though, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it was terminating the federal program: bad news for ratepayers and Solar for All’s employees. 

Critics of the program’s termination, and lower courts argue, that the executive branch does not have the power to dictate the ending of programs and funding approved by Congress. Now is the time to cover the unjust termination of this valuable program because states that have lost federal funding—from education to AmeriCorps—have successfully sued to have those funds restored. 

The nonprofit has said it reached households through four major solar programs: 

• Residential Solar Savings Plan: Single-family homeowners and renters (with their landlord's permission) can lease solar panels at no upfront cost and save on their energy bills the very first month. 
  
• Community Benefit Solar Plan: Nonprofits and other community organizations can install solar on their property through low-cost loans or solar energy procurement agreements, in exchange for sharing the financial benefits with eligible families or tenants for five years. 
  
• Utility-Led Community Solar Plan: Utilities can receive funding to create new or improve existing community solar programs in exchange for guaranteeing savings to participants for five years. 
  
• No Cost Solar Plan: Disadvantaged households that cannot access solar through other programs can receive a free system.

Solar has been a boon for Georgia’s economy, which ranks 7th in the country for solar-production capacity. Eliminating the Solar for All program will hurt families and Georgia’s clean energy economy, which has generated more than 82,000 jobs. 

All this is reason for Georgia state leaders to defend Solar for All funding and the clean energy transition, economy, and households it powered.