Florida Public Service Commission Opens The Floodgates For Solar Leases

Florida residents have a new option for going green with their electricity as the Florida Public Service Commission approved Tesla’s SolarLease option today. The ruling came after a long debate over the program to determine if it represented the sale of electricity to consumers, which is not allowed.

The approval gives Tesla and other solar providers in the state the green light to move forward with solar leasing in the state. Solar is the easiest to get onto rooftops when it does not come at an incremental cost to homeowners and instead, replaces the existing electricity bill with a solar leasing bill that is typically lower than what customers were paying for electricity.

The ruling clarified that the Florida Public Service Commission views Tesla’s solar leases as leasing of equipment and not the sale of electricity, which allows Tesla to continue leasing solar equipment in the state. Click Orlando quoted Florida PSC Chairman Art Graham as saying, “while today’s declaration is limited to the facts in Tesla’s petition, companies operating under the same facts can rely upon this declaration as well.”

Fighting for every step forward has been the norm for Tesla as it pushes to advance the cause of residential renewable energy generation in parallel to the simple ability to sell its vehicles in every state in the United States. To free customers of the chains of the legacy automotive dealerships that prevent automotive manufacturers from selling directly to customers in every state, it has developed work-arounds that all but mock the laws that prevent customers from buying directly from the company.

In Texas, for example, customers are not allowed to buy the car from Tesla in the state, but they are able to complete the transaction online and pick up the car at a Tesla Service Center. That is essentially the same process as in other states, but requires customers to work with Tesla’s sales team remotely, rather than interacting with a human face to face.

It’s hard to stop progress, but that doesn’t mean everyone is going to get it at the same time. Thankfully, Florida has taken a step into the future with this new ruling, which translates to more homes running on clean energy in the Sunshine State.

Source: Click Orlando