Don’t let Lakeland Electric tax the sun

Lakeland’s municipal electric utility singles out residents who have installed solar panels on their homes by forcing them to pay unjustified fees known as “demand charges.”  Of the large utilities in Polk County, only Lakeland Electric requires solar customers to pay demand charges.

Demand charges are additional fees based on an electric consumer’s peak usage, and they make sense for industrial and commercial businesses that draw large amounts of electricity from the grid. Charging such fees for residential solar customers is unfair and punishes existing solar users and discourages more people from going solar.

Please tell Mayor Mutz and the City Commissioners that Lakeland solar homeowners should not be treated differently from other residential utility customers and that they should not be forced to pay an unjustified solar tax. Tell them that you want them to eliminate demand charges for residential solar systems.

Are you a solar homeowner in LE service area? Apply to represent the solar price plan constituency on the Utility Committee!