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Georgia Power is considering launching a program to help homeowners and businesses finance and maintain solar energy systems on their property, said Tom Fanning, the chief executive of the utility’s parent, Southern Co.
The move could make solar more accessible to Georgians. But it also raises questions about how it might affect competition from solar companies that want to provide similar services while also owning the systems and selling the power.
A big hurdle to adding solar power on homes is the upfront cost: installation and equipment can cost $20,000 or more.
“It is our job to meet customers’ needs,” Fanning said this week following Southern’s annual meeting. “We will do what is necessary to help them achieve their goals. That is good business.”
The company is “delighted to consider providing financing,” he said. “This is a new area.”
Fanning didn’t give a timetable for when such a program might start or how it might be structured. The company might provide services, such as maintenance of home solar systems, through third-party companies, he said.
Solar energy use is increasing in Georgia, pushed particularly by falling costs for solar panels and pressure from state energy regulators.
While Georgia Power is buying more solar power, it has fought recent state legislation that could eat into its monopoly on selling power in much of the state.
Rival solar developers want to sign up homeowners, businesses, churches and schools. The developers offer to cover the cost of new solar systems, own the equipment and then sell the power back to the property owners. Georgia Power has put a chill on those efforts, saying it is illegal for the solar companies to sell power to property owners.
Steve O’Day, an Atlanta attorney who represents solar developers and property owners interested in having solar systems, has battled Georgia Power on that point. But he said he isn’t against the company’s potential expansion into financing.
“I don’t have any problem with Georgia Power getting into that business,” O’Day said, “as long as they don’t oppose the ability of others to get into that business in Georgia of financing and owning solar power facilities” on homes, businesses and schools.
Allowing other solar companies to do the same lets Georgians enjoy the benefits of free market competition, he said.
Like buying a new car, many people aren’t able to buy a solar system without financing the purchase. If consumers have more financing options for solar systems, there will be many more built, said O’Day, who is with the firm Smith, Gambrell & Russell.
Steve Chiariello, the chief financial officer for Atlanta-based solar developer Inman Solar, said it’s unclear what the competitive impact will be from such a move by Georgia Power.
“Georgia Power is doing their best to retain control over the market, but it is moving fast,” he said. “It is inevitable there will be competition from solar.”
