On March 6 the Seattle Times published a letter from Lynn Jurich, CEO of Sunrun. Jurich urged readers to contact their legislators, specifically to oppose HB 2045 as “anti-solar”.
Solar Installers of Washington (SIW), a professional trade association representing solar installers across the state, disagrees with Jurich’s characterization of HB 2045 and asks that well-intentioned readers refrain from reacting to Ms. Jurich’s call to action.
SIW and other Washington stakeholders — manufacturers, environmental groups and utilities — are still working together with legislators to craft a final version of HB 2045 that will maintain and grow a healthy solar industry and support and increase customer adoption of solar. Moreover, HB 2045 is not merely a net metering bill. It also restructures the fading incentive program and increases consumer protection. In short, HB 2045 is far from “anti-solar”.
Ms. Jurich represents Sunrun, a San Francisco-based national leasing company that does not operate in Washington. Sunrun’s interests differ from those of Washington solar contractors. The local solar industry favors continuing to work on HB 2045. We need to pass legislation that ensures the growth and vitality of the solar industry in Washington this session.
Please don’t contact your legislator to oppose HB 2045 because the CEO of a California-based company asked you to. Instead, continue to investigate what’s at stake and for whom, and then decide for yourself what “anti-solar” in Washington really means.
Another campaign opposing efforts to create a workable solution by solar stakeholders has been distributed by CREDO over the past few days. Please flag this petition and urge CREDO to remove it, as it is misleading and factually inaccurate.
