As Floridians start receiving ballots in the mail, Amendment One opponents are making a last-minute push to defeat the utility backed initiative. The state’s power companies are pouring millions into passing the measure.
The $20 million utilities have put behind their solar amendment dwarfs the $2 million opponents have put into the race. It also far outstrips all the money spent in an increasingly contentious fight over medical marijuana. Floridians for Solar Choice president Tory Perfetti says the difference in money is telling.
“So ask yourself the question,” he says, “why would the utility monopoly industry that wants no competition from solar be spending $20-plus million to run an amendment that guarantees you the right to solar that you already have?”
Perfetti and others warn a clause aimed at keeping traditional power customers from subsidizing solar users would lay the ground work for fees that might hamper the growth of solar in the state.
