{"id":5153,"date":"2018-03-05T14:35:52","date_gmt":"2018-03-05T19:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/?p=5153"},"modified":"2018-03-06T14:26:52","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T19:26:52","slug":"move-on-solar-energy-leaves-public-in-the-dark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/2018\/03\/05\/move-on-solar-energy-leaves-public-in-the-dark\/","title":{"rendered":"Sudden move on solar energy leaves public in the dark"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Not to sound alarmist, but the last time we saw <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scstatehouse.gov\/member.php?code=1629545259\">Rep. Bill Sandifer<\/a> &#8211; Chair of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scstatehouse.gov\/CommitteeInfo\/houselci.php\">Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee<\/a> &#8211; jam a bill through LCI was in 2007, when the now-maligned Base Load Review Act went straight to the House floor with no public hearing, and cleared both the House and Senate in a record three days.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Sandifer-Bill-2011reverse.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-5154\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Sandifer-Bill-2011reverse.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"214\" height=\"265\" \/><\/a>It is worth noting that Sandifer is also a Task Force Chair of the <em>uber<\/em>-business friendly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alec.org\/\">American Legislative Exchange Council<\/a> (ALEC).<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Sandifer introduced a bill (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/H-5045-net-metering.pdf\">H-5045<\/a>) to repeal the two sections of SC Code of Laws governing solar power. The bill is scheduled for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/LCI-Subcommittee-notice-on-solar-laws.pdf\">subcommittee hearing<\/a> at 10am Tuesday, March 6. The bill &#8211; just one sentence long &#8211; would repeal Title 58 Chapter 39 and 40 of state laws passed in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>Those utility-friendly laws allowed some solar power distribution by other than utilities and established a net metering system that gives utility credits to those who make more solar power than they can use. This was a small step forward, but South Carolina still has among the nation&#8217;s most restrictive solar laws.<\/p>\n<p>No one knows what will take their place, but we are told an amended version of the laws will be introduced tomorrow morning. The new solar laws then go before the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/LCI-Full-Committee-notice-on-solar-laws.pdf\">full LCI committee<\/a> at 11:30 &#8211; before anyone has a chance to read them, much less study their implications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Not to sound alarmist, but the last time we saw Rep. Bill Sandifer &#8211; Chair of the Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee &#8211; jam a bill through LCI was in 2007, when the now-maligned Base Load Review Act went straight &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/2018\/03\/05\/move-on-solar-energy-leaves-public-in-the-dark\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-network-newsevents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5153"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5168,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5153\/revisions\/5168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}