PANAMA CITY — James Morris takes real pleasure watching his digital electric meter run backwards.
“I’m making money!” Morris said.
The auto shop owner’s excitement is understandable. His business uses a large amount of electricity to power various pieces of equipment, that’s not factoring in the air conditioning working overtime to cool the place. As long as the sun is out, the meter keeps running backwards, pumping electricity back into the grid surrounding the shop on East 11th Street.
On Nov. 25, the Florida Public Service Commission voted unanimously to end Florida’s solar pilot program after 2015. The program established financial incentives to help pay for solar installations.
The PSC was acting in part because of a staff recommendation that cited the decrease in the cost of fossil fuels as a reason to end the program. PSC members said they intend to host a workshop in 2015 on finding ways to make solar power more affordable for Floridians.
Gulf Power public information officer Natalie Smith said the company intends to keep its programs through 2015 but that it is unsure of its direction after that.
“Yes the company is losing money,” Smith said of solar. “At the same time, we’ve always supported solar. Solar, it is not about losing money, it’s another great generation method we can use.”
The federal renewable energy tax credit, which provides for a credit for 30 percent of a system’s cost, is up at the end of 2016. It would take a vote from Congress to extend it again.
To Pat Muth, owner of Muth and Sons Plumbing, it makes no sense that Florida, aptly nicknamed the Sunshine State, would want to take away the incentives for solar power.
“We’re in the second best place for sun, only to the desert,” Muth said. “We were 17th or 18th in installation. New Jersey is ahead of us with half the sun. It leaves me scratching my head.”
Gulf Power states that there are 20 solar power users in Bay County, 19 residential. Muth and Sons Plumbing have been selling and installing solar panels out of their location on Martin Luther King Boulevard for 35 years. Muth said there has been a tangible increase in interest in solar power.
“People that they’re looking at their energy bills and they’ve done the math,” Muth said. “I don’t even have to sell them any more. All my solar customers, they’re happy campers.”
Morris has had 72 panels of solar power suspended in awnings in both the south and west sides of his business since 2011. He also has had solar power at his home since 2010. The 17 kilowatt system cost about $90,000 and that was with a 30 percent tax credit from U.S. Department of Treasury and $10,000 from Gulf Power, through the state.
“Hell no it’s not cheap,” he said.
Still, Morris expects to break even on the solar panels for his business in six or seven years. The panels have also helped him attract interest, drawing people in who want to know about solar power.
“It’s a pleasing aesthetic,” Morris said. “It shades the front of the shop. It’s a good thing for the environment.”
Morris’ mother is putting up solar panels in Louisiana.
“She had two or three companies fighting to do it,” he said.
Don and Katy Vanderhoef have a 24 solar panels on their Callaway home and their water heater runs on solar. Don Vanderhoef said it was the best investment he’s ever made, saving about $300 a month on electric bills. Already having the system for three years, he expects it will have paid for itself in two more.
“We think everyone should make use of it,” Vanderhoef said. “I have 24 panels up there. If I had room for more, I’d put them up there.”
To take advantage of solar at a lower cost, residents may have to act quickly. Smith said Gulf Power has a limited number of applications.
“It’s not going away, time is on our side,” Muth said. “People that make investments and see their power bills say, ‘Why didn’t I do this 20 years ago?’ ”