Posted on 02/28/2011 2:01:34 PM PST by Libloather
D.C. reneges on aid to install solar panels
By David Nakamura
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 27, 2011; 6:25 PM
It isn't easy going green, and it may also prove costly.
Dozens of District residents who installed solar panels on their homes under a government grant program promoting renewable energy have been told they will not be reimbursed thousands of dollars as promised because the funds were diverted to help close a citywide budget gap.
In all, the city has reneged on a commitment of about $700,000 to 51 residents, according to the D.C. Department of the Environment. The agency has pledged to try to find money in next year's budget, its director, Christophe Tulou, said.
"It just doesn't seem fair to go through a process with them and have them make investments in solar panels under the assumption they would be reimbursed," Tulou acknowledged. "It's really sad we are having these economic woes when we are."
**SNIP**
D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), who is leading the push for a sustainable energy utility to encourage green energy in the District, said officials are scouring the environment agency's budget in hopes of finding reimbursement money for the 51 homeowners this year.
But, she said, "I would think people would take a cautious approach" to future installations.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Maybe the people DC owes money to should find a judge who will accept a class action filling and pull three or four times this out of the city.
Not that I hate DC or anything.
Okay, I do.
Not that I hate DC or anything.
Okay, I do.
I was going to pay my income taxes but the money went to cover my beer gap.
If this were truly smart energy policy that would be one thing, but it’s probably a big fat boondoggle.
These geniuses in the city council amaze me that they didn’t realize that funding for any rebate would come from the following year’s budget — not the year in which the promise was made.
This is the umpteenth government program that has screwed the pooch.
They can write it off as a ‘bad debt’ on taxes and deduct it if it’s over so much % of their AGI....wait, Oh, it’s DC! Well fergit that!.....they don’t PAY taxes - they don’t got no AGI; they only get back what they didn’t pay in, mostly. Their mistake was believing in government, especially a DC government.
The country is broke and they think that a rebate is in their future.
I think the green in the green movement is actually a fungus that eats the intelligence center of the brain.
These dopes should go buy carbon credits to make up for the guilt they feel from using non-reimbursed solar panels, after all it only feels good if it’s paid for by Other Peoples Money.
13k per person as an average. What justification (I know they don’t need one) does government use to subsidise solar anyway?
Not a big fan of government sponsored programs like this.
Don’t like anything I’ve seen come out of the D. of C. government.
Don’t like citizens thinking the government should pay for their projects.
Well, in this instance a promise was made, the citizens moved forward under good faith. The city reneged on it’s promise.
“Your honor, I the juror find for the plaintiffs.”
You mean Democrats lied? No way.
Installing solar panels in the DC area is a joke in itself.
If it isn’t raining, or overcast, or smoggy, there must be a few days in there where they see the sun.
This is commonly know as "misappropriation of funds" and usually carries a stiff prison sentence when a Republican does it.
>If this were truly smart energy policy that would be one thing, but it’s probably a big fat boondoggle.
Probably??
$700,000 to 51 residents
Do the math and tell me how much they saved on their electric bills.
What is the break even point on that dog? How many decades?
- and thats just the government rebate portion!
Anybody that would rust the District of Columbia Government is a little light between the ears.
They live up (or should that be down) to the Thomas Jefferson maxim, “A government big enough to give you anything you want is big enough to take everything you have” or something similar.
Meanwhile, in Chicago and “Crook” County, we’ve been getting our property tax bills recently and mine went up a whopping 80% from the year before. Not that I can see any improvement in the quality of services or education.
Good luck to those waiting for a check from DC government. LOL!
Ditto.
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