LA's Bright Future in Solar

Every dollar we spend to reduce our fossil fuel use needs to be judged by whether it makes economic sense for ratepayers and whether it creates LA-based jobs.

That is why yesterday, I announced a Carbon Reduction Surcharge that will be instrumental in achieving our renewable goals. The surcharge will be an additional $.07 per kilowatt hour, or $2.50-$3.50 a month for the majority of rate-payers. Funds from the Carbon Reduction Surcharge will be deposited into a Renewable Energy and Efficiency Trust Fund that will be clearly and transparently, with independent oversight, dedicated to investing in renewable energy sources and creating green-collar jobs.

A big chunk of the Trust Fund will go to pay for an exciting new program that will capitalize on our greatest natural resource-our bountiful sunshine-to create local jobs and cut rate-payer's bills.

The Solar Feed-in Tariff (FiT) program will allow businesses or residents who install solar panels on their rooftops to sell electricity directly to the LADWP. By taking advantage of this program, businesses and residents can save money by drastically reducing their power bills and in some cases even turn a profit, if they generate more power than they use.

The Solar FiT program will turn Los Angeles into a booming capital of solar power. We estimate our Solar FiT program will create 16,500 jobs over the next ten years. And we'll be incentivizing the use of local manufacturing to make sure those jobs go to Angelenos.

Here's a great story that show's how the program could work for you. It's about a Pasadena family that cut their energy bill from hundreds of dollars a month to zero:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

How we challenge the status quo and invest in our future will determine the legacy we leave. For our children's future to be bright, we're going to take advantage of LA's glorious sunshine and make our city a thriving national center of the new green economy.

Cross-posted at mayor.lacity.org