Thoughts on Solar by Run on Sun's Founder & CEO, Jim Jenal

Today the LA County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the creation of the LA County Energy Program (LACEP) which provides for AB 811 financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.  Four people spoke in favor of the Program including: Tammy Schwolsky (Founder & CEO of REAS which provides energy audits and green building consulting), Holly Schroeder (CEO of the Building Industry Association of Southern California), Kara Seward (Field Representative for State Senator Fran Pavley), and Run on Sun Founder & CEO, Jim Jenal.  No one spoke in opposition.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky offered a friendly amendment calling on staff to work with the contractor community to address the concerns that we have been raising these past few months.  Noted Yaroslavsky’s amendment:

We have heard from local contractors and business owners on a range of topics that include licensing requirements for participating contractors; the mechanism and timing of disbursing loans to homeowners (for example, should payments be made as one lump sum or in multiple installments, and should the payments be disbursed to homeowners before or after work is completed); and, concern over the interest rate that will be charged to participating property owners.

(Frankly, the only concern of ours that was omitted from that list was the high equity requirement in the program that we believe will exclude many otherwise qualified and eager participants.)

Yaroslavsky’s amendment requires the Director of Internal Services (the folks designing the Program) to meet with interested local contractors and other appropriate business owners within the next three weeks to work on these issues.   We will keep you posted as those meetings occur.