A bill has been passed by the Iowa State Senate to end subsidies to homeowners who plan to install solar panels on their business or home and use a private utility. State Senator Julian Garrett tells KNIA News the way it currently works is if you currently use solar power, you are not paying to use the energy grid and he think that is unfair to those who do.

“If you aren’t using a solar system, you don’t have solar panels and so on, you are in fact subsidizing your neighbors who do because they don’t pay to use the power grid despite actually using it and I don’t think people understood that or knew that was going on. We have passed a bill that would take away the subsidy, so that whether you are using solar or not, you pay the same rate to use the electrical grid.”

Those who have solar panels currently installed will be grandfathered in with subsidies still provided, and customers who have their energy provided by a non-private company will not be affected. Opponents of the bill state that this will stymie growth for renewable energy in the state because it will lengthen the length of time to get a return on investment, and many consumers have no choice on who to choose as their power utility.