While 51 Washington, DC, residents wait, the local government is looking under rocks and between couch cushions for the $700,000 it promised them in solar rebates.

The district promised hefty rebates of up to 33 percent of the cost of solar photovoltaic installations to the residents in a Department of the Environment program designed to encourage residents to go green. But when the government fell on hard times, it used the money to close a dramatic budget gap, said DC’s Department of the Environment Director Christophe Tulou.

The money for the program came from assessments on utility bills that enabled the department to offer up to $2 million in solar rebates to encourage residential installations. The program was established in 2009 and has helped 315 people install solar. There were another 417 on a waiting list.

The money is designated as a renewable energy fund, Tulou said.

“But we’ve chosen to focus on solar right now,” he said.

Tulou said the department has approached lawmakers and is asking to access a sustainable energy fund in order to pay the 51 program participants short-changed when the money was reallocated to close the budget shortfall.

“There is at least some chance of being able to pay them out of that soon,” Tulou said.
If that doesn’t work, though, he said the 51 would be the first on the list to receive funds when the program budget resets next year.

“We’re pretty optimistic they’ll get their money,” Tulou said.

The amounts of the rebates that residents are awaiting are not small change.

The Washington Post interviewed two of the 51 program participants still hoping for a check.

Brian Levy installed a $27,500 system and was expecting a $12,200 check from the district and Ivan Frishberg installed a $34,000 system and was expecting an $11,000 check, according to the Post article.

“Our rebate is very generous,” Tulou said. “We’re proposing to reduce the level of our rebate by about half in order to make it available to twice as many people next year.”

He said that even with a drastic reduction like that, the rebate will be higher than that offered by many neighboring states that have programs.

Image courtesy of  www.coolflatroof.com.