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David Panscik looks over the plans for a solar panel installation he was working on Thursday in Lodi. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)
A heated situation
Lodi solar panel installer says $556 permit fee is a 'barrier' to customers
David Panscik has installed solar panels on homes as far away as Hawaii. Yet the Lodi resident has struggled to find anyone in his sunny hometown to buy-in to the energy-saving technology.
"All of my customers are outside of Lodi," said Panscik, speaking by phone Tuesday from the Pineapple state, where he also lives and works.
"How come nobody in Lodi has called me, but people in Los Angeles have?"
Panscik believes he has the answer: a $556 permit fee Lodi charges for residential installations.
In a time when scores of Northern California cities have reduced or eliminated permit fees for solar installations, Lodi has not.
That's got Panscik peeved.
"Let's get it down to the Hawaii (permit cost) $27 ... or the Galt price — free," he said, taking a break Thursday — after arriving back in Lodi — from work on Burgundy Drive, where he's installing panels for the first time in four years on a Lodi home.
Wearing jean shorts, boots and a black T-shirt, the soft-spoken Panscik said he's not just interested in drumming up business for himself. He contends the permit price is unfair, given prices in surrounding cities and counties.
He noted it is in everyone's interest to become environmentally-conscious.
"The way I see it, everyone is in the same boat," he added.
While city officials share that concern — and recently started a solar rebate program — they say the permit fee is not arbitrary.
"It's a policy decision because there is a cost to have these things inspected," said Jeff Hood, city spokesman, noting the city receives only a handful of applications for residential solar permits each year, if any.
Two homeowners have applied for permits so far this year, according to the city's Community Development Department. No residential permits were issued in 2007 or 2006. Four were handed out in 2006.
In Galt, where there's no cost for a solar permit, no one has applied for one so far this year.
Only "a few" have done so in the past, said Bob Risk, the city's senior building inspector.
As for why, Risk said it's simple: "Cost. Even though we're waiving the permit fees (through a program with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District), that might only be $200 or $300 on a $20,000 (solar panel) system."
In Lodi, there are no plans to trim the permit price, Hood said.
"If it becomes a big issue in the future, it may be something the city would look at," he added.
Lodi's $556 permit price includes: a $191 metering fee by Lodi Electric Utility, $80 for a plan check conducted by the building and fire departments, $75 for a pre-installation inspection of the roof, $75 to check the system's wiring before it's covered up, and another $75 for a final inspection.
There's an additional $60 in other fees, and a $95 charge if the system needs to be reinspected.
Kurt Newick, who led a recent Sierra Club study of solar permit fees across Northern California, said Lodi's $556 is high compared to other cities.
He said that's understandable to some extent because the city must recover the metering cost for its electric utility, and most cities do not run their own utility.
Yet he noted Pacific Gas and Electric Co. recently dropped a $277 metering fee for solar installations.
PG&E Spokeswoman Nicole Tam confirmed the utility, which serves customers just outside Lodi, did recently drop that fee. It charges upfront fees for solar customers only in rare circumstances, she said.
The average solar permit cost for the 131 jurisdictions studied was $224, according to Newick's report, titled: Solar Electric Permit Fees in Northern California.
Lodi's fee might not deter high-income residents committed to going green, but it is "an upfront barrier for some," Newick said.
"As more and more middle-income and lower-income people start to install it, that's going to matter a lot," added Newick, co-chair of the global warming and energy committee for the Sierra Club's Loma Prieta chapter.
Lodi City Councilman Larry Hansen said there hasn't been much talk at all about the city's solar permit fee. But, with the city's commitment to making its utility "as green as possible," Hansen said the city should encourage its residents to do the same.
"I'm certainly willing to talk about (the permit cost)," Hansen said. "If you can make a case, bring it to the council. Give us an opportunity to review it."
Panscik, the local installer, said he might just take Hansen up on the offer.
"Absolutely," he said. "I'm interested in making a better situation for everyone."
Contact reporter Chris Nichols at chrisn@lodinews.com.
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