Southampton Town To Pursue Volume-Based Solar Incentive

Southampton Town is moving forward with a plan, called Solarize Southampton, to reduce the cost of installing panels for solar residential energy.

Under the program, the town will apply for a $5,000 grant to advertise the program, whose costs would be tiered. The more residents in a specific area who sign up for the program, the less everyone in that area will have to pay. The more people who know about the program, the more people will benefit, the thinking goes.

For example, if tier one includes five houses, the five participating households would pay a base fee for the services. However, if five more houses were to be included in the program, bringing the total to 10, then the area would move into tier two, lowering the prices for everyone involved.

The program is offered through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, from which the grant would come. It is being proposed by the town’s Sustainable Southampton Green Advisory Committee and Christine Fetten, director of municipal works.

The Town Board will finalize the Solarize Southampton proposal at its July 14 meeting and start collecting bids from prospective solar installers shortly after. It hopes to make sure that smaller solar companies are not cut out of the process.

“I think that it is on us to make sure that this is structured in a way where we achieve what we are trying to achieve—a program with a package attached to it that incentivizes enough people to take advantage of this, knowing that it does not only benefit the people who did it,” said Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst.

“It benefits the town as a whole. It reduces our carbon footprint. It reduces our overall use of energy. It reduces our dependence on [the Long Island Power Authority] and things of that sort, and we are trying to make this as user-friendly as possible.”