""Any other way, I couldn't afford to do it," says Bruce Schauer, age 80, who saw the advantages of adding solar panels and a battery, but wouldn't have gotten a system otherwise. After his system is installed in the next couple of weeks and starts sending power to his home, he expects to save around $400 a year on his electric bills."
""I've looked into solar in the past, but the upfront cost is huge," says Myles Burchill, another resident who will get a system added in the coming weeks. "I would have loved to do it as soon as we moved in. With this opportunity, we don't own the panels, but we get the benefits of paying lower rates. And if we don't use all the electricity, the potential for [the local utility] to pay us.""
""It's bringing clean, affordable and resilient energy to residents quickly who need it the most, and who've traditionally been left out of the energy transition," says Shoshannah Lenski, executive director of the Sustainable Energy Utility, also known as A2SEU."
"Ann Arbor realized that by creating its own power company, it could add clean energy faster than the existing local utility, DTE Energy. DTE doesn't plan to reach 100% clean energy until 2050."
A new program in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is installing city-owned solar panels and batteries at homes, helping residents save on electric bills. The initiative targets lower-income neighborhoods, starting with 150 homes and expanding to 1,000 next year. Residents benefit from solar energy without upfront costs, as they do not own the panels but enjoy lower rates. The program aims to accelerate the transition to renewable energy, providing clean and affordable energy to those traditionally excluded from such opportunities.
Read at Fast Company
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