Letters to the editor Oct. 8

Taxpayers account for rebate to school district

On Sept. 27, the Carson City School District received a $9.7 million rebate from NV Energy for installation of solar panels at various school sites in the district. Did you ever wonder why a for-profit company would do that? It would be like General Motors giving everybody $10,000 to go buy a Toyota. It would not be in their best interest.

The answer to that question is easy. NV Energy is not paying for it. Who is? Where did the $9.7 million come from? The answer for that question is also very simple. All one has to do is look at their NV Energy bill if they are an NV Energy customer.

On your bill you will see something called REPR, which will be about 5 percent of the cost of your electric consumption each month. Turn over the bill and you will get an explanation of what REPR is. There is the $9.7 million.

So to summarize: $1.25 million is paid through our taxes. The other $9.7 million is paid by us in the form of hidden tax. Make no mistake. The $9.7 million is not a gift from NV Energy. All of us paid the entire bill.

Now I expect my share of the $400,000 in energy cost saved to be returned to me in a line item on my property taxes. After all, we, the taxpayers, paid for the whole thing.

Michael & Sharron Tipton

Carson City

Green projects only

cost us green

The Sept. 28 story, "Solar power benefits both students and the budget," is more hopeful than reality. An article in the Appeal a few months back stated that the Seeliger solar panel project had a 30-year payback. That's terrible.

In the real world, a payback of more than five years wouldn't be approved.

The Carson High project works because of an almost 90 percent rebate, presumably from the federal government. That money comes from all of us in the taxes we pay. So the project really costs $11 million, not so attractive.

I believe in green, but when these projects rely on heavy subsidies, they are not so green. Until these green projects can stand on their own two feet, I say keep them in the labs until they work economically. It's like high-speed rail; none of these projects operates at a profit.

At this time, with a real budget problem, we should concentrate on reducing the budget deficit, unemployment and the foreclosure problem.

When you are up to your hips in alligators, remember that we are here to drain the swamp.

Let's not forget reality when we talk about going green.

Ronald H. Adams

Dayton香