Utility companies have always viewed the creative nature of solar power as a threat rather than an asset to energy. The option of providing electricity to the nation via residential solar systems may seem appealing to most but not to the companies that dominated the energy supply for many years. The hope that the solar craze was just a fad is no longer on the table, so energy corporations have shifted their focus. Since that cannot beat them, they have decided to join them. Now, the clock is ticking, and since they have waited so long to join the race, they may have to struggle to get into it.
Home solar systems are going after their piece of the energy market and energy companies are taking notice. The companies are not just taking notice but using their vast financial resources to cut into this thriving green market. Currently, solar energy supplies only about a half of a million U.S. homes and businesses but that number seems to be changing by the day. Arizona’s largest utility company has proposed putting solar panels on 3,000 customers' homes, with the promise of taking approximately $30 monthly decrease on their power bills. New York regulators are considering the option of utility companies getting into the solar leasing business. The plan is intended to help the state in its plan to decentralize the energy sector.
The initial doubt within the industry of solar power becoming a viable competitor has shifted across the board. In just the past year, Edison Electric Institute admitted that rooftop solar power has become a disruptive challenge. The company also admitted that solar power could cut into t large percentage of revenue and profits as customers change over to the alternative energy option.