A Nanoose Bay resident says the Regional District Nanaimo (RDN) should walk the talk when it comes to encouraging homeowners to install renewable energy systems.
Gordon Buckingham appeared as a delegation at the Electoral Area Services Committee meeting on Sept. 5 and was critical of the "expensive" process the RDN has imposed on solar panel installations.
He said the RDN charged him $3,020 plus GST, which included assessment of the structural integrity of the roof conducted by a structural engineer and a verification by RDN staff that the structural investigation was followed.
"If a building was designed and constructed according to the building code, a detailed inspection and a formal building permit might not be needed to evaluate the building's capacity," said Buckingham. "Electrical safety is a greater risk but is insured by the contractor following the electrical code and the permit cost only $203 not the $3,000 that is being charged by the RDN for the complete inspection of a solar system."
Buckingham added when all the panels were installed, a final inspection was conducted by an RDN staff member. He said he waited the entire day on Aug. 12 for the inspection to be conducted but nobody came to his house. When he asked about it, he was surprised to find out that inspection conducted was only a drive-by.
"The cost of a final inspection, $1,000, seems a little bit steep," said Buckingham. "What value added was there? My solar panels aren't even visible from the road. The 60 per cent of them are on the south side of the house and there's no way the inspector could have seen the whole system. So I really don't think that the cost of doing that drive-by inspection was $1,000."
Buckingham suggested the RDN apply a graduated set of criteria to determine whether a complete on-site inspection and building permit is actually required.
He also criticized the RDN's renewable energy systems rebate of $250.
"That covers the cost of the electrical permit," said Buckingham. "So this is less than 10 per cent of the cost of the overall charges that the RDN is making."
Regional districts in the north and south of Vancouver Island, Buckingham stated, use a graduated criteria that the RDN could also follow. He feels $75 plus one per cent of the total cost is realistic amount to charge.
"That's what those two regional districts charge," he said. "Meanwhile we get stuck with $3,020 plus GST."
Electoral area directors confirmed they received a number of correspondence from residents complaining about the current solar panel installation process.
General manager of development and emergency services, Lisa Grant, indicated they are working in improving the process and expects a report to be completed by the end of the year.
"We are waiting for information from BC Hydro around best practices around permitting solar panels," said Grant. "We expect that sometime in September. Once we have that information along with a better understanding now where the BC Building Code rests with requirements for solar panels we feel confident that we'll be coming back with a report that looks at what our processes or any process changes that we're proposing. And that we're seeking to bring some alignment across the region so that residents are having a similar process no matter where they're applying for this and that we are of course supportive of solar panels and want to make sure that our rebate program is a value for money with it."
