Vivint Solar CEO: Utilities Stifling Competition With Unfair Charges

Traditional utilities are stifling solar power with interconnect charges and other fees to connect to their grids, said Greg Butterfield, CEO of Vivint Solar. Butterfield added that he has been fighting these practices in Hawaii with HECO as well as in other states like Arizona and California. He said Vivint has seen rapid growth in installations across the seven markets where it operates due to the economics of no-cost-to-the-consumer installations with immediate cost reductions. Finally, Butterfield said new charges are aimed at keeping residents locked into monopoly utility providers and to keep competition out of the marketplace.