Los Angeles has recently given the green light to put on a spring ballot a solar plan that will have utility workers installing solar panels on rooftops and in parking lots across the city (the Department of Water and Power, the utility concerned, will own the PV systems installed). This will be great PR for solar and for the city, but critics are worried that the city has ignored severe warnings from a consulting firm about the plan’s feasibility. The firm’s report cited problems with the city’s infrastructure and resources as reasons it might encounter difficulties in actual implementation.

And tax payers aren’t sure how they feel, either, since the solar plan will be in large part funded by rate hikes for the Department of Water and Power. Voices against the plan have said that the solar plan is simply “a backdoor mechanism to make voters sign off on a huge package of DWP rate increases.” The DWP is claiming that the average taxpayer would see a hike of no more than 4% by 2011, while the consultancy report argues that the real number will be more like 12%. It’s a case of he-said, she-said, and tax payers still have a chance to make up their minds about it, as the measure isn’t being voted on until a March 3rd ballot.