CHIPPEWA FALLS (WQOW) – Solar energy was the hot topic Thursday morning.

Representative Clint Moses was joined by members of Community Solar — a statewide coalition group — to push for solar energy reform in Wisconsin.

The group toured a solar farm in Chippewa Falls. Thursday was their final stop on a statewide bus tour that is aiming to make the future bright for Wisconsinites.

Steve Lyons is one of the Community Solar coalition members. He said the end goal of the proposed reforms is to give more power to third parties who use renewable energy by making it more accessible.

Lyons explained Wisconsin is currently one of many states where the renewable energy sector is dominated by private monopolies. This has led to residents seeing some of the highest costs in the country.

He argues allowing people to choose their power provider will lower costs.

“When you’re looking at your cell phone and most people look at it a thousand times a day, you can pick your cell phone provider, you just can’t pick your energy provider. And what we’re saying is competition is going to lower the prices and create another option for farmers, schools, merchants, others to say we want this because it costs less and it creates competition,” Lyons said.

On the legislative side, the reform bill was introduced by Republicans but has bi-partisan support. Lyons said the timeline for legislation to move forward will be in January after the November elections.