An overwhelming majority of Hawaii voters oppose charging a fee to utility customers who install solar photovoltaic panels, according to the results of a poll released Wednesday.

The poll, conducted for Pacific Resource Partnership and the Sierra Club of Hawaii, also found that public support for solar energy in Hawaii is stronger than what other polls have shown for the nation as a whole.

Of those polled, nearly 5 out of 6 said they oppose charging utility customers an additional fee for installing PV panels. Conversely, just 13 percent said they supported a fee, while 5 percent said they were undecided.

State lawmakers may consider authorizing such a fee when the state Legislature reconvenes in January. The fee would be separate from any charges Hawaii’s utilities already impose on customers who want to hook up PV systems in areas with extremely high solar-energy penetration.

The report also found that 96 percent of those polled said they support getting energy from solar power. That is considerably higher than the results of a Gallup poll conducted in March in which 76 percent of Americans said they want the U.S. to put more emphasis on solar energy.

Rep. Chris Lee (D, Kailua, Lanikai-Waimanalo) said the results of the poll will help lawmakers as they shape legislation in the upcoming session.

"It really dovetails with what we’ve been hearing," Lee said. "When we talk about this issue (solar) in particular you get a sense that people feel it’s the only way they can really get a handle on their own electric bill."

"On the policy side we have a short window of a few years’ time to really get this right so we can help the utilities transition into this new era and make sure we have a viable electric grid into the future," he said.

Robert Harris, director of the Sierra Club of Hawaii, said the rapid growth of PV installations in the state highlights the need for electric utilities to modernize their grids so they can accommodate greater amounts of renewable energy.

If interconnection issues that currently exist are not resolved — and battery storage systems become more affordable — some utility customers may ultimately choose to go off the grid, which could have unintended consequences, Harris said.

"When we talk about importance of trying to resolve this expeditiously, it’s because the market is changing so fast that if we don’t move now we will be much like Borders or Tower Records wondering what happened and why did things happen so quickly," Harris said.

Pacific Resource Partnership is an alliance between the Hawaii Carpenters Union and the trade contractors who use unionized workers.

"We should do everything we can to make this clean and abundant energy source accessible and affordable for more residents," said John White, PRP executive director.

"The upside of more solar adoption is huge. It helps families save money, creates jobs and generates positive economic activity for the state," he said in a prepared statement.

The telephone survey was conducted by San Francisco-based Tulchin Research.

The firm polled 600 registered Hawaii voters by landline and cellphone between Sept. 24-30. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.36 percentage points.