Solar power & the grid is it cost effective? (San Diego: 2014, leases)

[Axxlrod]

This plan by the utility companies to charge people sliding rates by how much income they make is insane.

[joosoon]

The reason they can float ideas like income-based billing and not face the wrath of pitchfork mobs, is because CPUC is a flaccid agency with no real will to rein in the ridiculousness of big energy giants. And it's by design.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by Axxlrod

This plan by the utility companies to charge people sliding rates by how much income they make is insane.

Originally Posted by joosoon

The reason they can float ideas like income-based billing and not face the wrath of pitchfork mobs, is because CPUC is a flaccid agency with no real will to rein in the ridiculousness of big energy giants. And it's by design.

I don't know if it's insane but it's not new. They've had income-based billing for decades. I don't know what other companies call it but PG&E has what they call the CARE program. There's also some sort of discount for medical devices used in the home. As for solar . . . individuals on any of those programs couldn't afford to install solar, unless it was free.

[CA4Now]

Gov. Newsom should not be a member of the California Public Utilities Commission, which voted twice in 2023 to reduce incentives for homes and businesses that install solar power systems.

The analysis by the California Solar & Storage Assn. found that sales of rooftop systems in the state have dropped between 77% and 85% since April.

A year after regulators at the state Public Utilities Commission voted to gut the successful incentive program that has helped put more than 1.8 million solar systems on homes and businesses, the consequences are becoming distressingly clear.

Preliminary data from the rooftop solar industry shows a steep drop in installations and widespread job losses since April. That’s when the PUC’s changes to the net energy metering program took effect, slashing the compensation new solar customers receive for the excess power they feed into the grid.

The commission sided with utilities, organized labor and consumer advocates who argued that incentives were so generous that solar customers weren’t paying their fair share to maintain the power grid, raising electricity rates for lower-income households and renters without solar arrays.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...s-are-to-blame

[JGC97]

^^ CA4Now. He shouldn't be a part of it just as he shouldn't have been a member of the UC Board of Regents during the time he was Lt. Gov. He did nothing to keep tuition down. In fact, it went up every year. Every. Single. Year. He doesn't seem to have the Midas touch for us regular people. Only for himself and his elitist friends. (sorry, couldn't resist the snark )

Not having solar, and not following the industry, I have no clue as to why sales have dropped. I thought it was the next big thing.

[stablegenius]

Newsom is slime. I’m glad people are starting to see this. We will not be able to build enough solar to go 100% green. We need to build a nuclear plant ( or several) and be done with it.

[CA4Now]

California needs to accelerate rooftop solar deployment, not constrain it. Yet the California Public Utilities Commission cut solar incentives for homes and businesses drastically in April 2023.

Without incentives, it doesn’t make financial sense for most Californians to install rooftop solar, meaning we all get less of this badly needed common good. Instead of forcing private utilities to shoulder the costs of incentives, which they then pass through to rich and poor ratepayers alike, California itself should accept the responsibility of supporting rooftop solar.

Rooftop solar owners should be paid the wholesale rate by the utilities for the excess solar power they send back to the grid. Then, the state should provide sufficient tax credits to the owners for that power to make up the difference between the wholesale price the utility pays and the former incentive price. Funding common goods is one of the core purposes of our state budget, and it’s time to include rooftop solar in that category.

In California, our state income tax is progressive: Those who earn more pay a higher percentage of their income for the public benefit. Electric utility bills, by contrast, are regressive...

https://www.next10.org/press-release...ricity-rates-2

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...ftop-utilities

[NORTY FLATZ]

What's funny is that these solar install companies, stress "how low your evil SDG&E bill will be." The thing they never seem to mention, is the cost of the solar array, which runs about a thousand dollars per panel.

Then, they have the audacity to offer a "rental program" for the panels. Only, instead of the PUC paying homeowners, the real estate they occupy, they get paid by the homeowners themselves! It's like the perfect crime.

Imagine, paying a tenant to occupy a room in your house, instead of them paying you!

Now, if I were allowed to disconnect from the grid, then I would consider an array/battery set-up. But, the way it's set-up now? The PUC can command SDG&E to cut the power anytime, anywhere they seem to want to create strife. It's the perfect way to control a population, by cutting their power. Especially now, since we've become to dependent upon it.

But then, I still need the use of natural gas for heating, so SDG&E still has me by the short hairs anyway, so there's that.

[Axxlrod]

Originally Posted by NORTY FLATZ

What's funny is that these solar install companies, stress "how low your evil SDG&E bill will be." The thing they never seem to mention, is the cost of the solar array, which runs about a thousand dollars per panel.

Then, they have the audacity to offer a "rental program" for the panels. Only, instead of the PUC paying homeowners, the real estate they occupy, they get paid by the homeowners themselves! It's like the perfect crime.

Imagine, paying a tenant to occupy a room in your house, instead of them paying you!

Now, if I were allowed to disconnect from the grid, then I would consider an array/battery set-up. But, the way it's set-up now? The PUC can command SDG&E to cut the power anytime, anywhere they seem to want to create strife. It's the perfect way to control a population, by cutting their power. Especially now, since we've become to dependent upon it.

But then, I still need the use of natural gas for heating, so SDG&E still has me by the short hairs anyway, so there's that.

Not sure I follow your your math.

I've put solar systems on my last three houses here in San Diego. And each system was a win. In every case, I financed, not leased, the system, and my payment was about 30% of what my SDGE elec bill was prior to solar. So I no longer had to fret about turning on the AC or having thermostat wars with my wife. My elec payment was a fixed amount; no more $800 bills in the summer.

My house is on propane so I am not reliant on SDGE for gas service.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Axxlrod

My elec payment was a fixed amount; no more $800 bills in the summer.

Your electricity bill is $800 per month?