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Wow, I just watched National Geographic's show "Years of Living Dangerously". This episode (with Letterman and Cecily Strong) was about how on the one hand the Indian government is supporting and encouraging solar installations (while continuing to use coal) but how in the sunny states of Florida and Nevada the megamonopoly utility companies have lobbied the public utility boards so successfully that these states either don't allow home solar panels or have made installing/using them so expensive that people can't afford them.
This just ENRAGED me! The solar companies are trying to make a go of making products here in the US. There is a market for these American products in India, but the solar companies don't have a market in at least two states in the US!
Boy, these power companies are loathesome! And so are the weak public boards (and Nevada's Governor) who have been corrupted by the power companies.
Solar makes solar expensive. If you are going to utilize the grid for net metering then you need to help pay for that infrastructure. You can always avoid these fees by installing a much more expensive battery storage sytem.
Most electric bills are not itemized, what you don't realize is that included in the 12 cents per kWh(or whatever it is) there is about a 2 cent charge for the costs of building and maintaining the grid. If you have solar with net metering without those fees then you doing it on the backs of other ratepayers. The legislation you are talking about will just insure those using solar are paying their fair share of infrastructure costs.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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This is the same as the municipal water districts that have declared that they own the rain, and have banned home downspout rain catchment systems. Here, where we really don't need them they are encouraged. We get 60" of rain on average, I can keep the lawn green watering 3-4 times in July and August. We have no problems with doing solar, but it's not very effective with only seeing the sun 150 days a year, and not all day more than about 40 days.
We had solar company reps to the house yesterday. Ran the numbers today figuring on paying the utility company facility charges so we can use net metering. Figures out to be about a seven year payback with the government incentives. My concern is what is going on with the war on coal and the EPA's quest to prevent heated water from going into the river. I suspect the utility company will recoup these costs by adding to the facility charges instead of raising the cost per KwH. If they do that, I will install a Tesla Powerwall and separate from the utility all together.
This is the same as the municipal water districts that have declared that they own the rain,
No it is not, you can avoid the fees by buying your own battery storage. If you choose to use the utilities infrastructure then you have to pay for it otherwise it's the other ratepayers paying for it.
Sorry, Coalman, you're a dinosaur and the coal monopoly will be broken.
Doesn't matter. The uncontrolled connection of any generation source to the interconnected grid will not be allowed and certainly not without a cost....
We had solar company reps to the house yesterday. Ran the numbers today figuring on paying the utility company facility charges so we can use net metering. Figures out to be about a seven year payback with the government incentives. My concern is what is going on with the war on coal and the EPA's quest to prevent heated water from going into the river. I suspect the utility company will recoup these costs by adding to the facility charges instead of raising the cost per KwH. If they do that, I will install a Tesla Powerwall and separate from the utility all together.
I hear that from customers all the time. I tell them to go ahead but watch out for the re-connection fees.....
Net metering is a net LOSS to the homeowner. The utility pays you far less for your power, than they charge you for theirs. However, you can still use solar.
The secret is to keep your solar-generated power usage separate from your grid-power usage. You power a portion of your household by solar, and the rest by the grid. You do this by storing your own power in a battery bank, which need not be expensive at all. And the utility doesn't need to know a thing about it, because the two systems are not connected.
Gradually, over time, you use your solar for more and more of your power needs, until you are using almost nothing from the grid (if you wish to go that far).
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