Power Outages (Augusta, Old Town, Ellsworth: to buy, license, renewal)

[slyfox2]

Originally Posted by Submariner

Utility companies in Maine do NOT pay for net-metered power. If you put power onto the grid, you get 'credit' for that power, after you have been taxed for it. That credit can be used when you consume grid power at night.

At the moment, according to a talk with representatives from the solar power industry itself I heard this past winter, the power companies are trying to get this payback to stop. And there are no indications at this point that they may not be successful.

This status is enough to keep some of us from choosing to go solar until this is resolved.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by slyfox2

At the moment, according to a talk with representatives from the solar power industry itself I heard this past winter, the power companies are trying to get this payback to stop. And there are no indications at this point that they may not be successful.

This status is enough to keep some of us from choosing to go solar until this is resolved.

When they say that they 'represent' Solar Power, pay close attention. Are they representing the Net-Metering industry or Solar-Power? That is a distinction that has been blurred a lot recently.

Net-metering in a lot more expensive and the benefits are questionable, as compared to solar powered homes.



There is a bill in Augusta that ReVision Energy is pushing to raise taxes on all rate-payers to fund, the bankers who finance Net-Metering installations and the installers.

Last winter I attended an event with a panel of speakers that included a couple state legislators, lobbyists, and installers. They were upset that an identical bill had failed to pass.

I recently read an article about lobbyists trying to tax off-grid solar powered homes for the power they do not buy from the grid.

[399083453]

Originally Posted by Submariner

Utility companies in Maine do NOT pay for net-metered power. If you put power onto the grid, you get 'credit' for that power, after you have been taxed for it. That credit can be used when you consume grid power at night.

Electric companies buy power generation at maybe.....2 cents per kilowatt.
They are paying solar customers 15 cents per kilowatt?

Doesn't make financial sense. Of course they are against it.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by 399083453

Electric companies buy power generation at maybe.....2 cents per kilowatt.
They are paying solar customers 15 cents per kilowatt?

Doesn't make financial sense. Of course they are against it.

Who are the Electric Companies 'paying' this 2 to 15 cents to?

Net-metering home-owners do not get paid a dime. The power they generate and put onto the grid gets them credits [brownie points].

If solar power went onto the grid during times to peak demand, they would love it. But it doesn't.

I was at a workshop a few weeks ago with a Public Utility Commission staffer as guest speaker, he had charts showing the peak demand cycles and when solar power is at it's highest. They do not match at all in New England. At best solar power is an annoyance to the PUC.

The majority of solar power installations do not connect to the grid and do not net-meter. If they did it would only magnify the problems of the PUC.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

"Who are the Electric Companies 'paying' this 2 to 15 cents to?"

The generators. The 2 cent rate is what Eastern Maine Electric pays Point Lepreau nuclear for off peak power. It is two cents and a fraction. 15cents is not the highest rate. Wind power is the most expensive power source. Some Maine wind power is sold to Connecticut utilities for 22cents a KWH. The CT legislature passed a bill that some powercentage of their total load must be "renewable". It makes CT legislators feel good. When CT rate payers found out they were unhappy.

One industrial scale wind turbine costs $2,200,000. It just so happens that they must sell power for 22 cents a KWH to break even.

[kellysmith]

Not sure where you get your information, but it's not from the Energy Dept. Here is a chart showing Levelized Costs of energy. That is the true method to compare apples to apples. It is formulated from the total capital cost plus operating costs over the life of the project to find a true average cost of the electricity produced. As you will see, onshore wind is right there with nuclear. Solar is off the chart more expensive. I know you have links to power companies paying $.22 per KWH, but I can't seem to find any. Can you provide us with some?

https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/...8/f25/LCOE.pdf

[Submariner]

Obviously every commercial power generating facility is paid for the power they produce. As a home-owner using solar power for my home, I looked at this thread from the home-owner perspective.

When I came to Maine to shop for a homestead, many of the properties that I looked at do not have easy access to grid power. Some properties would require running a private power line as far as 20 miles, to connect to the nearest Public Utility line.

The property that I bought has both public pavement and power lines along one property line. In my township the majority of land parcels [homes and camps] do not have immediate access to pavement or to power lines. People in our township, if they want reliable power, must take on the responsibility for it themselves. I think it is this way for most [the majority of] Maine townships.

When we built our house, we used grid power that is available at our site. Though it was always a part of our vision to eventually be off-grid. It took us 10 years to finally make that a reality. Our solar power installation was not done for cheap access to power, though one feature in our planning was to reduce our monthly bills. My Dw was looking at her up-coming retirement and wanted to reduce our monthly bills. So it was discussed as an 'investment' toward a lower cost lifestyle in our future.

We got quotes for 'off-grid' installations and for 'net-metering' installations. Had we gone with a net-metering installation it would have cost us a lot more money, and it would not have given us any greater reliability.

Since 25% of solar power users in our township have net-metering installations, we have enjoyed long conversations with both off-grid solar home-owners and with net-metering home-owners. The differences are obvious. Though I am amazed at the myths the industry manages to push.

Statistics presented by the Maine PUC / ReVision Energy will only show the net-metering installations. They present their data in a contest to imply that it represents all of solar power in Maine, even though it can only how roughly 25% of solar power. They are careful to craft their public messaging.

[dragon_slayer]

Originally Posted by Submariner

Utility companies in Maine do NOT pay for net-metered power. If you put power onto the grid, you get 'credit' for that power, after you have been taxed for it. That credit can be used when you consume grid power at night.

If you accumulate a low of these credits and do not consume them, they will expire after 12 months.

There is an income tax write-off as an 'incentive'. As a farmer, I find that I can barely swing a dead cat without hitting tax write-offs everywhere around me. Installing a solar system may qualify you for an income tax write-off.

Our solar system also depreciates, according to IRS regs it depreciates over 7 years, so you can write-off 1/7 of the system cost each year. This is Federal so it works the same in all states and territories.

There is no $$$back I am aware of.

what about if you close out the acct do they refund the credit you have then

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by dragon_slayer

what about if you close out the acct do they refund the credit you have then

No. Each brownie point expires after 12 months.

Net-metering systems cost more to install, there is no money flowing to you for having one, and they want to tax all Maine rate-payers to subsidize the installers and financiers.

[dragon_slayer]

Originally Posted by Submariner

No. Each brownie point expires after 12 months.

Net-metering systems cost more to install, there is no money flowing to you for having one, and they want to tax all Maine rate-payers to subsidize the installers and financiers.

sounds like pure profit for the power co's since they realized there not making any $$$ after convincing everyone to install wind and solar and buying new energy star rated appliances. i know some power co's will cut you an annual check and some will keep it as a credit until you close the acct out