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Well - they've been advertising for quite some time if you don't have solar - get it now - and the hammer has dropped.
Current customers will keep the $17 minimum monthly fee and credited 35 cent per kilowatt hour you put back in the grid.
New customers will pay $25 minimum per month but wait for it - that isn't the big news - you will only get 18 cents per kilowatt hour you put back in the grid. Ouch. If you overbuild solar like many do to bank during cloudy days you just got royally - well....you know.
For me personally - glad I am grandfathered in - for now - otherwise my bill would grow dramatically up.
Well - they've been advertising for quite some time if you don't have solar - get it now - and the hammer has dropped.
Current customers will keep the $17 minimum monthly fee and credited 35 cent per kilowatt hour you put back in the grid.
New customers will pay $25 minimum per month but wait for it - that isn't the big news - you will only get 18 cents per kilowatt hour you put back in the grid. Ouch. If you overbuild solar like many do to bank during cloudy days you just got royally - well....you know.
For me personally - glad I am grandfathered in - for now - otherwise my bill would grow dramatically up.
Glad you're grandfathered in? It's not a bad place to be but no need to gloat. New customers just need to wait til the end of this year and install a PV system with reliable, warranted built-in energy storage. Way better bet than those stuck with already archaic grid-tied-ONLY systems. New systems coming out by the end of this year will provide customers more than just a system that saves them money - it provides real value in other areas like true independence from the grid and a fuel-free back up generator in case of brief and long term power outages. Current and past grid tied systems go black when the power goes out. Nothing more depressing than staring at 30 dead solar panels on your roof as your food spoils in a power outage. Also, once HECO (or Nextera) implements TOU rates like every other utility in the nation, selling power back to the grid precisely when the utility wants it (and is willing to pay a premium for that power) will provide an opportunity to better the ROI of that realized with typical grid-tied only systems.
It's amazing how fast technology progresses. Your system can be obsolete a few weeks after buying it.
Current and past grid tied systems go black when the power goes out.
We aren't exactly in the Caribbean with common blackouts needing a generator.
Since I've lived here there have only been 2 major power outages - right when I got here with the earthquake on the Big Island - and the Xmas time outage during the storm in 2008 - not even the really nasty storms of 2014 knocked out the power.
To replace every single item in my refrigerator/freezer is far cheaper than the cost of obtaining/maintaining a battery backup system.
We aren't exactly in the Caribbean with common blackouts needing a generator.
Since I've lived here there have only been 2 major power outages - right when I got here with the earthquake on the Big Island - and the Xmas time outage during the storm in 2008 - not even the really nasty storms of 2014 knocked out the power.
To replace every single item in my refrigerator/freezer is far cheaper than the cost of obtaining/maintaining a battery backup system.
I live in the Punchbowl/Nuuanu area and I experience a blackout at least once every few months. Some last one minute, some last 6 hours. Glad you're on a stable circuit; not all of us are.
And do you really think those that are grandfathered in with NEM will be in that position forever? Sorry to burst your bubble but this is one grandfathered deal that won't last forever. I say 2-3 years tops before those on NEM get lumped in with everyone else.
To think that NEM is a forever thing is laughable beyond imagination.
The newspaper article didn't make a differentiation between Feed In Tariff and Net Metering. Most folks are on NEM (Net Metering) aren't they? I've heard about the Feed In Tariff program (where you're supposed to get paid for the power you produce) but I don't know anyone who has actually got the contract for that.
The newspaper article sounds like it's for the Feed In Tariff folks. Those are the ones who have really big systems which are supposed to make more power than they use over a year's time. The NEM folks kinda bank the power in watts and not by price, don't they? Their balance gets wiped out to zero once a year, though, so they can't just continually grow the amount of watts they put in over the ones they've taken out. Since those are watts for watts and not watts for some dollar amount, the NEM folks may not even be impacted by this. But, maybe you're a FIT system?
And, should you have a grid tie system and not want it to be grid tied anymore, all you'd have to do is change out the inverter and get a battery bank. Then you'd be totally off the grid.
I really like the grid tie system and we've been on photovoltaic for decades. Prior to grid tie, there was the battery bank, the generator, the checking to see if we had enough power to do whatever. With the grid tie system, it's seamlessly integrated, you don't even realize the power is coming from the sun. I'll pay the $20 a month and even let the power go down when everyone else's does for the ease of the system use. However, the new inverters have a 1,500 watt circuit which stays live during a power outage. That's enough to run refrigeration and charge up electronics.
Well this kinda figures. Heco is always wanting to up the rates. Here is another way to accomplish it.
So they can get a cut of the Solar Power pie.
Well hope it works out for everyone in the end?
No worries, if HECO/HELCO starts costing too much, go entirely off the grid. There's enough solar around here for that. It is much easier though, on a day to day living basis, to have a grid tie system. I'd guess the $25 per month would cost less than the backup generator, battery bank and fuel would cost.
No worries, if HECO/HELCO starts costing too much, go entirely off the grid. There's enough solar around here for that.
There might be enough solar - but having enough money to overbuild solar on your house and cut down trees shade trees over the house isn't cheap to account for cloudy days. On top of that you need enough square footage on the roof and garage (and the right angles - not blocked by shade) to actually have enough panels to power AC, a car(s), household, etc and for most that isn't practical or realistic.
I've said this before and will say it again, anyone that partners up w/ HELCO, or whatever they're calling themselves these days, well......good luck! The only real solution is a small, purpose built building that is well sited, and where you work off your own solar totally. I saw this in action as far back as 15 years ago on the BI, so w/ the better solar panels and batteries of today it's totally doable. Old golf cart batteries still pack the best bang for the buck, although you can only get 3 to 5 years use out of them unless you go to the Deka or Trojans. If you have the bucks, Ni-Cad will last a looooong time. Converting an existing dwelling to total solar is really not practical or efficient, but you CAN do it. You just have to address every part of the puzzle.
There might be enough solar - but having enough money to overbuild solar on your house and cut down trees shade trees over the house isn't cheap to account for cloudy days. On top of that you need enough square footage on the roof and garage (and the right angles - not blocked by shade) to actually have enough panels to power AC, a car(s), household, etc and for most that isn't practical or realistic.
Agreed that going entirely off the grid is not a viable option for most. However, there is absolutely no need to do that and still end up with a system much more valuable than existing grid-tied only systems "grandfathered" under HECO's current NEM program.
I have 14 properties with PV. 6 were installed back in 2007 (I was one of HECO's very first NEM customers). Another 6 a few years later. And I'm now waiting for 2 properties to be approved by HECO (9 months and counting). So I know a little bit about PV.
HECO has been nothing but toxic to the viable renewable energy industry since the beginning of time. Just getting HECO to move forward with NEM in the first place was extremely difficult. They have introduced a multitude of unnecessary roadblocks since NEM's inception to make PV as unattractive to the consumer as possible. They include baloney "technical" concerns (which has been proven) pertaining to "grid over-saturation", unnecessary and overly redundant disconnecting requirements, meter relocation requirements for customers with new PV (basically a form of extortion), the list goes on and on. They have prevented thousands of homes from being tied into the grid and now put many thousands others at risk of losing the 30% federal tax credits (expiring next year) because of their illegal stall tactics.
To add insult to injury, due to improvements in technology and huge cost reductions in reliable/efficient energy storage options, HECO finally has the option to allow consumers to reduce their own operating costs - but they choose not to. Luckily, the PUC is on top of this and is not letting HECO get away with both cutting the benefits to NEM customers (in its current form) AND not allowing future customers to do their part to save money for themselves AND everyone else. HECO can't have it both ways.
HECO currently provides a $1,000 cash rebate for installing expensive (to customers and state taxpayers), archaic and functionally obsolete solar hot water systems. Why? Because they don't want your water heaters turning on at 6 p.m. when you come home from work. These water heaters consume about 4,500 watts of power. When all these water heaters come on at once, they put a significant strain on the grid and requires HECO to utilize equipment that ONLY operates when this load is present. The cost to purchase and maintain all this equipment (that literally only exists to power homes between 6 and 9 p.m.) is a significant chunk of their capital/operating cost. Eliminating this equipment (which includes inefficient peaking generators and ancillary equipment) would save customers tens of millions right off the bat.
New energy storage systems (Tesla Power Wall for example) will revolutionize the grid. Big time. They will allow customers to not only have 24-7 back up power (i.e. can run completely off the grid for extended periods of time or indefinitely) but also SELL power back at a HIGHER rate to HECO. Not only will these homes not have a 4.5kW load from their water heaters, these homes will be PUSHING power back to the grid equivalent or greater than the load of the water heater. Therefore systems with energy storage and grid-tie capabilities can sell power to HECO when they need the power the most - between 6 and 9 p.m. Customers in other states can currently buy power for 18 cents and sell it for double (36 cents/kWh) the normal rate at peak hours. You can literally make money with a battery by purchasing cheap power at 2 a.m. and selling it back to the grid at 6 p.m. This will ultimately save the utility (and therefore customers) money.
NEM systems (in their current form) do absolutely nothing to save HECO money - therefore NEM systems do nothing to save their customers that don't have PV money. In fact, these current NEM systems only INCREASE the cost of the grid for everyone else that does not have PV. That has to change. Eventually, those that are receiving "net" benefits from the grid will be required to go with energy storage if they want those same benefits. The supposed "grandfathering" of existing the existing NEM program will be short lived.
I agree with your assessment that the current NEM program going away is bad for customers IF you compare it to NEM as it's been for the past 9 years. But if you take into account the drastic changes in policy that will benefit those that invest in energy storage, you can save as much money - or even more - than past NEM customers with grid tied only systems. And having a home with an extremely reliable (and virtually invisible) built in back up generator that runs entirely off the sun isn't only cool - it will increase the value of your home significantly more than if you just have a plain old grid-tied only PV system on the roof.
With the state's 100% renewables mandate in effect by 2045, you can bet that most homes will have energy storage in the not-so-distant future. I'd rather install it now when the government is footing 65% of the bill. Sometimes good things come to those that wait.
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