Posted on 04/12/2024 9:18:41 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
We pay $45 a month for water even if we used ZERO gallons and there is no water in that minimum. You pay extra for any gallon you use over ZERO gallons. At least everyone pays the same base rate instead of by means.
Add batteries and go off grid.
The next R Congress needs to move legislation regarding states that mandate restrictive zero-carbon “green” policies. A requirement that excess demand must be satisfied by grid supply that is generated by methods comporting with their state requirements, or priced that way from the available supply. Restrictive state laws should not be able to cripple their electricity supply and then rescue it in times of high demand by importing power generated by methods outlawed in that state.
I wouldn’t put them ugly ass solar panels on my roof in the first place.
So if a family invests in a system that will generate electricity for them, the state will take away money to give to the power companies.
Yes it’s a lot more complicated than the people that sell solar will tell you. It’s not really possible to know what future utility rates will be, so your break-even/payback period can vary quite a lot. If you plan to stay in the house for a long time it might make more sense. Solar will add some value to the home, but probably not enough to recoup very much of what you paid to have it installed, especially if newer, better & more economical technology comes out. Having the solar with battery backup would be nice to have if you live some place where power outages occur frequently.
You're right that it adds value you your home, but not enough to recoup your costs. However, it might add value to your home enough to shorten your payback period. For example, I said that my payback point is 12 years. But perhaps if I sold my home at around 7 years, the increased value of the home from solar, plus the energy savings I'd accrued during those 7 years, might be enough for payback at 7 years. If I sell my house at 10 or 12 years, then I've made money with solar (through 10 years of energy savings plus increased value in my home).
You're correct that part of the payback calculation is based on the unknown of future costs. That's why I assume only a mild 3% inflation rate. Obviously if the Dims keep having their way, energy costs will keep increasing by way more than 3%.
And battery storage can make sense even if you live in an area with dependable power like I do. Part of my math is based on the real world numbers I'm experiencing now. I went from paying a high power bill + high natural gas bill + a lot at the pump from gasoline, to paying a low power bill + no natural gas bill + almost no gasoline cost + EV car payment + a HELOC payment (the loan I took out to pay for it all). To date it's saved my overall cash flow a total of $2,900 since my first solar install in May of 2021 (call it $1K per year). And as the HELOC balance is paid down, the HELOC payments go down too. Meanwhile the energy costs I avoid keep going up. So next year it'll cost me less money (lower HELOC payments) to save more money (higher energy costs I'm avoiding). And the next year it'll cost even less to save even more. Then the next year, and the next year, etc.
So my 12-year payback calculation includes paying interest on the HELOC during these years. But it doesn't include a positive: that $1K+ savings per year staying in my Roth IRA's growing interest free. (The main reason I did this energy project while the Dims were making the energy portion of my budget go through the roof.) In effect, my payback point is even sooner. And if the Dims keep making energy costs skyrocket my payback point is even sooner -- all while my retirement budget doesn't worry about energy cost inflation.
So what. Was wonderful. Worked well.
Should be consumer choice
You have a lot more patience than I do trying to figure out all the variables.
My dad was an engineer and a tinkerer who would probably get into something like solar power just to experiment with it, even though it might not save him a whole lot of money. The technology has come a long way in recent years, but still in its infancy, I think.
Here's another way to look at it. The political class has their bureaucrats and number crunchers always looking for an edge on how to tweak the regulations to increase their grift and take away our freedoms bit by bit. Us freedom lovers have to do the same to give us a buffer from their manipulations. So the less energy I have to buy, the less the Dims' energy regulations mess with me.
“how is a utility company informed about a customer’s income?
????????”
California makes you file a state income tax return in addition to your fedgov one. Your social security number and address are mandatory on it. When a utility runs your credit for hook up service guess what you have to give them yup your SSN or they will refuse to service your address. So they know the SSN number of the account holder and California will glady share it’s income tax data with approved entities. That’s how they do it.
Here I thought the commies couldn’t turn off the sun. They still can’t they will just tax the sun instead. At some point they will just force people off the grid entirely it becomes cheaper and cheaper by the day as battery technology improves cost comes down when storage costs hit 20 cents per kWh over the lifetime of the powerwall it’s cheaper to go off grid than to pay for retail electricity in California.
I have two powerwalls they are second life automotive cells they hold 30kWh each or about two days worth of use. I’m demoing them so zero cost to me as I absolutely abuse them doing 80% DOD cycles. Once I write the white paper for the company under contact I’ll have the final numbers on LCOS; it’s looking like with a ten year lifetime to 50% capacity at the level of abuse they are taking is going to near 15 cents per kWh already competitive in commiefornia. Very few people will ever cycle their cells to 80% DOD every other day this is on purpose abuse the worst possible scenarios.
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