[palmer]

I would prefer to be self sufficient even if it meant I spent a little MORE for electricity than having to rely on the electric company.

Apparently you and many others are unaware that solar panels only provide worthless power (nonpeak). He is just as dependent on the grid to get (expensive) peak power in evening as you or I. The other travesty is that he gets full price for the power he produces even though it is not needed by the grid. That jacks up everyone else's rate just so he can feel good about himself.

[hocndoc]

Air conditioning is probably this man’s biggest expense - needed when the solar power is at its “peak.”

How do you know that he doesn’t have back up batteries? That’s a big expense for a plain grid hook up.