Posted on 01/29/2022 7:34:33 AM PST by Brian Griffin
Here are some of my thoughts on the billing of electricity with respect to homeowners with solar panel installations. The topic is complex. My suggestions are intended to be possible improvements and not perfections.
There are a number of components that could go into the computation of a solar panel homeowner's bill: the capital cost of the related non-solar backup capacity, the cost of the utility lines dedicated to the customer, the cost to collect payment, the fuel cost of the electricity and credit for the electricity supplied to the grid by the customer.
A CUSTOMER'S USAGE-BASED SHARE of the CAPITAL COST of the NON-SOLAR BACKUP CAPACITY
The capital cost of the non-solar backup capacity runs for many years and the utility will normally pay monthly for it, as should its customers with solar panel installations that utilize it.
The capital cost of the non-solar backup capacity should be determined when there is a high demand for this capacity on a utility wide basis for customers with solar panel installations. The peak demand for a utility might be in January, but other high demand months should be considered in computing the customer's bill since the customer may game the system in January by being frugal but use far more capacity in December, February and March when the utility's non-solar backup capacity is also in high demand. Other high demand months might be July, August and September.
The capital cost of the non-solar backup capacity might be made in the customer's peak demand month among the past fifteen billing months that are also high backup demand months, or it might be weighted among all high backup demand months in the past fifteen.
My suggested lookback period of 15 months is longer than 12 months since the highest demand month may change from year to year. It is possible for January and February for a year to be warmer than normal but the preceding December much colder than normal.
An April 2024 bill might well include the customer's usage share of the capital cost of the non-solar backup capacity based on high demand in January 2024, or February 2023.
Year-round winter month usage-based utility billing is not unprecedented. I used to live in Fairfax County, Virginia and each of my quarterly sewer charges was based on my last winter water usage amount, when people were least likely to use water for lawns and landscape plants.
COST of the UTILITY LINES to the CUSTOMER
I live in a house with 100 feet of lot frontage and utility line and about 70 feet of service drop. I live in a part of Florida where each side of the street has a utility line for post-hurricane reliability.
There is a cost to maintaining these lines, which the utility would want to receive monthly income for. The amount might be fixed utility wide for residential customers, actual line length based or zoning density based.
COST to COLLECT CUSTOMER PAYMENT
The main cost for my house is having someone come read my meter monthly. I get billed by e-mail and payment comes out of my checking account.
In my area, I get billed a monthly customer charge that was $7.50/month the last time I checked. Some of this may cover utility line maintenance.
COMPENSATION for the ELECTRICITY SUPPLIED to the GRID by the CUSTOMER
I would first like to mention that charging customers for the solar panels on their roofs is absurd.
Black-out plagued California needs all the electricity generating capacity it can get. Californians should not fully rely on utility-supplied and large investor-supplied solar power investment given massive investor losses related to Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison.
Bear in mind that a large, well-insulated house built in 2021 may use less electricity than a modest house built many decades ago. The large house might have many more solar panels than the modest house, but its demand for non-solar backup electricity may often be less.
The solar panel capacity of a house is a far cruder and less accurate measure of a house's need (and appropriate basis of charging) for non-solar backup electricity than the utility's highly accurate monthly meter readings.
There is then the matter of determining how much the customer should be paid (or credited) for the customer's electricity supplied to the grid.
Leftist governments run by officials that believe as Al Gore does would not want homeowners to stop installing solar panels that can supply excess electricity their neighborhood merely because natural gas electricity might be a penny cheaper per kilowatt-hour(kwh) than homeowner solar panel electricity.
The homeowners with solar power installations are effectively in competition with utilities supplying solar electricity and should be paid competitively. It should be borne in mind that the homeowners are near the point of use and that the utility solar installations say 50 miles away in a desert would need expensive grid expansion and grid improvements that the homeowner-sourced electricity would not. Homeowners in Encino could easily supply excess electricity to recharge electric vehicles parked in Encino without much change to the utility's lines. If the utility supplies solar electricity at say 5 cents per kwh, the homeowners might reasonably be paid 6 cents a kwh.
There is also an installation speed factor. Homeowners can quickly have solar electricity panels installed on their house. It can take a long time for a utility to get a solar panel farm permitted and built.
I suspect Al Gore would prefer that California electricity vehicles get recharged via solar electricity than natural gas electricity. Homeowner solar can help speed up the process to powering California cars with solar power. Homeowners should not be made solar install skittish by a state changing a rule that forces homeowners in the state to take unforeseeable solar installation losses.
SOLAR PANEL DISTRIBUTION
Solar panels should be distributed on a rational basis to minimize alleged possible CO2 harm. If a bunch of solar panels might reduce China's coal-based CO2 emissions by 9 tons a year or California's natural gas-based CO2 emissions by 3 tons a year, the solar panels should be used in China and Joe Biden should cool his heels in his basement. If a bunch of solar panels might reduce California's CO2 emissions by 3 tons a year or West Virginia's by 1 ton a year, the solar panels should be used in California.
There is also a social justice factor. If a bunch of solar panels could supply a village in Africa with ample electricity for the first time, then it would be improper for a Maryland millionaire to adorn his mansion with them to show his green credentials.
Do the utility companies actually use the electricity generated by home solar systems?
Plain physics says it happens. The readings on all the gear, cannot lie.
On a good day I receive as much as 120kwh from the sun.
On a bad day can be as low as 10kwh.
In summer, 24 hour period, I can use as much as 150kwh.
In spring, same, can be as low as 40kwh usage.
All this travels in and out the utility lines.
Been there for 10 solid years now. Panels are still at least 90% of what they were new.
Any freeper that wants individual help, please freep mail me.
I’m at zip 33523.
“I don’t want to sell my solar energy back to the utility!”
I’ve looked into off-grid solar for my Florida house.
I personally would probably want separate 120- and 240-volt systems, with the 120-volt system having battery backup.
The reasons being to save on inverter costs and to avoid frying 120-volt equipment with 240-volt electricity.
I’ve done nothing since the solar stuff seems more suited to Chinese village and Third World installation than for larger American installations.
“What problem are you trying to solve by writing this article?”
The California solar electricity rate system problem that some people claim is causing many lower income Californians to overpay for electricity.
You’re a self-admitted communist who understands nothing about economics.
“the capital cost of the related non-solar backup capacity”
What does that mean?
My non-solar electric supply comes from Progress Energy (coal/nat gas/nuclear) as it has for years. There’s no “backup” here.
Unless I got a generator.
Considering most caribbean islands are still under british colonial control they do go for these prices.
“You seem to advocate an inconsistent and strange mixture of freedom and government control.”
Government is a necessity at times.
I’m sure you know the value of freedom.
There needs to be a proper balance.
“Do the utility companies actually use the electricity generated by home solar systems? Do they even collect it? Or is this a total public-private scam?”
Yes, the electricity that you send to them is used, but the payment is forced by law in some localities and therefore the utilities pay more for it than what it is worth.
“You’re a self-admitted communist who understands nothing about economics.”
That is a flat out lie to both assertions. I proved your assertions were bogus with linked facts. You flought the commie label like the racist label. To cower your victims. It does not work with me.
What kind of communist owns 3 companies and gets monthly gas royalties from under their farm?
So answer the questions you claim subsidies are not used by US companies for innovation and operating expenses.
I’m fairly certain the $52 billion subsidy package signed by both the democrats and republicans last summer for chip R&D and moving companies to the US is for that purpose.
What about the US farmers and their yearly subsidies? I can tell you they are buying equipment with it and improving their methods through innovation.
“Do you believe that anthropogenic climate change is a threat?”
How can it be a threat when it is not real? Are dragons a threat? Maybe hostile unicorns?
Battery technology needs to be refined for both solar panels and EVs. So I regard current state-of-the-art for solar panels and EVs as necessary pioneering work.
Try controlling yourself and not hijacking this thread into proving your communist beliefs.
So, what’s the problem? Feeding a separate circuit is brain dead simple.
“related non-solar backup capacity”
What does that mean?
The utility’s natural gas generating plants and high voltage distribution lines.
It excludes the utility’s solar installations and dedicated solar electricity transmission lines.
“The capital cost” means the interest & principal payments, maintenance costs and depreciation amounts.
Installers seem to be motivated to work with the utilities and are reluctant to do off grid installs.
Did I mention that gov’t hates anything that promotes independence?
“Try controlling yourself and not hijacking this thread into proving your communist beliefs.”
Some, perhaps most, solar companies are ONLY in the business of providing the solar systems where that is true. They don’t charge you up front for the system, and they sometimes call it a “lease back”. They keep the money the utility company pays until the system is paid off, which is never. You get some utility bill savings but you owe for the system. They also charge high rates for those systems, sometimes even double. These guys are total scam artists.
Find a company that designs solar systems for your custom needs. There might not be one in your area, though. It isn’t difficult to do at all, especially since you’re not connecting to the main power. You might just find a local electrician that will do it for you.
“Do you believe that anthropogenic climate change is a threat?”
It is location dependent.
It is and will be of no concern to 99% of Americans.
If you own a $20 million beach front mansion, expect to spend about 3% of its price to raise it up.
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