The Tier 5 rating is a penalty on energy usage, so it acts as a subsidy on your solar installation. Would you still have that solar unit if not for the tiered pricing?
In this case, going solar and getting off the grid is a wise thing to do. Not only is it going to get yet more expensive, it's probably going to get more unreliable too.
“In this case, going solar and getting off the grid is a wise thing to do. Not only is it going to get yet more expensive, it’s probably going to get more unreliable too. “
RLM can speak for himself, but I suspect that his system will go down when the grid goes down, as it costs a lot more to be able to operate in “Island Mode”. So for that capability you need to pay more and likely have at least some batteries - unless you have a way to pull power right from the panels during a blackout (not easy to do, but doable for RLM, since he installed, and therefore understands, the system).