bucky wrote:
Power companies are now asking for surcharges to be levied against solar users as they are "not supporting the infrastructure of the grid". Yet they have huge solar farms to produce electricity to sell to us. Nobody wins but the big money in any of this.
Hydroelectric is the best answer IMHO.
How do you think the grid gets paid for?
If the power company builds a solar farm, they factor in the WHOLESALE PRICE and build the cost of the grid into the KWH price you pay plus any other costs associated with solar, such as backup power plants.
If you dump electricity back on the grid at FULL RETAIL PRICE, they still have to maintain the grid and they have to maintain backup power for peak period, which is usually 5-6pm in the winter when solar is producing 0% of it's rated output.
Nothing greedy about it, it's just not realistic to expect to get paid FULL RETAIL PRICE when you aren't supplying everything that is involved in getting a KWH of electricity to the end user.
