In 48 states self made electricity cannot be sent across a street or road. The utilities happily set astride a law that says no. In the case of a farmer, he has a solar driven water pump with excess energy, but cannot rout it across the road to power a pump in another pasture.
Most states have net metering, but in my state it is strongly in favor of the utility. The excess you might sell to the grid is bought at a miserable low price, and in some utility zones they don't settle up monthly but yearly, cheap watts treated as a zero interest loan to boot. Still, in many regions the pay back is good and the satisfaction of selling your extra power I am told is akin to a toke of Lebanonese blonde hashish.
If ever you have a chance to speak up on changing the rules on these issues, please bluster and sputter and stamp until you win for all of us.
I remember Lebanese Blonde with great fondness ...
ReplyDeleteThe Beqaa (sometimes spelled Bekaa) valley has produced a lot of fine fruits, even the Romans treasured it.
DeleteI realize that this is not the point of this post, but methinks the hashish made you THINK she was a blond. I wouldn't know, of course.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I would not have know of this electric bullshit had you not posted this. Thanks.
No, "IT" was pure blonde. Afghanistan was brown, India black, Morocco was a blonde/green. Through the smoke the girls didn't turn blonde as you suggest, but their clothes became semi-transparent, I swear it's true.
DeleteIsn't it funny how they always come out in favor of business in ways that screw the consumer. In Michigan if you have alternative energy and sell excess back to the grid, you have to have two meters, one for the energy the power company sell you and the other for the power you sell to the power company. Of course, you get paid a lowball wholesale rate and you pay retail for the energy you use. The fair way would be to have a meter that could run backwards when you put energy into the grid. They already break down the bill with transmission charges and other charges and fees, so getting reimbursed at the going rate for your energy is only fair.
ReplyDeleteIMHO, it doesn't make any sense for someone to set up an alternative energy system unless they could be entirely free of the grid.
Well I'm OK selling it wholesale, if they supply a backup and other services. But the wholesale price needs to be fair not arbitrary. These wholesale prices change for the utility as they buy and trade energy over the grid as needs and sources change through the day. If they buy a homeowners or a small business's excess power they should pay the same as what they buy it from timbuk2 on that same day.
Delete