It seems that what they are doing is moving the cost around more so that the amount paid for the actual energy is less, but the taxes and fees are more. When the change first happens, it does not look that big, but as you generate power in the day to offset power at night, the difference grows. They want to charge us for the cost to transport the energy we produce and push back onto the grid. That way when we over produce during the day, we get charged, and then have to pay again to have the power transported back to us at night when we have to buy it and our solar is not making power. What this is doing is making the value of having a home energy storage battery that much more cost effective and valuable. Any energy that goes through the power meter in either direction is going to be charged the delivery fees and taxes. So let's store our extra at home, and use it at night.
OK, so what I "think" I see happening in California is an on-going effort to continually and creatively adjust taxes/fees upward for those who believed grid-tied solar was good for the planet
, while reducing their reliance on the grid
, reduce their out-of-pocket installation costs via federal and state incentives
AND reduce their electric bill by selling excess solar production back to the utility
?
.
My end goal is to make my meter stop in both directions. I am not there yet, but I am working on it.
I don't think I want to play this never ending game.
But I still want my house to be connected to the grid. Thus, I want my meter to always run in only one direction and be billed for only the grid power used.
However, I would
like to harvest solar energy (off-grid with
NO grid-tie) and have a large enough battery bank (off-grid with
NO grid-tie) that would power my critical loads circuits, during times the grid is down. Essentially a backup system only. With a properly scaled solar array and battery bank, I should be able to increase my critical loads circuits
and run them off the battery during the day with
NO net metering!
Being a resident of Southern California (Orange County) and connected to the grid via SoCal Edison, I don't believe I can do this. It is my understanding that I cannot even
get a permit to install rooftop solar that is
NOT grid-tied.
Being grid-tied without solar, I pay a 3-tiered rate, depending on use. It currently ranges from $0.23/kWh (tier 1), $0.29/kWh (tier 2) and $0.37/kWh (tier3), depending on the season. I can live with this.
The constantly moving "goalposts" of net metering requires a spreadsheet to help tweak a system, so you can play the game. This is what I want to avoid.
PLEASE, someone tell me I am
WRONG and that there is a straightforward way to do what I would like to do.