Solar...Unintended consequences

In my town, because of very generous state compensation for installing solar, seems every other house now has solar. And every municipal building has solar.
I've had a grid tied system for 5 years now and I see my yearly electric total cost rising every year. Because I operate a home office and take a tax deduction for utility costs for that % of my house, I analyse my electric costs to the penny every year. (2200 sq ft house with a hobby machine shop in garage)
The first year I had the system my total cost for electricity, all in, was under $400
This year (2019) my total cost was just under $1000

Seems with less folks buying electricity from the utility, the amount of $$ available to service the infrastructure has gone down substantially. Therefore the electricity distribution/transportation cost part of the electric bill are rising rapidly. Add to this that two major electric plants, one coal one nuclear in my area have shut down this year and the basic electricity costs are some of the highest in the world here in New England.....

I'm still glad I installed solar. Can't imagine what my costs would be without it!

I have an off grid camp and the solar setup is paid for just from the monthly service fees that are saved. Wait for people to start paying for time of use rates and hear the screams. The day everyone in solar pays for electric infrastructure are coming. Just like public highways you don't use, you will pay so the local grocer will have electric.

Could be time to start going off grid...

Sounds like you need to start considering a battery system to store & use your own generated power while also using the grid to top up / top off batteries during off-peak times, more & more people going that route globally. Every different power so produce their bills in various ways. It would be interesting if you compared a bill from 5 years ago to today. and taking note on the cost per Kilowatt hour for the power itself, what they charge for the "delivery" of said power and ho with various taxes are broken down for each part. If they breakdown any feed in tariffs then that might also make for an interesting comparison.

Something that has popped up here but in other forums as well. Depending on jurisdiction of course, but many people have noted changes in the past few years in regards to fees / rates. The FITs (feed in tariffs) being paid out are going lower & lower, while transmission charges are increasing, in some instances as FITS drop the $ per kWh are also on the increase. Notably in regions where Nuclear of Coal / Gas are being maintained or upgraded. Other regions which have veered away from Fossil or Nuclear resources are beginning to show lower kWh rates to the consumer while delivery charges remain the same. One factor is where cooperative power co's owned by the public are doing better on rates & delivery versus the older "clay footed" corporate power companies who dominate in other areas.

We have the Tech to be Free & Independent of external resources for personal power, generation, storage & use. Those that attempt to prevent such freedoms are working in their own self-interests and in effect are suppressing Freedom & Independence. You have options available to you to ponder upon and to weigh them out will take a bit of time. Start by amortising the Power Co projected costs for the next five years and when you add up all the digits the picture may begin to clear. $5K worth of battery can be significant if shopped out smartly AND if your a handy person who isn't afraid of a bit of DIY, then even better.

I need to do the math....A "Power Wall" will cost me a bit over $10,000 with install. At 68 years old, and thinking of moving south, it doesn't make sense right now. I'm currently in Real Estate sales and solar is a 50/50 as far as adding to resale of a home currently. In my case, all panels are in the back roof and do not show from street. Folks are still not liking panels on the roof on street side.

I might build my own LiPo system that I could take with me if the new owner doesn't want it.

This same think is happening with cable/ satellite TV suppliers. Thousands of folks a month are "cable cutting" and streaming their video content over the internet via broadband cell services and millennials are watching all TV over their phones. So there is less and less $$ to maintain satellite dishes and cable feeds with bucket trucks. And once Elon Musk gets his system up and running and T-Mobiles 600Mz and AT&Ts Mini Cells are up and running it will be the death knell for DISH and DirectTV.

Rbertalotto said:

I need to do the math....A "Power Wall" will cost me a bit over $10,000 with install. At 68 years old, and thinking of moving south, it doesn't make sense right now. I'm currently in Real Estate sales and solar is a 50/50 as far as adding to resale of a home currently. In my case, all panels are in the back roof and do not show from street. Folks are still not liking panels on the roof on street side.

I might build my own LiPo system that I could take with me if the new owner doesn't want it.

This same think is happening with cable/ satellite TV suppliers. Thousands of folks a month are "cable cutting" and streaming their video content over the internet via broadband cell services and millennials are watching all TV over their phones. So there is less and less $$ to maintain satellite dishes and cable feeds with bucket trucks. And once Elon Musk gets his system up and running and T-Mobiles 600Mz and AT&Ts Mini Cells are up and running it will be the death knell for DISH and DirectTV.

Click to expand...

chuckles.... I haven't watched "TV" proper as such in 15 years ! I stream & download what I want, when I want and all without commercials, interruptions or some doofus sitting on his fat keister in some concrete office deciding what I should be watching & when. So says the guy with 3TB of movies & TV series on his hard drive library.... hahaha

The price of "PowerWalls" proper has dropped a lot in the past 24 months but I still think they are too pricey but then I am a DIY'er so...

This is similar to the electric car situation.Many are buying over priced electric cars because electricity is cheaper or free in some instances. But one of these days some "brilliant" bureacrat/politician (I hope you see the sarcasm in this description) is going to realize the taxes from fuel is dwindling because people are switching to electric and "adjust" the electricity rate for EV's..

Freddmc said:

This is similar to the electric car situation.Many are buying over priced electric cars because electricity is cheaper or free in some instances. But one of these days some "brilliant" bureacrat/politician (I hope you see the sarcasm in this description) is going to realize the taxes from fuel is dwindling because people are switching to electric and "adjust" the electricity rate for EV's..

Click to expand...

I was reading stories of that already being proposed in California. EV owners were going to be hammered for $1000 to renew their registrations because they were not contributing to the road taxes. EVTV also had an episode on how power companies were messing with grid frequency in order to shut down grid tied inverters for 10-15 minutes, thus triggering grid use and the minimum charges associated with consuming any kWh.

It is always 'interesting' to watch a disruptive technology change an industry. What is unique about this is that it is disrupting government backed monopoly that is also being scrutinized by all of the climate change issues & fears. This means you have lots of government agencies jumping in to protect the climate, protect the utilities, and protect the tax base all at the same time. The normal business drives are circumvented and this mess won't normalize anytime soon.

What makes it all worse is the politicians and agencies making the rules are not working cohesively. Furthermore, they typically don't understand (or don't care about) the technologies & economic implications around the rules and regulations they are making.

I don't believe there are a lot of conspiracies in our government, but it is very easy to believe their are a lot of ill-conceived and often self-serving decisions made by incompetent politicians and bureaucrats.

OK...... I had my rant.... I feel better now.