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Posted by Ken Dunnington [71.211.230.67] on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 09:49:31 :
In Reply to: Re: Goin Solar. O/T posted by mannyc [68.165.89.2] on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 09:15:44 :
I believe you are correct.
This also hits on a point of contention between proponents of centralized vs distributed power production. In *most* locales in the US, one gets credited for excess power production at the wholesale rate but is charged the retail rate for any consumption(such as at night for a non-battery solar setup or simply spikes in use). Thus, to break even dollar wise just on the electric bill(no consideration for investment recovery), one has to produce more than one consumes if one ever consumes off the grid.
On the one side, we have the grid which is an infrastructure that required large upfront investment and must be maintained so the different rates applied between excess produced and excess consumed allow for some level of payment for this by all users. On the other, at this time with so little power in the US being produced in a distributed manner, I understand the idea of providing greater incentive to do so by offering more competitive rates on excess production.
Ken
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