Utility companies all over the Country are enacting new fees on homes and businesses that put up solar panels on their roofs.

They have lots of reason but the biggest is that solar homes still need power when the sun doesn’t shine. Solar houses should pay for the lines and infrastructure needed to stay connected to the grid.

This sounds fair. After all. You do still use the system. But the truth is far more simple. They don’t charge you for using LED light bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs. They actually subsidize those. They don’t charge you for buying an Energy Star refrigerator or more efficient A/C unit. They even give you subsidies and rebates for those.

They also don’t charge a new 1200 SQF home that’s got all those energy efficient certifications any more to hook up to the system than an old 5000 SQF home that has old insulation and single pane windows. So WTF.

What we really have here is utilities trying to protect their turf along with their profit margins. They go out of their way to encourage and even subsidize energy efficiency but god forbid you produce your own energy. Now you are in direct competition. You are challenging their business model.

They have always had competition. You might have a gas stove or gas heat. Your water heater may be gas. Why haven’t they ever told people if your home isn’t all electric that you have to pay extra?

The only reason I ever looked at solar panels is because I bought an Electric Vehicle. I though maybe instead of using dirty coal from my electric company I might do the responsible thing and make clean power for my car.

My car would still consume more than I make in any given day so the electric company isn’t losing any money. Just not making a lot more. I would be providing some or much of that peak demand so they don’t need more infrastructure while filling up the car at night with off peak demand. You would think they would like that.

Earlier this year they proposed running high capacity power lines across our neighborhood because of all the new demand expected in the next 10 years. Ugly above ground lines costing millions per mile going across our views. It would probably be cheaper to put solar on every roof than to build those lines. They said they need them for peak demand. Just when solar provides the most.

I live in AZ and SRP is my utility. They have killed solar here. They aren’t adding what it costs to maintain the grid to my electric bill if I were to put up solar panels. They want what it costs to maintain their profit margin if not more. They don’t want people to produce power when it’s expensive and in demand. They want people to buy their power when it’s more expensive. Only the power they produce. Not that produced by rooftop independents so to speak.

It’s not just the $42 a month connection fee for solar homes. One of  the highest in the Country. They have added a peak demand fee to solar houses. And man, is it outrageous. They measure it in 15 minute increments, so if both my AC units kick in at the same time it would add almost $100 bucks that month to my electric bill.

One of the local solar installers told me the only reason now to add solar was to get the low (less than .05 per kWh) solar rate. Something they did to make the power solar panels produce the lowest return possible.

Funny thing is they will allow you to switch to the solar rate without solar. It’s experimental and only available to 5000 homes. (They still haven’t got 5000 takers yet as it’s only a great rate if the only time you need power is when nobody else is awake.) So I had them calculate my bill using that rate. My only peak power uses are my AC, no pool pumps, no electric water heater.

That’s it, just the AC and I can’t really choose not to use during peak demand hours. That’s when we need it most.

I tried cool my house to 72 degrees  just before peak demand. It only took two hours till it got over 80 degrees, and there’s no way I’m freezing my butt off cooling the house to 65 before 1 PM and hoping it stays below 80 till 8PM.  It would probably take 7-8 hours to cool it down that far anyway. It gets really hot in Arizona during the summer.

So why spend $23k after taxes to save .04 per kWh produced. The return was break even at best and there is nothing preventing the power company from charging me more in the future by raising fees on solar houses again. I would love to see them add an additional fee if you have a gas meter hooked up to your house. A battle of the monopolies.

Where I will probably save some money is when I can fill up a battery late at night and use it to moderate the peak demand rate during the day. That would save a lot of money on their peak demand rate plan as every kWh used at peak is $60 a month added onto your bill. Stay below 3kWh peak and it’s another $30 bucks or so off the bill. Once again, they encourage you to save electricity, just don’t make it.

I’m sure once people learn how to save using a Tesla Battery or something like it they will come up with another rate plan to protect their profits. They want you to buy peak power. They produce it at 6 cents and sell it for 12 cents. Even more when you have to pay for peak demand charges.

Off peak costs them 4 cents a kWh and they sell it for 7 cents. Far less revenue there.

They do want you to own an EV. More money in their pocket and not the oil companies. They will give you $50 if you do.

Utility companies look on people with solar like distillers look at moonshiners. Anything to kill the competition. Even if you have to tell half truths to do it. Many utilities even go so far as to contribute to the campaigns of friendly politicians. They Join ALEC who  writes bills that favor utilities. Then they can hand to those over to the folks they got elected to be introduced in the state legislatures. ALEC is writing your laws. Not the people you elected. I don’t remember voting for ALEC, did you? They say they are bipartisan. More like Buy Partisan.

There is one Arizona utility that might embrace solar. The power company in Tucson is actually putting solar on 500 rooftops as an experiment. Way to go Tucson.

Moonshines coming back. Maybe sunshine will find it’s way thru all the pollution one day as well.