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What would happen if more and more people start using solar along with the net metering? Who would pay for the infrastructure costs?
by pkaye 11y ago
What would happen if more and more people start using solar along with the net metering? Who would pay for the infrastructure costs?
- vinceguidry 11y agoThat's up to Nevada to decide. Won't happen for some number of years, what the world's going to look like then is going to be very different. No problem kicking that can down the road.
- pkaye 11y agoWell it seems like they decided it right now. They are splitting up the net meeting costs into infrastructure and production costs and expect those who connected to the grid to contribute to the infrastructure costs.
- toomuchtodo 11y agoWhich works, until it doesn't. The price of solar will continue downward, the price of batteries will continue downward, and eventually it'll be cheaper to disconnect from the grid regardless. That's what's going on in Hawaii right now. The utility started to push back against users interconnecting their solar panels, so people went entirely off the grid instead.
- pkaye 11y agoA few places have plenty of sun throughout the year. Hawaii might be ideal for this. But what about many parts of the US where you deal with winter rains and snow? No battery will be sufficient to store energy in those situations. So the reality is most people will continue to connect to the grid for some time to come and someone has to pay the costs of that infrastructure. However if people manage to be truly self sufficient then that is great and I fully support them.
- toomuchtodo 11y agoI don't disagree. In the most sunny areas of the world, people will go off grid if the grid tries to price them out. Those not in sunny locations will be beholden to the utility.
- Retric 11y agoThere is generally a separate grid connection fee. This is noticeable if you have a weekend cabin in the woods for example. From my dominion bill: Distribution Service 15.73$ followed by "Electricity Supply Svc (ESS)" which is based on usage and then several fees/taxes. Your phone bill probably does the same thing if your regularly calling other countries your paying a connection fee plus a usage fee.