> Also, residential electric rates, on average about 12 cents per kilowatt-hour in in the U.S., are much higher than wholesale electric rates – the price utilit

> Also, residential electric rates, on average about 12 cents per kilowatt-hour in in the U.S., are much higher than wholesale electric rates – the price utilities pay to power generators – which are usually less than 4 cents per kilowatt-hour. That 8 cent difference is mostly the cost of distribution and storage or variable supply. Distribution from the roof to the home would be inexpensive, but storage is not cheap. Asking utilities to accept solar energy input at this flat rate in exchange for the variable supply and grid backup may work for a small fraction of society, but it will hit a critical mass sooner or later and become infeasible.