4 ms·

Can you legally do something like use the solar power for your lighting or small appliances and use the company's electricity for your heating? With different s

Can you legally do something like use the solar power for your lighting or small appliances and use the company's electricity for your heating? With different sockets and wires?

joshred 12y ago
Why wouldn't you be able to?
- ChuckMcM 12y ago
  If you are asking why I don't end up with a $0 bill it is because PG&E builds a per kwH 'cost' schedule that includes various tiers of usage. But they don't adjust how much credit I get by baseline usage. As a contrived example, let's say Baseline is 200kWH and .10 per kWH, and I use 300kWH which is billed at 200kWH at 'baseline' rate, and 100kWH at 'premium' rate of .125 per kWH. My "billed" cost is $32.50, If I then generate 300kWH I get "credit" for 300 baseline rate kWH or $30.00, and have to eat the difference between the baseline rate and the premium rate or generate and extra 25 kWH to cover the difference. I've had extended phone conversations with them and they completely understand that this is exactly the situation, they are pretty pleased with themselves for getting it through the regulators.
ChuckMcM 12y ago
Yes, I could do that. What I can no longer do is come out revenue neutral if I generate exactly the same number of kwH that I consume in a 12 month period.
- infogulch 12y ago
  I don't think that would be fair anyway. There is more value in electricity than net kwH used in a year. Ignoring other value that power companies provide (such as supplying for large demand fluctuations over days and seasons) and asserting that you should get them for free seems disingenuous at best.
  - ChuckMcM 12y ago
    Interesting use of the term fair. If I had 'super capacitors' or pretty much any 98% or better charge storage device I could take my house off the grid and give the power company zero dollars for power. In my ideal world I would set up solar to nominally charge the base load charge supply for my house, and power the house from the base load charge supply. In the event my base load charge supply dropped below a set limit, I'd use natural gas to run a fuel cell for some number of hours to get the base load charge supply back into the right zone. I continue to use gas for heat applications (stove top, dryer, house heater, water heating) but would be no longer part of the electricity grid. Right now, to do this costs more than the 'surcharge' I'm paying PG&E to be a utility with electricity on demand. But once the economics switch I'm going to kick their electricity service to the curb. And I consider that both right and fair.

Can you legally do something like use the solar power for your lighting or small appliances and use the company's electricity for your heating? With different sockets and wires?

joshred 12y ago

Why wouldn't you be able to?

ChuckMcM 12y ago
If you are asking why I don't end up with a $0 bill it is because PG&E builds a per kwH 'cost' schedule that includes various tiers of usage. But they don't adjust how much credit I get by baseline usage. As a contrived example, let's say Baseline is 200kWH and .10 per kWH, and I use 300kWH which is billed at 200kWH at 'baseline' rate, and 100kWH at 'premium' rate of .125 per kWH. My "billed" cost is $32.50, If I then generate 300kWH I get "credit" for 300 baseline rate kWH or $30.00, and have to eat the difference between the baseline rate and the premium rate or generate and extra 25 kWH to cover the difference. I've had extended phone conversations with them and they completely understand that this is exactly the situation, they are pretty pleased with themselves for getting it through the regulators.

ChuckMcM 12y ago

Yes, I could do that. What I can no longer do is come out revenue neutral if I generate exactly the same number of kwH that I consume in a 12 month period.

infogulch 12y ago
I don't think that would be fair anyway. There is more value in electricity than net kwH used in a year. Ignoring other value that power companies provide (such as supplying for large demand fluctuations over days and seasons) and asserting that you should get them for free seems disingenuous at best.
- ChuckMcM 12y ago
  Interesting use of the term fair. If I had 'super capacitors' or pretty much any 98% or better charge storage device I could take my house off the grid and give the power company zero dollars for power. In my ideal world I would set up solar to nominally charge the base load charge supply for my house, and power the house from the base load charge supply. In the event my base load charge supply dropped below a set limit, I'd use natural gas to run a fuel cell for some number of hours to get the base load charge supply back into the right zone. I continue to use gas for heat applications (stove top, dryer, house heater, water heating) but would be no longer part of the electricity grid. Right now, to do this costs more than the 'surcharge' I'm paying PG&E to be a utility with electricity on demand. But once the economics switch I'm going to kick their electricity service to the curb. And I consider that both right and fair.