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> then they would be arguing for market pricing for your solar generated electricity. They are not. Market pricing is exactly what a lot of utilities in the EU

> then they would be arguing for market pricing for your solar generated electricity. They are not. Market pricing is exactly what a lot of utilities in the EU are now pushing for. Solar panel owners don't like it, because market prices now frequently dip below zero when solar and wind peak simultaneously. The second issue is the cost of providing and maintaining power transmission. Traditionally, the utilities just tack on transmission costs on the electricity costs. When everyone buys all their electricity from the utility, this is a reasonable compromise. However, when you get rooftop solar, the cost of providing power transmission to you doesn't go down at all, yet your electricity purchases do go down. A fairer way to price electricity transmission would probably be by your maximum draw from the grid, or by the size of the fuse that connects you to it.

crdoconnor 12y ago
A fairer way would be to treat electricity transmission as the natural monopoly that it is and to ensure that companies that do generation are not involved in transmission and vice versa. Transmission would be better handled by local government. If they want to favor homeowners' solar panels, so be it. If they want to favor the local power plant, again, so be it. If you let generators run the grid then they will do everything in their power to kill any forms of competing power and they will succeed thanks to their monopoly power. There is no intrinsic reason why rooftop solar shouldn't be given subsidies (direct or indirect), also. It is greener than almost all alternatives, after all.
- Tuna-Fish 12y ago
  > A fairer way would be to treat electricity transmission as the natural monopoly that it is and to ensure that companies that do generation are not involved in transmission and vice versa. That's exactly how it works in Finland and a lot of the rest of Northern Europe. I buy transmission and electricity from different companies.

crdoconnor 12y ago

A fairer way would be to treat electricity transmission as the natural monopoly that it is and to ensure that companies that do generation are not involved in transmission and vice versa. Transmission would be better handled by local government. If they want to favor homeowners' solar panels, so be it. If they want to favor the local power plant, again, so be it. If you let generators run the grid then they will do everything in their power to kill any forms of competing power and they will succeed thanks to their monopoly power. There is no intrinsic reason why rooftop solar shouldn't be given subsidies (direct or indirect), also. It is greener than almost all alternatives, after all.

Tuna-Fish 12y ago
> A fairer way would be to treat electricity transmission as the natural monopoly that it is and to ensure that companies that do generation are not involved in transmission and vice versa. That's exactly how it works in Finland and a lot of the rest of Northern Europe. I buy transmission and electricity from different companies.