Solar For Everyone!

Okay, let’s just imagine for a minute that you are a business owner. Your business is to generate electricity for millions of homes and other businesses. Along comes the supreme regulator who dictates that you can’t use the fuel most of your generators run on. You’re devastated! You simply can’t afford to replace the generators or upgrade to a different fuel. In a benevolent moment, the dictator allows you to buy credits from others that have extra credits and keep your generators cranking. Well, that’s not much of a solution. You will still have to raise the rates you charge your customers.

Bummer! But wait! Here is a nifty solution. Have your customers give you electricity that you can sell back to them. If they give you enough power, you will even be able to sell your credits. But how do you convince your customers to go along with this scheme? Common sense would dictate that they would want to be paid for providing you an infrastructure that will keep you from needing capital expenditure.

Aha! Let’s call it GREEN! Everybody loves the green ideas. Let’s get the customers to all install “Green Energy” solar systems at their own expense and have them provide you with power. You then sell power back at a reduced rate. Everybody wins, right?

In the old days of a many-tiered rate structure this propaganda worked. A lot of homeowners bought (literally and figuratively) into this scheme. What with rebates, zero down and free installation, who could pass up a deal like that?

Okay, but how much does your solar installation really cost you? You are paying for it! You may even have a lean against your home for the cost of the solar unit. How much are you saving in the cost of electricity? Does it offset the cost of the solar unit?

Now, mull this over. The Public Utilities Commission just voted to reduce the tier structure from four or five to just two tiers. And they are giving the big users a whopping break on charges. Well, of course, the power companies aren’t exactly benevolent, so they are going to raise the rates for small users … the ones on solar.

No, I’m not against solar energy. In fact, I believe it would be a great investment … if you could get off the grid.

I know people who are self-sufficient with power. Some have solar, and some have wind turbine power; some have both. None are connected to the power grid. Mother Nature provides all the electricity they need, and Mother Nature is not controlled by the PUC and won’t raise the rates.

There are people who, without fail, point out what they see as drawbacks to self-contained power generation. Yes, there are cloudy and windless days, and yes, the amount of power generated can and does fluctuate. That is what batteries are for. Ah, but batteries are dangerous and messy. Wrong! Gel cells have no mess and properly contained they are no more dangerous than the battery in your car. When things really go south and you just can’t get enough power from your units, there is always a backup generator powered by natural gas or diesel.

Of course, all this equipment costs money … and it ain’t cheap. But again, what are you paying for that solar unit that gives the power company free capital improvements plus free power – not to mention the ability to sell pollution credits on the cap-and-trade market?

 Solar for everyone? Well, as P.T. Barnum once said, there’s one born every minute.