First, to give you an idea of what my local power company feels about renewable energy, see here: http://www.intermountain-rea.com/legislative.htm Note their citation of propaganda films like "The Great Global Warming Swindle". Now it's bad enough that they don't offer any sort of assistance for those wanting to invest in solar energy for their home (Colorado state law requires such things, but IREA gets away with not doing it because they are "too small" [they server 137,000+ "members"/households]), but what really burns me up is something I just read on their "membership application". Apparently, they charge a $30 minimum on the bill, ordinarily not a big deal, since it's easy to use $30 worth of juice, but since my plan is to try to go solar somewhat soon, I'll potentially be paying them for the electricity I would spend a lot of money on to generate myself. This seems ridiculous to me! Colorado State Law requires all energy companies, regardless of size, to have "net metering" where the electic company gives you back what you contributed during times of low energy usage, but this seems like a sleezy way around the law (if it's even legal). Maybe I can understand for those who just don't use power on a given month, but for those with solar power, this is basically a way to make you pay when the state said that you shouldn't have to because of net metering! My question is what should I do? I can't not "agree" to the terms or they'll shut off our power (they're the only game in town by law). I feel like writing letters to state politicians, though I'm not sure what good it will do, and this almost sounds like something they can get sued over, but I won't be trying to install solar power for another year or two so it would seem like a waste of time now. Anyone have some advice?
Hi Boulder..., You need to move. Either your residence, or your load. Have the Solar system charge batteries, and put your lighting (or computer) and plug-in Prius on that sub circuit. Extra cost, but might pay.
Anyone have some advice? Simple. Design a system that will put $40/month worth of electricity into the grid. Let them try and wiggle around that. Send them late fee reminders (modeled after their own notices and fees) any time they don't send that $10 check promptly. Try not to giggle when you cash the checks.
You can talk to the PUC about it. I doubt it will do any good. Are you up Coal Creek Canyon? You should get $2.00/W from the state. You'll just miss out on the other $2.50/W that Xcel customers get. So there's something there, it's just not as sweet as it could be.
Keep your focus on the ultimate goal...to be completely independent. Do not write the utility. If you are going to write, find some organizations with legal help and write to solar magazines. These folks have lots of contacts and know the weak spots of utilities. homepower.com solartoday.org These are just two magazines that would be a great place to write a letter to the editor. Your letter will be seen by many thousands or more. P.S. If you write, provide the results. Sometimes one person makes a big difference.
A complaint to your state representatives wouldn't hurt either. The State is trying to help you, the utility and it's government regulating overseer is not. Squeaky wheel and all that. In the mean time, look at solar and wind to get off the grid. Then thumb your nose at them.
Do you pay a fee for being connected to the grid? I can't see how you can begrudge a company from charging you for using the grid they have to maintain. I pay $31.19 just for 3 months grid connection plus a levy of $66.60 for 60% renewable energy then on top of that I pay for power used. You didn't say what the billing period is, is it a month or 3 months? You won't buy a lot of batteries for $30 every 3 months, there is no CO2 gain and the environmental impact of the batteries to consider. If you pay nothing for grid connection your neighbours are subsidising your grid connected solar power, if you don't want to pay to be on the grid, get off the grid with power storage and diversified sources of power, solar and wind and if you are on the gas grid a gas powered backup generator. (not petrol) My power company doesn't offer any incentives to go solar but the Australian Government do, to the tune of $8.00 per kW/h toward PV up to 1000kW/h and $250 toward gas boosted solar hot water. Your federal government may go down the same track soon after the United Nations' climate change conference in Bali and the American government finally agreeing to be active in affecting change in energy production, consumption and reduction. Keep an ear to the ground. Watch out for the new Sliver solar panels too.
Our power company has no options to purchase or rather "deliver" renewable energy. And on top of all that there is a MONTHLY minimum service fee. Which means, if you had a month where you produced more power than you used, or even broke even, it doesn't matter because you still have to pay the minimum. It is more of belonging to a "club" or something.
Thanks for all the advice! They charge $30 minimum per month which really bites into the potential ROI on solar energy (which isn't the main reason I want to do it, though it helps). Oh, and guess what I found out about my lovely energy company: The kicker is that the company is paying for this crap with MY money, including those little $30 mandatory fees. Nevermind the fact that every "member" is supposed to be a part-owner in the electric CO-OP.
Hey! A reader of "The Carpetbagger Report"! Cool! I'll have to call Steve and let him know he's been quoted here. Just curious, how long have you been reading "The Carpetbagger Report", and how did you find it?
I googled "Intermountain Rural Electric Association sucks" and his site came up. His SEO is working okay. To be honest, however, that was the first time I visited the site.
In the Bay Area, PG&E charges a fee of ~$8/month for electricity. We have panels up on our house, metered time of use, and signed up for the once/year electricity payment. So, every month, we get our PG&E bill with our Gas charges and $8 for electricity fees. I'm hoping that when we have our "square up" time in the summer, that we will still have credits (shouldn't be a problem). Sorry your situation is different/worse. One benefit, despite the lower production in the winter time (production on a sunny day is 1/3 what we do on a sunny summer day), I can look at the inverter screen and see that we've prevented ~ 40,000 lbs of CO2 since August (not sure the parameters the inverter uses to calculate that). But it is a reminder that lowering the electric bill was the secondary reason for hooking up the system. In the end, you could compromise and go with a smaller system (for the $$$ issue) or the system you want to help out the environment.
I might do it anyway, but it's frustrating because I suspect that my energy company's policies are geared directly toward preventing people like me from using alternative energy. What else can I say about a company that posts links to anti-global warming articles on their website, funds "scientific" research to prove their stance, and charges $30 a month, even if you use no electricity?
Your story provides great incentive to achieve independence from the power company on more than just the financial tradeoff alone. Many think that the only time or reason to become energy self-sufficient is when the spreadsheet comes out positive. I bet that you would make the transition (if you were in a position to do so) even if the spreadsheet came out slightly negative. The freedom from this greedy "cooperative" would be priceless.
The problem is that it would cost loads of money. The battery back is really pricey and coal creak canyon probably has a fair number of cloudy days in the winter. If you can sorta shut down mostly during that time though, it might work. The problem with the current batteries is that they don't last all that long. About 10 years, I think. So you have an on going cost there. On the other hand, not having to deal with those plonkers is probably worth a fair amount...
I'm guessing that they don't make any money off of people with Solar Panels, thus the $30 minimum charge (to pay for overhead, etc). Money is typically the primary driving factor.....they are running a business and money is the bottom line.
You could easily sue them for discrimination if regular rate payers don't also pay the $30. You're not creating any extra burden and they can sell your excess for retail and pay you wholesale. However, there's probably a PITA factor for them (and they obviously have a bug up their arse) so I'm sure they're not happy about people installing inter-tie systems.
$30 sounds high (but not surprising). Here (Chicago suburb - ComED) my base fees are: $7.26 - "customer" charge $2.21 - standard metering charge Both are fixed charges. Distribution, and supply charges are additional and based on usage. So my minimum charge is $9.47 even if I were to use no electricity for the month.
