In her touch upon May 23, “Want Solar? Act Now,” Ms. Ivy Main is totally proper, those that are considering of putting in photo voltaic electrical panels at house ought to act earlier than the big subsidy for photo voltaic installations, which shifts the associated fee to low earnings households. end. But his arguments for internet metering are missing.
Let’s take a look at the exhausting information. The price of electrical energy for residential shoppers in Central Virginia ranges from 14 to 16 cents per kilowatt-hour. Check your invoice. It primarily consists of 4 parts:
â– The price of producing electrical energy, which averages about seven cents per kilowatt-hour.
â– Â The price of passing across the PJM grid is about two cents per kilowatt-hour.
â– Â The price of distribution to electrical energy customers is about three cents per kilowatt-hour.
â– Â And administrative prices to handle the system, invoice shoppers, and many others., about three cents per kilowatt-hour.
People additionally learn…
Under internet metering, a photo voltaic buyer is paid for electrical energy fed again to the grid at a retail fee of about 15 cents per kilowatt-hour, not the averted price of shopping for electrical energy at seven cents per kilowatt-hour. This leaves different clients to pay the distinction of eight cents per kilowatt-hour to be distributed on their payments. If there are only a few photo voltaic installations, as right here in Virginia with about 6% of residents, the impression on particular person non-solar clients is minimal, but when many solar-powered houses promote extra energy again to the grid at 15 cents per kilowatt-hour, avoiding the full price of the electrical energy system, the quantity charged to nonsolar shoppers could also be extreme. If Virginia reaches 50% solar-powered houses, like California, their passed-on prices can be eight cents per kilowatt-hour, leading to clients’ payments rising to 23 cents. per kilowatt-hour. Unfortunately, it’s primarily low-income households that can’t afford to put in photo voltaic within the first place. Someone has to pay for transmission, distribution and administrative prices.
Net metering incentivizes photo voltaic installations by means of a regressive tax on low-income households, and it have to be ended. Solar house owners who suppose they need not simply ask their utility firm to disconnect them from the grid and see how that works. The first night time with out electrical energy will be miserable. Solar energy offered again to the grid must be paid for in averted manufacturing prices, and if there isn’t any further electrical energy demand, it must be paid for at zero cents per kilowatt-hour.
