HappyJoy
Platinum Member
- Apr 15, 2015
- 32,056
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- #101
It really be nice if the government made the power company buy your excess power at the same rate they charge you for the power you buy from them. Instead they allow them to pay far less.
It would, however if that were the case then my power company would be sending me a monthly check. My bill comes down to just service fees. So, if APS had to buy my electricity back at a retail rate then that would most likely be the most expensive source of energy for them. Great for the home owner, not so sure it's all that terrific for other customers or even future innovation by the utility company.
One thing I really didn’t like was that the power company forced me to install a Automatic shut off so that in the event of an outage I can’t draw on the power from my solar cells to power my own house. Their excuse is their afraid of backflow energizing the grid and endangering their relain personnel.
I think the fear is real though I have to admit I've never really looked into it. Now depending on your HOA or city/county ordinances you may be able to disconnect your home from the grid and then you could use your own energy during a blackout. Though you'd need an expensive battery system to store your energy for night time or whenever your panels aren't able to collect energy. To me that solution is intriguing though expensive and probably not worth the investment....yet.