ALEC: People who install solar panels to create their own electricity are "Freeriders"

[ChisolmTrailDem]

...

“As it stands now, those direct generation customers are essentially freeriders on the system,” said John Eick of ALEC. “They are not paying for the infrastructure they are using. In effect, all the other non-direct generation customers are being penalized. How are they going to get that electricity from their solar panel to somebody else’s house? They should be paying to distribute the surplus electricity.”

It’s not surprising, then, that groups like the Iowa Solar and Energy Trade Association are working to get out in front of such a bizarre attempt to taint what otherwise would be viewed as a positive step toward encouraging the growth of the solar sector. “ALEC fails to mention that customers pay for grid infrastructure and that the solar investment made by the customer increases grid stability, grid efficiency and energy security,” association president Tim Dwight wrote in a guest opinion.

...

More from the DesMoines Register

[Blue Owl]

1. Fuck ALEC

n/t

[NightWatcher]

2. feel the Free Market, assholes

We don't all want to buy our juice from your pimp. We'd rather find a better way that the free market allows.

We also want to catch some rainwater for greywater use. Deal with it.

[demwing]

7. You know, what these fuckers want is NOT the free market

they want a locked market, maybe a blocked market.

Token competition, captive consumers, and government subsidies.

What's the perfect term for the un-free market crowd?

[NightWatcher]

8. they dont want us to find a better way

[hobbit709]

3. If they're making their own electricity, how exactly are they using the infrastructure?

Maybe they don't have surplus.

[2naSalit]

5. even if they did have surplus to distribute

it's a public infrastructure built with tax dollars so...

[CBGLuthier]

9. I may be wrong but I do not think that tax dollars created the electric grid.

I am pretty sure that is all done by private companies.

There is some small point that they have which is that those who use the grid to offload their surplus are using something without paying for it or the maintenance. This does not apply to those who only use batteries and do not sell surplus.

[Humanist_Activist]

13. Actually, especially in rural areas, the electrical grid was built mostly through tax dollars...

nearer to the cities, it was a combination of public and private investment, similar to how telegraph and telephone lines were funded, along with railroads.

[lumberjack_jeff]

11. The subject is a bit of a distortion.

In my area, the power company is a public utility. The public utility buys power wholesale on the open market and resells it to customers at a profit. That profit is used to pay for infrastructure.

The question is whether the surplus power from grid-tied solar systems should be reimbursed at the customer's retail price or the wholesale price. I think it's in a customer's interest to maintain the infrastructure whether you're a buyer OR a seller of electricity, so I think that excess power should be sold at the wholesale rate.

The same argument is made for electric vehicles running on public highways paid for primarily with taxes on gasoline.

[Historic NY]

4. Thats funny what doe he call companies, that get big government subsidies..

free loaders.

[catbyte]

6. A-holes. They won't be satisfied until the planet is dead. They're too stupid and too selfish

to realize that if the planet dies they die too.

[louis-t]

10. Wait, I thought repugs believe in 'freedom freedom freedom'..

[NYC_SKP]

12. Not if they are off the grid and store their own energy.

If, on the other hand, they remain connected to the utility then they are using the services of said utility and need to pay something for the access to power.

The question becomes "what is that service worth", "what, if anything, should be paid to solar owners for overproduction", and who, in the end should be paying to maintain and improve the grid?

Here in California it's been an interesting experience to watch as agencies work out the details, with customers on one side and utilities on the other.

"Freeriders" is an insult. Tim Dwight is right.

[Incitatus]

14. I smell fear.

Rooftop solar is the future.

[Bettie]

15. ALEC FAIL: First item on a utility bill is an infrastructure charge

Even if you don't use any electricity, you pay a fee.

So, there are no free riders, because that fee is on everyone's bill unless they are not connected to the utility at all.

We own a second property. We do not have water or use heat in it, though we sometimes turn on lights for brief periods of time. Our minimum bill is between 20 and 25 dollars per month. Only a few cents of it is actual power charges.

[Atman]

16. I posted this on FB. My Florida friends had interesting responses.

It is so weird, up here in CT it seems like every other farm house is solar powered. Several have windmills. But I go home to Florida and no one has solar. They have sun all the time, except for the 30 minute afternoon thunderstorm, and yet NO ONE does solar. But it's everywhere in New England.

[bvar22]

17. Then I'm PROUD to be a Free Rider!

Fuck Alec.


My Wife & I lived for 3 years on Solar Powered Houseboats.
We had planned to install about 1500 watts of PV Panels when we moved to The Woods in 2006, but our rural Electric Co-Op claims they don't have the necessary equipment for Buy Back, and we don't want to bring a ton of toxic batteries to our hilltop.
Until then, we are going to stick with improving efficiency and passive solar improvements.


Small things like this can be Acts of Revolution!

So far, so good.
Next year, we will !CONSUME! less, and produce MORE.

[eShirl]

18. come on and take a free ride