Koch Brothers' Dirty War on Solar Power

jeff5may · 02-23-16, 10:58 AM

Steve,
I totally agree with you on the mainstream, average customer apathy and that the vast majority of consumers will not change their habits until it shows up on the power bill. The TOU and demand response billing rate structures have been around for a long time in the commercial sector, and have had the desired effect in that portion of the market. But with the "cattle" customer portion, I'm not so sure changing to these rate structures will have a profound effect. Most of them will just swallow a jagged pill and pay up.

Most of the ecorenovators active in the forums do not fit into this profile. A brave few have provided some outstanding examples for the rest of us to admire. It has been shown that as an individual, one can design and assemble a pv system that pays itself off rather quickly in energy savings. Already, there are many custom options available on the market for individual would-be installers to tailor a new system to their generation vs usage strategy. But for most non-savvy consumers, a shiny new crossover SUV seems a more practical investment, due to today's low gas prices.

As always, the government is way behind the ball, as with many other infrastructure issues. By the time these new rate strategies are approved and implemented, the pv may be into a "third or fourth generation" type of configuration that does the PID thing with the power grid. With ample storage capacity on the consumer side of the power wall, TOU or demand response billing schemes only become more attractive. That is, unless minimum service charges and grid connection fees and tariffs rise. The problem is, the power utilities are going in both directions pretty aggressively. A situation arises where the personally-owned systems have to outsmart the "smart grid" and pricing structures to remain highly economical.

02-23-16, 10:58 AM	#13
jeff5may Supreme EcoRenovator Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: elizabethtown, ky, USA Posts: 2,428 Thanks: 431 Thanked 619 Times in 517 Posts	Steve, I totally agree with you on the mainstream, average customer apathy and that the vast majority of consumers will not change their habits until it shows up on the power bill. The TOU and demand response billing rate structures have been around for a long time in the commercial sector, and have had the desired effect in that portion of the market. But with the "cattle" customer portion, I'm not so sure changing to these rate structures will have a profound effect. Most of them will just swallow a jagged pill and pay up. Most of the ecorenovators active in the forums do not fit into this profile. A brave few have provided some outstanding examples for the rest of us to admire. It has been shown that as an individual, one can design and assemble a pv system that pays itself off rather quickly in energy savings. Already, there are many custom options available on the market for individual would-be installers to tailor a new system to their generation vs usage strategy. But for most non-savvy consumers, a shiny new crossover SUV seems a more practical investment, due to today's low gas prices. As always, the government is way behind the ball, as with many other infrastructure issues. By the time these new rate strategies are approved and implemented, the pv may be into a "third or fourth generation" type of configuration that does the PID thing with the power grid. With ample storage capacity on the consumer side of the power wall, TOU or demand response billing schemes only become more attractive. That is, unless minimum service charges and grid connection fees and tariffs rise. The problem is, the power utilities are going in both directions pretty aggressively. A situation arises where the personally-owned systems have to outsmart the "smart grid" and pricing structures to remain highly economical.