solar arrays generated more than we used---The Electric company should be buying this from you at a reasonable price.

If they don't need the electric company to provide power for them, why are they giving them $9.57 a month?

"If they don't need the electric company to provide power for them, why are they giving them $9.57 a month?"

Probably because it's their first month? Or maybe they aren't sure yet if they can generate enough power year-round so they prefer to keep the grid tie?

That's really awesome that they were able to generate enough electricity to cover all of their needs! But for the rest of us who can't quite afford solar arrays yet...here's a pretty interesting wiki on how to gauge your electricity consumption.

Tony,

As I see it, even if they are generating more electricity than they are consuming, they are only generating during the day but still consuming at night. Effectively, they are paying the $9.57 a month in order to use the grid as a gigantic storage battery. But Burbaq is certainly right... the Town of Stowe should be paying something for the power that is being added to the grid.

"If they don't need the electric company to provide power for them, why are they giving them $9.57 a month?"

I'm not sure about Vermont, but to be eligible for rebates and incentives in California you have to be tied to the grid.

"If they don't need the electric company to provide power for them, why are they giving them $9.57 a month?"

Um, because they want to turn the lights on at night when the sun doesn't shine? Doubtful they're charging a giant bank of lead acid batteries, so being hooked to the grid to use it as a giant battery (sink and source) is EASILY worth $10/month.

"If they don't need the electric company to provide power for them, why are they giving them $9.57 a month?"

Most likely because battery less grid tie systems are the cheapest, easiest, and lowest maintenance of all solar systems.

The pricing to go off grid is significant, as it means large battery bank, and much larger inverters.

I've priced both, and as tempting as off grid is, it makes sense in many situations to go grid tie.

The utility should be paying them for their excess electricity, as there is federal law mandating this. It's up to each state how to implement that, and there are some varied differences between states.

Remember those splar cells took a lot of energy to produce. It can take anywhere between 2 and 10 years (depending on the technology used) before you will break even energy-wise. Until that time this person has actually been worse to the enviroment. Not better. Not to mention the fact that all solar cells degrade with time and have a maximum lifespan of about 20 to 25 years.

in France with solar power get a bill from EDF ( the provider) CREDITING Them with money as home owners are strating to sell electricty !
With solar cooking, solar panel etc..it will be more so.
Water bills also will start looking like that with new ways to harvest water or actually design your garden as a rain garden:people are starting to use rain to wash clothes,flush loos...
Maybe the food bills will go very low with the new aeroponic kitchen top devices or things like the local river appliance to have fish at home !!
A whole new world!
Anne

Maca, your comment is misleading. They haven't been "worse' to the environment because the opportunity choice isn't "use nothing" or "use solar panels". What they would have been using otherwise would have been a lot worse, unless the local grid happens to be 100% clean.

Bravo!!

I wonder what the implications are in a power outtage for a grid tied system? Is there a switch that allows house consumption while the external power is down?

vsk

Also maca, after 25 years silicon-based PV cells still produce about 85%-90% of their original ratings. Its not like they are completely worthless after 25 years, they are still producing large amounts of electricity. The 20-25 year figure you are thinking of is the manufacturer warranty. With future advancements in appliance energy conservation, you won't even need that lost 10%.

vsk - if you want to use a grid-tied PV array when the power goes out, you have to design that into the system from the start. Usually by adding a small battery bank to keep essential appliances running (like fridges/freezers). However, then you reduce your overall efficiency since some of the power that would have gone to the grid now goes to the charging loss (20%) that lead-acid batteries incurr. A normal grid-tied system get switched off by built-in safeguards if the grid goes down.

Picking details from the owners blog he is using a peak of 1500 KwH per month during the winter, and the PV installation cost around $100K. Using those numbers and assuming 10c per KwH this system will take at least 55 years to pay back the initial investment. Whats harder to factor in is that during summer months there will be a reduction in home usage, and increase in supply to the local utility (for cash or credit?) that would reduce the pay back period.

The $9.75 fee is probaly the electric company's line fee's. I know they charge you fee's just to have the line nearby. Check your phone bill for hidden fee's and you'll see what I mean. Brian

Some degree of power self-reliance is a smart idea, in an era of aging traditional infrastructure, apparent peak oil, and clean energy credits. Most renewable energy sources have pros and cons. One of PV solar's advantages is its ease of installation in most bioregions, passive function, and almost daily ability to produce some measure of power. Wind is much more site specific, as is micro hydro.
PV solar has had its place in a wide array of functions, from satellites to calculators, and now the rise of residential and utlity-scale installations is becoming a force to be reckoned with. There is no final answer in the switch to renewable energy. It is a diversified approach, coupled with big improvements in consumer intelligence (conservation) that will enable the shift to a post-carbon society.

It could be worse, they could be living in Germany.
in Germany, you have to keep the power company, and pay half the electric bill, even if power goes back in the line.
In Germany you do not have the right to use the sun for Free.
Sad but true....

You should find some way to not have your equipment plugged into the grid since you are not being paid, but just have it charging a couple huge generators or something. You are getting ripped off by the electric company each month while your neighbors are using your power and paying the electric company. Either that or sell of your equipment to someone who can figure out how to get paid for there energy they make.

Personally I have had it with all these undefined "service fees" that utilities charge. If they are making a profit to provide a service, then the cost of providing that service is THEIR operating cost. When you go to the grocery store, do they charge you extra for the gas it took to bring the food to the store? Of course not! When you buy a shirt, do you pay extra for the thread used to sew it together? Or the cost of importing the fabric?

Funny story: I recently tried to uncover the purpose of several vague fees on my cable bill. I called the customer service number, which connected me to a representative in the Phillippines who flatly said she had no idea. I asked for a local phone number, and I was given the location of an office, but apparently they don't have a phone number so now I have to drive over there in person to ask about an $.83 charge.

The worst part was, when I called the state office that is supposed to oversee this stuff, they told me that it wasn't a big enough charge to be worth their time. When I reminded them that this cable company has thousands of subscribers in our area, the guy said "Yeah, about 800,000."

Do the math: the cable company is collecting over HALF A MILLION DOLLARS for some fee they won't even explain!! And the government LETS THEM!!

It's enough to make a person take up a hobby.

are power company charges us 18.50 just for the utility to be at the edge of the proberty. anything past that is at our cost and their is no getting away from the 18.50 a month charge wether you use their power or not!

Just have your power lines removed from your home. If you can supply all your power needs that is.

I would like to know how much solar cost to setup, I would love to do this for my house! I think power companies have a monopily on power. I f your late or mess up thay charge you big time but if it's them that screws up it's were sorry get over it! I hate power companies! Stick it to them man!

This whole country is one big rip off after another...for the one that things he is not paying extra when he goes to the store, or buying a shirt..think again, you really do not know what is extra since you really do not see those things itemized as you do with all sorts of utility bills...a cig only costs about 05 cents to make, but costs around $5.00 a pack...$40-$50 a cartoon, and if you live in high end states like NY then probably $80+ a cartoon, so why the heavey price gap from here to there? why $40 a cart in mn and $80+ for a cartoon in ny? your own government rips you off so they can collect more $$$ to pay for some other stupid crap, and they do this all in the name of smoking kills so they charge higher taxes on cigs and alcohol... and some are worried about their individual bill of an extra .83 cents...

you should be more concerned on this trillion $$ iraq war...if it was not for this, this country would have been a lot richer, at least wall street, and more then likely wall-street would not have crashed as it did...

thank-you George W. Bush for 8 years of total failure to this country.

and you worry about 83 extra cents on your bill, some people have lost millions....

we are getting ripped off daily by all sorts of compaines alike...$130/mo cable bill to watch reruns of crap on TV, is that really worth it comcast?

I recall growing up in the 70's in oklahoma, the only natural gas applicances we had were two floor furnaces for winter heat. each spring, my dad would go out to the curb and literally turn the gas meter off. and the local gas company would continue to send a bill for about $5.00 a month all summer long. Each month, my mother would go down to the gas company office and throw a fit. sometimes they took the charge off. sometimes they didn't. I've also gotten credit card bills for less than 10 cents for a card I hadn't used in months. I called to cancel the card, and 3 months later, I got another one, this time past due! Where do these people get off, gouging us with these "service charges". I can just imagine what they are doing when it's easy to hide in the charges.

I had a 2kw system installed on my home in California for about $20k. I pay about $25 a month for electricity. My bill previously was $100+ a month. Plus either I could have received $5000 up front rebate or $7000 over 5 years, so I am now being paid $150 a month by the electric co!

They are charging a flat fee because they are still on the grid and their meter is still on. It is the basic service charge.