[throwtheacctawy]

I own a solar array. I heard an argument against solar owners participating in net metering that was interesting. The argument is: net metering doesn't account for the cost of transmission and maintenance of the energy credit that is consumed.

Basically, we mooch off the grid. We're supposedly freeloaders, using the grid as our giant battery - only when we need it, and we're not paying to maintain the grid*.

This argument was new to me. The state I live in doesn't credit me 1:1 per kWh, per se.

Each kWh of power I pay for has 3 components; when added together, consumers pay a rate per kWh anywhere from 7-15cents. Each credit of power I produce can only offset 2 of the 3 components (like 95% of the cost)

Tldr - it sounds like some utility providers do not require solar owners to pay for transmission costs, or break their bill up in such a way that the credit can only be applied toward the power, but not the transmission.

Net metering sounds like a topic that needs to be defined. Some states definition of net metering could be very advantageous to solar owners, while other states have reasonable net metering rules that still incentivize residential solar.

[pstuart]

My understanding is that net metering makes life more difficult for the utilities but it seems like the right direction to go to make it more robust.