[GlibMonkeyDeath]

"a utility can only survive of it buys electricity at wholesale rates and sells it at retail rates."

That is only true if the utility invests in the generation equipment. Individuals are paying 100% of the capital cost of solar generation equipment, which the utility uses locally at time of generation at basically no incremental cost. The utilities very much benefit from this at nearly retail rates (less the incremental maintenance costs of the local grid.) Yes, there should be some user fee for connecting to the grid, but it is not anywhere near the full difference between retail and wholesale energy costs...