[zugi]

> Connecting to the grid has enormous value

Yet in most locales it's illegal to disconnect from the grid.

If disconnection were legal for those who want to be energy self-sufficient, then charging just to connect would be more defensible.

[bsder]

> Yet in most locales it's illegal to disconnect from the grid.

That's kind of ... required?

Otherwise you have a bunch of people who are off the grid until the sun doesn't shine for a week and they run their batteries down and then they all try to connect simultaneously and collapse your grid.

Most places I know of don't care if you never connect to the grid--you get your exemption and get on with life.

However, once you are connected to the grid even once, the grid operator has to size things for the worst case when everybody is connected to the grid and drawing power and work things out for stability when everybody disconnects and they have to back off generation. At that point, the grid operator is well within their rights to demand that you comply with cooperative regulations like making a request to connect/disconnect from the grid itself.

[labcomputer]

Are you being deliberately obtuse?

It is illegal to discontinue your relationship with your local electrical utility. As in, completely disconnect from the grid, cut the wires and never look back.

As the previous poster said, charging for the “privilege” of connecting to the enormously-valuable grid would be a little bit defensible if having a connection were not legally required in most places.

[HWR_14]

I have no idea where it would be illegal not to connect to the grid. You can just not pay your electric bill.

[hparadiz]

You know I can just not use that grid electricity, pay the absolute minimum, and then do everything off grid right?

[hahahaa]

Not according to this ancestor comment:

> Now they want solar panel owners to pay a surcharge for “connecting to the grid”, upwards of $100/month or more than my actual solar bill

[gamblor956]

You have it exactly backwards.

It is illegal for the utility to disconnect you for nonpayment. There is nothing requiring you to connect to the utility.

In CA, the requirement is that the building either be connected to the electric grid or demonstrate that it has a code-compliant alternative power system capable of meeting all of the buildings expected power needs. The issue is that most residential solar installations aren't capable of meeting all needs except possibly in the summer.

[DANmode]

Depending on jurisdiction.

This is not ubiquitous. It is common.