As war affects oil and gas supplies and prices, solar and wind can have a moment as heroes on the home front. Let’s make this an opportunity for renewables, in all possible applications. And a governor who gets it, well, more right than Newsom has.
With you on this! I've been writing about benefits of rooftop solar for all ratepayers since 2013 and am so sick of the "cost shift" argument, which ignores the massive cost shift from the utilities to all of us. There are SO many studies showing distributed solar benefits everyone. Can't believe California is so backwards this way, and we will for sure get a battery to go with our rooftop solar as soon as we can afford one.
Yes, time to put our energy into fresh ideas and creative approaches. In all this Trump chaos and corruption are opportunities to find different solutions.
Hm, why don't we actually let them take away our net metering, from which I personally benefit, and see if rates go down. My guess is that they won't, proving the point that they've been lying all along.
Wouldn't a forensic accounting determine how utilities cost shift?
I saw Jessie Jenkins arguing that the trouble with rooftop solar is that it "punches a hole" in demand. To my surprise, he was arguing against rooftop solar.
I'm not familiar with Jessie Jenkins, but it sounds like he's saying we should increase demand. He must have stock in the utilities. To my way of thinking, net metering increases supply and therefore should reduce prices, but obviously the utilities don't want that. What's weird is that the gas company, unlike the electric companies, seems to want us to conserve. Go figure.
Sammy, thank you for summarizing the positions for and against net metering. And for the idea of pivoting to other ways of supporting solar. The options you mentioned such as balcony solar are interesting. But maybe you could explore options to move forward in more detail. I imagine you'd be in a great position to inform and educate us all on realistic strategies.
I don't know enough to tell if utilities are forced to cost shift in this way or if it's their own choice. In the course of all these law suits, has anyone examined PG&E et al's books to see how they choose to cost shift? I assume yes?
Because they also say they are raising rates because of lawsuits over fires caused by their equipment.
And of course for the benefit of their investors.
AND they are raising rates because of all the new vegetation management. My home is in the woods and PG&E power lines cross my property so I have witnessed the staggering inefficiency of their current vegetation management program.
To take just one example, I documented one crew of four men and two trucks at my house for four hours, during which they worked for just 20 minutes. The rest of the time two of them were sleeping and the other two were looking at their phones or chatting about nothing related to vegetation management. But they were all on the clock and this was not the first time this happened. The small bay tree they trimmed was so tortured and such an obvious excuse for them to sleep by my house that I hired someone to cut it down.
PG&E also sends multiple (2-5) inspectors within a few weeks to see if work needs to be done and has been done but there's no enforcement if a crew just doesn't do the work. And then they repeat the whole process several times a year, seemingly with no memory of work done or not done in the previous round. Another tree clearly marked for removal is still standing with a blue x on it, but because it was removed on their app, they can't remove it. Digitally, it doesn't exist.
They routinely leave piles of drying branches and leaves (unchipped) that are under their power lines and an obvious fire hazard. They will not clean up. If asked, they demand proof that they did it. Once they cut down an 80-foot redwood tree and left it intact to dry out under their lines. When I called, they tried to persuade me that I cut it down myself.
As war affects oil and gas supplies and prices, solar and wind can have a moment as heroes on the home front. Let’s make this an opportunity for renewables, in all possible applications. And a governor who gets it, well, more right than Newsom has.
"Solar and wind: Heroes on the home front!" Sounds like an ad campaign in the making...
With you on this! I've been writing about benefits of rooftop solar for all ratepayers since 2013 and am so sick of the "cost shift" argument, which ignores the massive cost shift from the utilities to all of us. There are SO many studies showing distributed solar benefits everyone. Can't believe California is so backwards this way, and we will for sure get a battery to go with our rooftop solar as soon as we can afford one.
How does the plug in solar work in more mechanical detail - do you have best info. Or referral on that? Kim
There's great info from BrightSaver here: https://www.brightsaver.org/whitepaper
Yes, time to put our energy into fresh ideas and creative approaches. In all this Trump chaos and corruption are opportunities to find different solutions.
Hm, why don't we actually let them take away our net metering, from which I personally benefit, and see if rates go down. My guess is that they won't, proving the point that they've been lying all along.
Well, would be an interesting experiment to try, lol...
Wouldn't a forensic accounting determine how utilities cost shift?
I saw Jessie Jenkins arguing that the trouble with rooftop solar is that it "punches a hole" in demand. To my surprise, he was arguing against rooftop solar.
I would think so. But who's going to do it?
I'm not familiar with Jessie Jenkins, but it sounds like he's saying we should increase demand. He must have stock in the utilities. To my way of thinking, net metering increases supply and therefore should reduce prices, but obviously the utilities don't want that. What's weird is that the gas company, unlike the electric companies, seems to want us to conserve. Go figure.
Jenkins is a Princeton professor of energy systems. Has a podcast.
Sammy, thank you for summarizing the positions for and against net metering. And for the idea of pivoting to other ways of supporting solar. The options you mentioned such as balcony solar are interesting. But maybe you could explore options to move forward in more detail. I imagine you'd be in a great position to inform and educate us all on realistic strategies.
I don't know enough to tell if utilities are forced to cost shift in this way or if it's their own choice. In the course of all these law suits, has anyone examined PG&E et al's books to see how they choose to cost shift? I assume yes?
Because they also say they are raising rates because of lawsuits over fires caused by their equipment.
And of course for the benefit of their investors.
AND they are raising rates because of all the new vegetation management. My home is in the woods and PG&E power lines cross my property so I have witnessed the staggering inefficiency of their current vegetation management program.
To take just one example, I documented one crew of four men and two trucks at my house for four hours, during which they worked for just 20 minutes. The rest of the time two of them were sleeping and the other two were looking at their phones or chatting about nothing related to vegetation management. But they were all on the clock and this was not the first time this happened. The small bay tree they trimmed was so tortured and such an obvious excuse for them to sleep by my house that I hired someone to cut it down.
PG&E also sends multiple (2-5) inspectors within a few weeks to see if work needs to be done and has been done but there's no enforcement if a crew just doesn't do the work. And then they repeat the whole process several times a year, seemingly with no memory of work done or not done in the previous round. Another tree clearly marked for removal is still standing with a blue x on it, but because it was removed on their app, they can't remove it. Digitally, it doesn't exist.
They routinely leave piles of drying branches and leaves (unchipped) that are under their power lines and an obvious fire hazard. They will not clean up. If asked, they demand proof that they did it. Once they cut down an 80-foot redwood tree and left it intact to dry out under their lines. When I called, they tried to persuade me that I cut it down myself.
But, sure, it's rooftop solar that's the problem.