Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl
Is this the utility trying to discourage solar, or is there a good reason for $0.20/kWh?
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Not the utility. We have a "deregulated" market. What it really is is a series of in name providers or in effect billing companies. Each billing company has a different way to bill you. You can sign up with any of the 100 or so companies and they vary the rates based on the length of contract, type of electricity, month you sign up and how much profit they wish to extract. Some are fixed rate, some are TOU and some have weird games (free nights and weekend, or they don't count the worst 5 days of the month, etc. - one will pay to fix your Air Conditioner).
My company/plan charges about 10.5 cents per kWh fixed and does not pay anything for energy sent to the grid. A company that will pay (Green Mountain or certain Reliant Energy plans) you back for each kWh sent to the grid, but they charge ~20 cents per kWh.
It is complicated.
Some cities in Texas own the utility (Austin and San Antonio), and you pay what they say. Rural coops are similar. Most of those net meter, but the rates are quite a bit higher.