The War On Solar and Strange Bedfellows

bobabode · #1 03-08-2015, 12:53 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...y.html?hpid=z1

"Three years ago, the nation’s top utility executives gathered at a Colorado resort to hear warnings about a grave new threat to operators of America’s electric grid: not superstorms or cyberattacks, but rooftop solar panels.
If demand for residential solar continued to soar, traditional utilities could soon face serious problems, from “declining retail sales” and a “loss of customers” to “potential obsolescence,” according to a presentation prepared for the group. “Industry must prepare an action plan to address the challenges,” it said.
The warning, delivered to a private meeting of the utility industry’s main trade association, became a call to arms for electricity providers in nearly every corner of the nation. Three years later, the industry and its fossil-fuel supporters are waging a determined campaign to stop a home-solar insurgency that is rattling the boardrooms of the country’s government-regulated electric monopolies.
The campaign’s first phase—an industry push for state laws raising prices for solar customers—failed spectacularly in legislatures around the country, due in part to surprisingly strong support for solar energy from conservatives and evangelicals in traditionally “red states.” But more recently, the battle has shifted to public utility commissions, where industry backers have mounted a more successful push for fee hikes that could put solar panels out of reach for many potential customers."

The left and right on the same page?

bobabode · #2 03-08-2015, 01:00 PM

Related story http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/e...ian-coalition/

finnbow · #3 03-08-2015, 01:08 PM

What's interesting is that public utilities used to offer subsidies for purchasers of energy efficient appliances, upgrades, etc. to save themselves the cost of building new generation facilities.

Boreas · #4 03-08-2015, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by finnbow

What's interesting is that public utilities used to offer subsidies for purchasers of energy efficient appliances, upgrades, etc. to save themselves the cost of building new generation facilities.

Easy to understand, really. The former enables them to maintain their monopolies without investing in expansion and strict regulation of newer generating facilities. The latter is a threat those same monopolies, even their existence.

John

finnbow · #5 03-08-2015, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boreas

Easy to understand, really. The former enables them to maintain their monopolies without investing in expansion and strict regulation of newer generating facilities. The latter is a threat those same monopolies, even their existence.

John

I can also remember in the past when public utilities were fine/supportive of people generating their own power and, in effect, selling their surplus back to the grid.