Everyone agrees that renewable energy sources like solar and wind help reduce global warming, reduce dependence on foreign energy, reduce pollution, and countless other benefits, and we know that we must move towards more renewables sooner rather than later if we are to move into the future. Apparently not the bright folks that represent the population of Oklahoma. They just passed a law that fines people for using renewables. "American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) with backing from fossil fuel corporations, utility companies, and the ultra-conservative Koch brothers" who have a bit of a vested interest in selling energy to consumers, saw to it that the legislation flew through to the Governor who signed it into law yesterday. I'm sure that the rationalizations by our Right wingers here will be plentiful but when you have these huge corporations and their shills in the GOP passing legislation to prevent progress and pollute our environment so that they can make more money, it is difficult to bang the drum of big government when you have organizations like these screwing people for trying to create a better future for us all simply because they can't sell us the sun and the wind. Oklahoma Will Charge Customers Who Install Their Own Solar Panels By Kiley Kroh April 16, 2014 at 3:37 pm "Oklahoma Will Charge Customers Who Install Their Own Solar Panels" CREDIT: Shutterstock Oklahoma residents who produce their own energy through solar panels or small wind turbines on their property will now be charged an additional fee, the result of a new bill passed by the state legislature and expected to be signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin (R). On Monday, S.B. 1456 passed the state House 83-5 after no debate. The measure creates a new class of customers: those who install distributed power generation systems like solar panels or small wind turbines on their property and sell the excess energy back to the grid. While those with systems already installed won’t be affected, the new class of customers will now be charged a monthly fee — a shift that happened quickly and caught many in the state off guard. “We knew nothing about it and all of a sudden it’s attached to some other bill,” Ctaci Gary, owner of Sun City Oklahoma, told ThinkProgress. “It just appeared out of nowhere.” Because the surcharge amount has not been determined, Gary is cautious about predicting the impact it will have on her business. She has already received multiple calls from people asking questions about the bill and wanting to have solar systems installed before the new fee takes effect. “We’re going to use it as a marketing tool,” Gary said. “People deserve to have an opportunity [to install their own solar panels] and not be charged.” “It is unfortunate that some utilities that enthusiastically support wind power for their own use are promoting a regressive policy that will make it harder for their customers to use wind power on their own,” said Mike Bergey, president & CEO of Bergey Windpower in Norman, Oklahoma, in a statement. “Oklahoma offers tax credits for large wind turbines which are built elsewhere, but wants to penalize small wind which we manufacture here in the state? That makes no sense to me.” The bill was staunchly opposed by renewable energy advocates, environmental groups and the conservative group TUSK, but had the support of Oklahoma’s major utilities. “Representatives of Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. and Public Service Co. of Oklahoma said the surcharge is needed to recover some of the infrastructure costs to send excess electricity safely from distributed generation back to the grid,” the Oklahoman reported. “We’re not anti-solar or anti-wind or trying to slow this down, we’re just trying to keep it fair,” Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. spokeswoman Kathleen O’Shea told the Oklahoman. “We’ve been studying this trend. We know it’s coming, and we want to get ahead of it.” But distributed energy sources also provide a clear value to utility companies. Solar generates during peak hours, when a utility has to provide electricity to more people than at other times during the day and energy costs are at their highest. Solar panels actually feed excess energy back to the grid, helping to alleviate the pressure during peak demand. In addition, because less electricity is being transmitted to customers through transmission lines, it saves utilities on the wear and tear to the lines and cost of replacing them with new ones. As the use of solar power skyrockets across the U.S., fights have sprung up in several states over how much customers should be compensated for excess power produced by their solar panels and sold back to the grid — a policy known as net metering. Net metering laws have come under fire from the secretive American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a group backed by fossil fuel corporations, utility companies, and the ultra-conservative Koch brothers. Forty-three states and the District of Columbia currently have net metering policies in place and ALEC has set its sights on repealing them, referring to homeowners with their own solar panels as “freeriders on the system.” ALEC presented Gov. Fallin the Thomas Jefferson Freedom award last year for her “record of advancing the fundamental Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism and individual liberty as a nationally recognized leader.” Oklahoma “could be the first complete defeat for solar advocates in their fight against utility efforts to recover costs lost to DG [distributed generation] use,” writes Utility Dive. Net metering survived attacks in Colorado and Kansas and Vermont recently increased its policy in a bipartisan effort. Last year, Arizona added what amounts to a $5 per month surcharge for solar customers, a move that was widely seen as a compromise, particularly after ALEC and other Koch-backed groups got involved. While any extra charge placed on potential customers is a concern, Gary hopes that like Arizona, Oklahoma’s fee is modest enough to protect her business from serious damage.
So you are of the thought that those sellling electricity through the grid should be given free access without any of the responsibility of maintaining it. I bet you hate Ebay.
That's nonsense and nothing says that they get paid. First of all, WE paid for the electrical grid. And as the article you neglected to read says, "Solar generates during peak hours, when a utility has to provide electricity to more people than at other times during the day and energy costs are at their highest. Solar panels actually feed excess energy back to the grid, helping to alleviate the pressure during peak demand. In addition, because less electricity is being transmitted to customers through transmission lines, it saves utilities on the wear and tear to the lines and cost of replacing them with new ones." You should read the articles before opposing them.
Did you read the following from the article you posted? The measure creates a new class of customers: those who install distributed power generation systems like solar panels or small wind turbines on their property and sell the excess energy back to the grid. Read more: http://www.partisanlines.com/threads/oklahoma-driving-the-crazy-train.50995/#ixzz2zdCYfa00
What isn't clear about that statement is whether these customers simply get reduced electric bills or whether they receive checks for the power they provide. It can be done either way. In other words, if I am connected to the grid, I may exceed the amount of electricity my solar panels can create and draw on the local utility and then at other times I am using less than I need but still producing an excess. You can call it an electrical credit to your account "selling back energy" if you want and it really is a distinction without much of a difference. But you neglected to address that these customers help the utilities by creating more electricity at peak usage hours and that their activities actually reduce wear and tear on the infrastructure. Given just who is behind this legislation, and I don't mean the GOP legislative shills, I mean the energy companies themselves, you have to admit that they have a pretty vested interest in discouraging new customers from creating their own electricity. Most countries supplement their population with the goal of energy independence. Is this country so damn corrupt that all we see is the dollar signs at the bottom line of some corporate spreadsheet? Thank you GOP. Un-American bastards.
They are not discouraging individuals from generating their own electricity - only charging a fee for giving people access to the grid to sale their excess production. These set-ups ussually draw from the grid at night at the lower non-peak rates and then back-meter during the day at the higher peak rates. I'm doubtful of the claim that back-metering actually reduces wear and tear on the grid. The carry capacity of the grid is what it is. It is the fact that the grid is carrying at or close to peak that causes the wear and tear. I don't think the source loading the grid makes much difference.
