|
Except it just ain't so. There are two ways you as a homeowner can do solar. You can be connected to the grid, or you can spend a lot of money on batteries, inverters, and other things needed to go off the grid. (Or the third way: just don't use electricity when the sun isn't shining :-))
Now if you choose to be connected to the grid, you need to recognize that it isn't free: there are real costs associated with its operation & maintenance. To date, those costs have usually been collected as a per kWh charge. In retrospect that was probably a mistake, because it created the impression that the grid WAS free, and so people with grid-tied solar, and people like me who just don't use much electricity, arguably got away with paying less than their fair share. Indeed, people whose solar panels generated more than they used were even subsidized, since they got all the benefits of the grid tie for free.
So this is what the argument is: not a new 'Sun Tax', but a realization that solar is growing to the point where it no longer needs the subsidy, and should pick up a share of the grid cost.
*Note that the same logic applies to paying for roads with a gas tax. Since (at 70+ mpg in the Insight) I use much less gas than the average person to travel the same number of miles, my road use is being subsidized by all the SUV and oversized pickup drivers :-)
|