Quote:
Originally Posted by changzuki
The conversation in this thread is excellent. There's another undercurrent here as well and it goes way beyond just the electric company: it goes under many titles but the gist is that if there isn't constant growth ($$) then the system collapses. The US is pricing itself out of the income of the common user - period. And yes, this hurts those with lesser income far greater than the rest. We are running on money that does not exist folks.
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If all but one household in a rural community went off the grid, the power company would likely leave as the only person left (or the power company) couldn't even begin to pick up the stranded costs left by those dropping the line. The local municipality would then lose all the tax revenue when said company leaves. The residents would be forced to make up the gap in the lost revenue (taxes).. And in the conversation you never hear about these larger entities making any meaningful cutbacks do we? Not on the level the working folks do.
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Help inefficient houses be more-so by insulating? A noble cause but less energy used as a result is lost revenue for someone else.
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Net metering is fun - but why are there subsidies for that? Why are we paying people to take a technology that should stand on its own? Where is all that free money coming from?
The entire system was never designed for efficiency and band-aids are temporary. The great ponzi scheme won't last forever. it can't.
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~CrazyJerry
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Good points! While i do not think utilities are out to screw the consumers, the question always comes back to who pays for the infrastructure?
I ahould also point out that i am on the natural gas side of utilities, not electric. The problem for electricitiy producers is the loss in transit. I don't know the numbers but it is significant. Whether you support it or not, the future is smaller, high efficiency NG generators and solar/wind with net metering. Though again, who pays the fixed infrastructure cost?