I have three properties with Solar. Most do not know the big lie on putting solar on your roof, field, or HOME. The Green of the Green energy is Money not energy. I have worked the in Electrical Utility Industry for years and know about the playbook to kill solar. I have installed and maintain solar on a few properties. First, they rig the exchange rate of Solar. If you can get through all the red tape, pay the crazy fees and get approved to back feed to the grid. You pay .10 cents to use it at night, they buy it back at .5 to .8 cents during the day. But that is not enough, in my area I am capped at what I can produce, so I can produce 100% of my power, and up to 25% of that usage I can put back on the grid. If I put more then they penalize me or charge me for the power I provide to the grid. I asked what others do if they have too much power produced, and they stated they have to shut it down or get charged. Here are number point all the issues.
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Getting utilities to remove red tape to get solar installed. Mine required $500 application fee, numerous drawings, specifications, etc. Then $650 meter fee. Note they said I did not own the meter but charged me to turn use the net metering feature already built into the meter.
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Capped my production at 125%. Meaning I could only sell them back 25% more than my Last year usage. I was mainly solar so my last year usage was very small.
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Charged me transmission and Distribution fees to receive power, but stopped reimbursing me those costs in the name of NET “Metering” vs NET Billing. Previously it was Net Metering. With Net Metering I pay for the NET totals at end of month that make the Transmission and Distribution a wash. Net Billing I am charged T&D (over 60% of bill) to receive but not reimbursed when I produce, this cost is really absorbed by my surrounding neighbors T&D charges as the power does not flow back to the production plants but to the surround homes. So, the utility does get paid T&D for the power the produce, but they get to double dip from me now.
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Charging customers huge amounts to connect to the grid forcing customers to pay installation and hardware costs for the Distribution line, but then charging the customer Transmission and Distribution fees for the life of the service. Example, I wanted power brought to my home that was 200 yards away. I have to pay $10 foot for the line, provide and dig a 4 trench. then buy my own Transformer (That they retain ownership of). Then the T&D costs are typically more than the cost of the power. Then they charge me a $30 Meter fee whether I use any power or not. I cannot generate enough free solar power to even offset the meter fee. This fee should be WAVED for anyone providing free power to the grid.
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BRING back analog meters that just run in reverse when power is generated back. Also, it gets rid of the EMF emissions.
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Due to the limitations listed above my current home I decided to buy batteries and just take a loss on my extra solar when my batteries are full because it is not worth the pain and hassle to deal with the utility.
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When I called the PUCO “Public Utility Commission of Ohio” to express these complains, they plainly stated they do not work for the Public they work for the “Utility”. Most of their staff comes from the utility industry. (JD Vance should look into this”
If anyone in the Government wants to know more about similar green energy initiatives, they can contact me and I am willing to work with new administration to get energy very cheap, almost free. I wanted to “Whistle blow” on other practices, but found out that they whistle blower laws only protect you if you have informed you company of abuses in writing an escalate up the chain" otherwise they had no opportunity to correct. That would get you fired immediately pointing out what we already know.
The utilities are fleecing Americans and I am aware of many of the ways and maybe this administration has an interest in stopping these practices.
Lastly, I installed solar on my home 2 years back. This year I get a letter from IRS investing my solar wright off. I had 15 days to provide them with receipts. They sent a $30,000 Bill stating 20% inaccuracy fee, 40% penalties, in addition interest charges if I did not respond with 15 days. I submitted a cover sheet detailing all expenses dollar amounts. I submitted receipts matching all expenses on the cover sheet. Note you cannot call as the phone number listed is not even a phone number (too many digits). When you do, you hold for 40 mins, and will get hung up on.
They had 90 days to look through my submission. At 90 days my wife inquired and they said they needed more time and took another 90 days. After 6 months, they wanted me to prove I did not have a balance on these purchases? I thought the receipt was proof of purchase, and they stated they could tell I did not have a balance. They stated they wanted all the receipts from different vendors to look the same that the examiner could not look all over the receipt for date and payment method etc. I told them I cannot control how a vendor formats their receipts. After multiple calls, they wanted my credit card and bank statements as proof I made the purchases to prove I paid for my solar equipment. They have 90 days to respond and I am still waiting for them to pick something else to harass us on.
Moral of the story is Green Energy is a lie, if you do it expect to cheated on exchange rate, transmission costs, capped on production, and ultimately harassed by the IRS if you take the solar credit.
Trump and JD Vance. Please Fix this. I will help you fix this.