Solaredge P400 or P300 optimizers?

[reader2580]

I expect more POCO's or Co-ops to start asking for permission to either raise the rates or bill a certain portion of their customers that are not purchasing as much as they had estimated.

I bought a foreclosed house that had been using $3,500 a year in electricity because it had baseboard electric heat. My electric bill is now down to $800 a year with another $525 for natural gas costs. Should I be charged a fee because I dramatically reduced my electricity consumption? I spent close to $40,000 on central air and natural gas furnace, new windows and doors, and new attic insulation.

[J.P.M.]

As you know it still comes down to the investors expectations which is based on a calculated profit from X amount of kWh's sold. If that number of kWh goes down then the profit margin suffers.

Also you have to figure in unexpected costs of maintaining the grid which can eat into the profits if the repairs/upgrades were not properly budgeted.

Most POCO's are businesses which as expected want to make a profit and reward their investors. No or Low profit usually leads to less investors.

I expect more POCO's or Co-ops to start asking for permission to either raise the rates or bill a certain portion of their customers that are not purchasing as much as they had estimated.

It happened to me with our water company did not get the expected income due to volunteer reduction of usage because of drought conditions. What I did not like was the increase covered not only the requirements to keep the "pipes" working but also allowed for a higher profit.

PIA but what can you do. If you want clean healthy water you pay the piper.

My last sentence should have been in comic sans script. It was intended sarcastically.

[J.P.M.]

I bought a foreclosed house that had been using $3,500 a year in electricity because it had baseboard electric heat. My electric bill is now down to $800 a year with another $525 for natural gas costs. Should I be charged a fee because I dramatically reduced my electricity consumption? I spent close to $40,000 on central air and natural gas furnace, new windows and doors, and new attic insulation.

Perhaps a bit of a rhetorical question. A surcharge for reduced consumption ? Supposed you were to dramatically reduce consumption by simply turning stuff off. The effect to the POCO would be the same. Or, suppose I move into an existing home and my use patterns are such that my usage is half of the prior owner's usage with no changes or improvements (as actually happened with my current house). Under such circumstances, should homeowners pay a premium to the POCO ? I'd guess that would go over with about as much popularity as a fart on an oak pew during a sermon.

Most POCOs charge for a commodity and the means to deliver that quantity as distinct items, and in spite of what most folks may think, identify that on their usually and admittedly cryptic billing. Most utility bills I've ever seen reflect that reality and reasoning.

The issue may, to some degree, revolve around how much of a bill is for the cost of the actual commodity of electricity delivered, and how much of the bill is due to the infrastructure acquisition and maintenance, which infrastructure, BTW, at least in some sense, is needed for NEM to work, and is provided by the POCO.

FWIW, I'd be not a bit surprised to find out that my POCO claims they pay about $0.03/kWh for power when it comes to what they will reimburse for excess PV generation, and another, higher number, that they use to report expenses and for tax purposes. But that's strictly conjecture based on my cynical attitude.

I'm not a big POCO fan, but try running a home without their product for a while and see how you do for cost and reliability for an equal product and service.

NEM is great, but a lousy business model that's seeing the end of its useful service life. It was a great party while it lasted.

[reader2580]

As NEM ends we'll probably see solar installations plummet as they have in Nevada and other states that ended NEM.

I don't like the fees my co-op charges for solar, but I understand why they do it. I'm at least not in a co-op that charges $83 a month for solar.

[SunEagle]

I bought a foreclosed house that had been using $3,500 a year in electricity because it had baseboard electric heat. My electric bill is now down to $800 a year with another $525 for natural gas costs. Should I be charged a fee because I dramatically reduced my electricity consumption? I spent close to $40,000 on central air and natural gas furnace, new windows and doors, and new attic insulation.

I never said it was fair for a POCO to add fees to cover the loss of reduced usage. They are running a business which requires a profit of some kind.

What hurts is when someone spends a lot of money to become more efficient which results in lower usage and lower monthly bills but the total savings get cut by extra fees.

Hopefully the extra "fees" a POCO adds will be much less then what you have saved from conservation and efficiency upgrades.

[reader2580]

I get my power from an electric cooperative that is supposed to be non-profit. I know the investor owned utilities are constantly asking for rate increases in part because of lower electricity use which is killing their return on investment.

[Mike90250]

California went through this same thing a couple years ago. Water shortage - conserve or be fined Reduce by 20% Reduce another 20%
Oh - we need a rate increase, nobody is paying anything.
But this is a new twist - must pay for your harvest. I hope it fails in court. Or there will be a tax on LED bulbs, SEER 40 air conditioning, and water saver showerheads