posted on Jun, 1 2017 @ 08:02 AM
originally posted by: daskakik
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck
What happens if you sell them enough to cover the $35 connection fee?
I was just thinking about that before I read your comment so I looked at my bill, the monthly charge is $32.21.
I'm not sure what I could sell a kilowatt hour to the electric company for, but I would think that it would be far less than how much they sell a KWh
to me. If I add in the taxes and surcharges, a KWh costs me between 17 and 18 cents, but just the energy use fee it would be around 7 cents/KWh. That
being the retail cost to me, I imagine they buy at a wholesale rate of less than 7 cents per KWh, but let's say it is 7 cents. Whatever it is though,
I can't establish my own price for a KWh.
So if I'm forced to sell them any excess energy I produce at 7 cents per KWh, I'd need to produce an extra 460 KWh per month to cover the monthly fee.
Last month I used 538 KWhs, so I need to produce around 1,000 KWhs to power my home and pay off the monthly fee. So not only does the local electric
company get cheap extra energy from my system, but the monthly fee makes it cost free for them if I can over produce that much energy to feed back
into the grid.
Based on all that I would assume that the best I could do is get a bill for the monthly charge of $32 or maybe a little less on a good month by
subtracting any income from the buy back.
ETA: Because those greedy SOBs have made their customers use the new digital meters, they have an itchy finger on the shut-off command key down at the
office. I can't get behind a month without them shutting me off and then charging a reconnect fee from pushing a button on a keyboard. Owing an
outstanding bill would be the way to get them to shut off the connection and stop charging the monthly fee. But at that point the township could
condemn the property as a residence for not having the hook-up, regardless of your ability to produce enough energy to power everything on your
property. A recreational property would be different, but they limit the amount of time you can "camp out" on your own private recreational property
(here it is two weeks per year, not enough time to do more than firearm deer season).
They got you at every turn if you obey the laws and force you to pay no matter what loop hole you try to use.
edit on 1-6-2017 by MichiganSwampBuck because: added extra comments
edit on 1-6-2017 by MichiganSwampBuck because:
typo