Per a story by Lana Kunz in the Evansville Courier Press, a group called Network for New Energy Solutions reports that Indiana is behind the times on net metering – the ability to generate electricity from alternate sources and “feed the grid.”
Currently Indiana’s regulations only require power companies to buy energy from residential and K-12 schools, even though some facilities “sometimes go above and beyond” what is required, Cotton said.
. . .
Current state law limits not only the type of consumer that can sell back energy, but how much they can sell, the size of the system generating the alternative energy, the types of energy utilities are required to buy, pays only a wholesale rate back to the consumer and does not require all power companies to net meter.
Something to watch, I guess. I don’t know how substantial power generation from alternate sources going back into the grid could become. Still, the ability to sell back excess power would probably be an incentive for people to start using alternate energy sources. And, ultimately, a more flexible power grid with “a thousand points of light” (to borrow a phrase) would probably be a good thing.
Something that should happen at the same time is splitting the cost of the power lines from the power generated.
Some utilities have complained, rightly so, that net metering can cost them money in extreme cases where the homeowner is paid every month, or at least gets their power for free. That homeowner doesn’t pay anything for the power lines they use at night or when the sun / wind isn’t working.
It wouldn’t affect people that don’t generate power, they would just see two line items on their bill. A standard fee for use and care of the power lines, and a power consumption fee. Net meters would also see a 3rd line item for a credit. If they sell back all the power they use, and sell back the costs of the line, they should get a check.
Jason is spot on with this one. He raises very pertinent issues with net metering that Brad Morton, or at least he article, doesn’t address.
There was a great article in the October edition of The Atlantic, entitled “The California Experiment” that talks some about Net Metering, and other worthwhile energy policy. Its available on their website in full.
One such policy made it so power utilities are “decoupled” from the profit scheme that exists in much of the country. Companies made an approved profit every year, and rates were adjusted accordingly. Higher rates can be charged to people who consume low amounts, resulting in better profits margins. This policy made it attractive not only for homeowners to be efficient to lower their bills, but also created supply-side encouragement for efficiency.
This is one that I’d like to see change in the next few years. We’ve been looking at wind turbine technologies, and they’ve become not only more affordable, but more effective for individual use in less windy places like urban Indianapolis.