Utility Wants To Charge Solar Panel Users For Not Using Their Energy

from the that's-what's-called-chutzpah dept

There are banks that have worked out ways to charge you both for using and for not using your account enough, but hearing about Midwest utility Xcel Energy trying to justify its reasoning for charging homes with solar panels for not using their services is just mindbogglingly ridiculous:

"We just don't think it's fair that customers that don't have solar panels on their homes should subsidize these solar panel customers any further."

No, that doesn't make any sense. After all, isn't the whole point of those with solar panels being that they don't need much (if any) energy from the utility? I know in many places, the local utility will actually buy excess solar energy from home owners. But, here we are again with "entitlement society" at work. The idea, via Xcel, is that it's somehow owed its fees -- and if people are willing to go with an alternative, then they need to keep paying up anyway.

Filed Under: electric power, fees, solar power, utility
Companies: xcel energy