Because electricity costs are going up
(Daily Caller) Following a growing number of states, Vermont has chosen to reduce compensation given to solar panel owners and allow a more fair rate for all electricity customers in the state.
Vermont is scaling back the amount of money given to customers participating in the state’s net metering program. Changes need to be made to net metering in order to balance growth of the program while maintaining affordable electric rates, the Vermont Public Utility Commission determined, in a statement issued on May 1.
Rated in 2018 as the most environmentally friendly state in the country, Vermont certainly encourages growth of its renewable energy industry. Net metering offers an incentive for solar panel usage by paying customers an oversized amount of money for the electricity they send back into the grid. However — even in the progress enclave of Vermont — the state’s public utility commission has grown concerned about the effect expensive net metering prices are having on all electricity consumers.
“These financial incentives also make net-metering the most expensive of Vermont’s renewable energy programs because the utility is essentially ‘buying’ the net-metered output at substantially more than market rates for comparable renewable energy,†the commission explained in its statement. “[A] number of Vermont utilities expressed concern about the effect on rates of continued high net-metering prices.â€
And the net metering costs are passed on to consumers, who end up paying more for a nebulous idea of energy created in homes when people generally do not need it. If you want to give tax rebates, cool. Subsidizing economic sectors? Not cool. And impractical.
One would think, though, if the people of Vermont were so uber-enviro/Warmist, they all put solar panels on their homes and disconnect from the grid.
Bunch of “genius” proggros finally figured out what us dumb people have known all along…
Hmm-subsidized and still expensive. Doesn’t seem too “sustainableâ€