As Predicted, California Has Killed the
Rooftop Solar Market, Now the State Supreme
Court May Step In
Hot Air,
by
John Sexton
Original Article
Posted By: Dreadnought,
4/13/2024 12:38:37 AM
About 2 1/2 years ago I wrote a post titled "California plans to kill the residential solar industry." At the time, I had just had solar panels installed on my roof to save money and within months California announced a new plan (Net Metering 3.0) that would have taxed me and anyone else who owned a rooftop solar system for owning the panels. I predicted that if this plan passed, California's rooftop solar industry would fall off a cliff.
The result of Net Metering 3.0 is likely going to be the end of the residential solar industry in California. I have a neighbor who was interested in possibly getting
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
thefield 4/13/2024 12:47:45 AM (No. 1698288)
Let's see democrats encourage , bribe, force people to install solar panels
Democrats ask people to install panels so they close down powerplants now they want to tax the people that save power. Sounds intelligent.
27 people like this.
A $128 monthly SDG&E bill? How I wish! The Golden State, where everyone was going to make a lot of money selling marijuana legally but then the state taxed 99.9% of them out of business. Next, everyone was going to save a lot of money generating their own electricity but then the state taxed that idea out of existence, also. Oh, and gasoline in SoCal has again climbed over $5/gallon.
24 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
SkyKing1222 4/13/2024 1:26:37 AM (No. 1698297)
FTA
“ If it goes through I will be paying about $1,000 a year to Southern California Edison even though I literally generate more electricity than I use on an annual basis.”
The problem with the author’s perspective is that he’s completely wrong. His solar only produces during off peak times. No company should be forced to buy a product they don’t need at highly inflated prices. Which, incidentally, are offset by his neighbor’s utility bill.
Anyone using solar to offset their electricity bills is either very naive or a complete jerk.
21 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
RWPollock 4/13/2024 2:33:49 AM (No. 1698316)
Goodness you should never drill holes into a roof. Most solar panel installers have no clue how to do this properly.
15 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Trigger2 4/13/2024 2:45:24 AM (No. 1698321)
Newcomb must be getting his advice from either Joey or Barry.
11 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
mifla 4/13/2024 5:03:23 AM (No. 1698362)
The bigger a government gets the more money it needs.
Tax anything and everything.
Retirement accounts are a future target.
21 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
felixcat 4/13/2024 8:23:18 AM (No. 1698481)
The State of California, and every other state that sends subsidies like this along with the Federal Government, should never have started sending out these subsidies. When the Model T was just starting to become popular - it was the private car companies like Ford that saw the need for gas stations and started building them at their own expense.
See https://familytreemagazine.com/history/history-of-gas-stations/
7 people like this.
They tax you for making and using your own electricity?!?
Do they tax your veggies if you have a home garden?
11 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Strike3 4/13/2024 8:43:01 AM (No. 1698493)
Even without government interference, the home solar market has killed itself through predatory sales practices, long term loans with high financing rates and hiring inferior installers that do a shoddy job and move on. Just like the EV scam, the science behind solar needs a lot more work to become practical, unless you build your own and know what you are doing.
8 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
john56 4/13/2024 9:45:35 AM (No. 1698539)
The closing line of the article:
"It's stuff like this that makes people decide to pack up and leave the state of California for good."
My advice is to take the hint and leave. For good.
12 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
czechlist 4/13/2024 10:04:56 AM (No. 1698557)
Gee, I wonder what my car i surance premium would be had seat belts and air bags not saved me so much money. And obamacare has saved me $2,500 / year !
so much bs,
7 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
stablemoney 4/13/2024 10:25:02 AM (No. 1698583)
Texas hailstorms have left the solar panel market in crumbles.
7 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
privateer 4/13/2024 10:35:16 AM (No. 1698600)
Solar panels just need to be made out of durable, hard-wearing stainless steel. Problem solved. They'll laugh at hail.
4 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
DVC 4/13/2024 10:49:36 AM (No. 1698614)
Rooftop solar has always been a scam, never made any kind of economic sense. Purely a tax supported boondoggle.
People don't understand that even with a roof full of these things they have NOTHING when the power grid goes down. NONE of the power is available to the home owner without the grid. All these rooftop systems go to the power grid, which partially offsets people's useage. None of that power is directly used in the homes. Zero.
If you put up YOUR OWN system, solar panels with batteries, you can have your own power when the grid is down, but it is extremely expensive for even limited levels of electrical power. As far as electric stoves and air conditioners, and water heaters and electric heat pumps....forget it, way, way impractically large systems of panels and batteries required to support those energy hogs with electricity.
Anyone wanting "solar power" for their home needs to FIRST THING switch every possible power consuming device to gas or propane. Gas furnace, stove, water heater, dryer, anything that gets hot. Then you can start to think about solar to handle the smaller remaining loads, but plan on spending a LOT of money.
And if you live in a rainy overcast climate like Seattle.....just forget it. It'll only work such a small percentage of the time that you'll find it hopeless.
10 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Highlander 4/13/2024 11:30:12 AM (No. 1698648)
You have no idea how many solar panel hucksters knocked at my door and I said, “No thanks!” Here is my vindication to refuse to get on that liberal-inspired bandwagon.
6 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Roscoelewis 4/13/2024 11:33:28 AM (No. 1698649)
I always wondered: How do you reroof your house when it is covered with panels?
7 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
DVC 4/13/2024 4:41:08 PM (No. 1698760)
Good point, #16, and it depends on how the panels were mounted. This engineer mounted his panels on his vacation home about a foot off of the roof, so there is room to work underneath, since they are only four feet by 8 feet. Those huge sets of panels in most cases look to be mounted either right on the roof, or an inch above....looks to me like removing the panels, re-roofing and re-installing is the only way.
THAT is going to be costly as hell.
1 person likes this.
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