In reference to a residential solar panel energy system, what causes the watthour meter to run backwards?
Question:
Answer:
It runs backwards when the homeowner is producing more electricity than he is using- While the homeowner can get credit for the excess power that he is supplying to the power company - under current rules the power company never has to pay the customer cash if the customer regularly produces more power than he uses.
As to the time for the panels to pay for themselves- - nobody knows for sure as it will depend upon how high electric rates go in the future.
I'm not familiar with the system, but I would assume that would be when energy is added to the system, i.e. the panels are taking in more energy than is being used.
This is a 'trick' to make solar sound worth the money. The electric company supposedly pays you for electricity you generate you can't use.
What happens is if you put enough panels on your house, you will generate more electricity than you can use. This excess electricity is diverted backwards into the electricity company wires. This is totally possible. But they don't tell you how much the switching gear costs to do this. It costs thousands of dollars for this option.
Now, when you are using solar energy, you are saving money because you aren't using the electricity company power, which costs you probably somewhere around $0.10 per kW. But if you generate more electricity than you can use, the electricity company buys your power back at somewhere around $0.02 per kW.
Figure out your simple payback you will find it is around 30 years.
Blue sky is wrong about the cost of what is called net metering. All it requires is a meter that is calibrated both when power is fed from the utility and when the solar system is feeding the utility.
I have such a system. I can get back any surplus electricity I feed the utility, at a time when my usage is greater than the output of the solar system.
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