Net Benefits of Net Metering
BY RICHARD A. FLOREY
Marketing Director
EcoVantage Energy, inc.
www./ecovantageenergy.com
distributed here and there, adding
electric energy
back into the grid
like an unexpected
energy resource to
us all. Who names
these things?
We realize not everyone is in a
position to own rooftop solar, but
for those who can and have; your
decision has benefits far beyond the
savings and security that brought you
to it in the first place. For that, we
thank you. America thanks you.
Proof from Smart
People
According to
the Brookings
Institute, who took
a serious look
at net metering
as Nevada and
some other states
were coming to
grips with this new
norm, found that
despite claims
by several public
utilities, that the accumulated benefits
of rooftop and other solar sources
adding back to the grid indeed had
multiple gains to both the utility and
the customers who did not have
solar. Coming to the conclusion that
PUCs who were complaining had not
The Collateral Benefit
Imagine doing something for yourself
and your family that had the collateral
effect of helping your neighbors and
the nation. That’s an attribute very
few things can do, but they do exist.
For instance, your carpool fellows
would love for you to buy a more
comfortable, more fuel efficient vehicle
for your part of the pool. So one day,
you buy an awesome hybrid SUV
with lots of comfy extras your friends
love and yet your new fuel efficiency
is a benefit to the community around
you, and, even if it’s a slight benefit,
of lowering fuel costs for the next
guy and in the thousandth percentile,
the nation. It’s a stretch, but for this
example it’ll do.
Let’s now put that same thought
thread into a different scenario, the
one where you install rooftop solar
and set up net metering through
your public utility. You’ve just done
something hugely beneficial to yourself
yet at the same time, you’ve provided
what is called, a “distributed energy
resource”. If you think about it, that
does make sense; with solar panels
thoroughly considered all the cost
aspects and simply needed to adjust
their fees accordingly.
“One of the most exciting
infrastructure developments within
metropolitan America, the installation
of over a million solar photovoltaic
(PV) systems in recent years,
represents nothing less than a
breakthrough for urban sustainability
— and the climate. …Regulators
everywhere need to put in place
processes that fairly consider the full
range of benefits (as well as costs) of
net metering as well as other policies
as they set and update the policies,
regulations, and tariffs that will play
a critical role in determining the
extent to which the distributed solar
industry continues to grow….that the
economic benefits of net metering
actually outweigh the costs and
impose no significant cost increase for
non-solar customers. Far from a net
cost, net metering is in most cases
a net benefit—for the utility and for
non-solar rate-payers.” From; Rooftop
solar: Net metering is a net benefit by
Mark Muro and Devashree Saha, May
2016
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