cryptogon.com news – analysis – conspiracies

November 24th, 2014

Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand.

I’m working with a Cryptogon reader in New Zealand to get a solar power system installed at her property. Below is an email that I wrote to her about the New Zealand electricity cartel’s absurd and futile resistance to solar.

In short, the greedier they are and the worse they screw us, the sooner we’ll be free of them:

NZ is the most solar hostile country in the OECD. I used to bitch and moan about this, but I’m now seeing the silver lining: The government won’t do anything to break up the electricity cartel in this country, because the government is in on it. It’s a total scam that screws us and benefits the government and people who bought the energy company shares (formally public assets). *shocker* But it’s the power companies’ greed and inflexibility that are going to make storage so much more attractive here over the next couple of years. So, fine! Take the buyback rate down to the level of cigarette butts and bottle caps. Charge our neighbors without solar and us at night between 4X and 7X more that power. Hell, take it to zero. Solar is so evil that we should have to give them our excess electricity for free! Why not? It just makes storage look better and better. The more pissed I get about this situation, the more I watch developments on the battery front. Solar isn’t going away. Most people realize that it just seems to make sense, even if they haven’t crunched the numbers. My guess is that as some of the major battery systems start to roll out, watch the electricity cartel put the solar buyback rate up again to discourage people from getting batteries. Right now, they’re just trying to prevent people from getting the panels. The real trick will be to keep the people with the panels from getting batteries. They’ll be faced with choice: Do we want solar/battery customers to stay connected and paying us something, or do we get nothing from them ever again as they disconnect from the grid? Right now, this scenario seems like it will never happen here, but give it just a couple of years. The emerging battery technology will really

upset the apple cart here—in a good way. Kevin

And now…

Via: RenewEconomy:

Australia’s major utilities are being advised they need to give fair treatment to local energy generation – such as rooftop solar and battery storage – if they are to avoid the so-called death spiral that threatens their business models.

A new report from the Institute of Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology in Sydney suggests local generation needs to be adequately rewarded to prevent mass defection from the grid from consumers unhappy about their treatment from utilities.

…

Solar households currently get paid little for any excess electricity they generate – 5.5c/kWh in some areas, a voluntary payment in others.

This means that consumers are now motivated to consume much of their solar power as they can on site, or to install batteries to store it for use later. This is expected to accelerate dramatically when gross feed-in tariffs expire in NSW and Victoria, and there is concern that when battery storage costs fall far enough, and/or consumers get irate or motivated enough, they will simply disconnect.

The response by utilities to hike fixed charges might address some of their short-term revenue problems, but ISF warns that it could accelerate grid defection and so make matters worse in the long run. High daily access charges also raise equity issues as low use, because low income households pay a disproportionate amount compared to the services they receive.

Energy, Resistance | Posted in Economy Top Of Page