New Zealand: Meridian Energy CEO – Solar Power Users Hurt Poor People
March 6th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand.
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Although grid-tie solar power users pay daily site and network charges like everyone else, because we’re drawing less power from the grid, we should have to pay more, according to Meridian CEO Mark Binns, “For fairness.”
I don’t know if Mark Binns is an idiot or barking mad, but here’s the real problem with solar power in New Zealand. This is what’s at the core of all the preposterous rambling and hostility directed at solar. (Don’t worry. This is a very short lesson.)
This is a screengrab from my most recent Meridian bill:
Yep, $10.93.
Without solar power, we would have had to pay something like $235. So it’s not hard to see why guys like Binns will say and do anything to try to discourage people from getting solar power. Throw some bullshit at the wall, if it doesn’t stick, try it again in a few months.
Today it’s the one about how solar power is bad for poor people. What’s it going to be next time?
Energy Company CEO Says Solar Power Users Kill Kittens
What?
Too much?
Anyway, while they’re thinking up their next ludicrous anti-solar PR campaign, maybe solar uptake will double again.
In closing, here’s my message to Meridian CEO Mark Binns: Pack this list into your pipe and smoke it you asshole: 42 Battery Storage Companies To Watch.
Via: 3News:
When it comes to solar power, Mr Binns says there’s a growing social divide.
“It tends to be the richer people who can afford solar,” he says. “The cost of maintaining the grids and networks will fall on the people who perhaps can’t afford it, so I think there’s a social equity issue coming up.”
For fairness, Mr Binns says solar customers may have to be charged more to draw from the national grid when they need to.
“Somebody has to pay for the maintenance of the lines and the maintenance of the grid,” he says.
The Electricity Authority says solar uptake more than doubled from 2013 to 4500 households last year. It agrees with Meridian that there could be pricing issues ahead, and is conducting a review of the situation.
But while drawing from the grid may cost more in the future, those on solar could have the last laugh. Battery technology is getting cheaper, and a new report by Deutsche Bank believes cheap storage will push solar into the mainstream.
When batteries are cheap, people will have less reason to draw from the grid, threatening the power companies.
Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges says the industry will just have to deal with the situation.
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Update: Australia: Rooftop Solar Lowers Electricity Costs for Everyone
The reason this isn’t true in New Zealand is because the power retailers keep raising prices as demand falls. Use less, pay more.
Via: ABC:
While the cost savings for solar homeowners are clear, what is less widely known is how someone else making the choice to install solar panels reduces everyone’s power bill.
Here’s how it works. The price we pay for our electricity is figured out in the Australian energy market using the ‘merit order system’.
The system asks energy generators to bid to sell their energy on the market. The market operator then starts buying up energy starting at the lowest price and working up to more expensive bids until it has met everyone’s demands at a particular time.
Solar households, meanwhile, use the energy produced on their rooftop, reducing the demand at the point of consumption, especially during daylight hours on sunny days when demand for energy tends to peak.
This has the same effect of ‘cancelling out’ some of the more expensive bids in the energy system, making all energy prices cheaper even if your household doesn’t have solar panels installed.
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Related: Why Hacking a Tesla Battery May Foreshadow an Energy Revolution
Solution for NZ Energy Company CEO Bullshit: Solar Plant Will Float on a Wastewater Treatment Facility
“I don’t know if Mark Binns is an idiot or barking mad, but …”
He’s an idiot. Let’s give Mark Binns’ job, with its high salary and perks, to the winner of a lottery of unemployed New Zealanders with IQs waaaay to the left on the Bell Curve. “For fairness”.
There are some weak arguments to be made. They still manage the infrastructure without the income. Those fail by some simple facts. If you were to shut off everything except for one 40w light, they would still have the same expenses.
Residences are guaranteed so much capacity. I believe the standard residential service here is 240VAC 60Hz 200A split-phase.
Infrastructure costs are distributed across all users. So if they aren’t making enough, that’s all an accounting issue, not a reason for penalties.
Because of users like you, they get the benefit of reducing daytime capacity. They don’t usually spin generators up and down because of the time required to bring one online. They’re making money because of you. They should thank you for it, rather than threatening to penalize you.
I don’t know the population of the area he’s discussing, but he’s complaining about 4,600 households. I can’t imagine that it’s a significant portion of the users.
This could be a plan for their future revenue. Getting penalties or even getting laws adjusted against solar consumers would (obviously) benefit the power company. If we’re talking about 1% now, as solar is adopted more, it could have a financial impact at higher adoption rates. It would be too late to stop solar’s growth when there is a significant adoption rate.
They are working against solar here too. Legally, homeowners are allowed to modify their own homes as long as the changes stay within code. They have been stopping homeowners on vague restrictions against roof mounted equipment. Solar pool heaters are accepted. PV panels are sometimes refused. Not having the local power company attached is sometimes a fine or can get you forcibly removed. You’ve probably already seen this one.
http://rt.com/usa/florida-woman-private-utilities-735/