The many hidden costs of solar

In the poorer parts of Kern County, California, they may have to turn the streetlights off because of soaring electricity prices. “Californians pay the second-highest electricity rates in the USA,” according to the LA Times, while, ironically, California is the number one state in the USA for solar installations. What’s happening? “A growing body of evidence has concluded that the No. 1 driver of higher bills is a decades-old policy that forces customers to pay for their neighbors’ rooftop solar systems,” the LA Times explained. But wasn’t cheap solar supposed to usher in an age of practically free, too-cheap-to-meter electricity for everyone?

Solar users in California get hefty subsidies. Solar users tend to be middle class. So, as is so often the case, the middle-class electricity usage is being subsidized by the working class. The poor pay for the rich to heat their swimming pools, while the poor can’t even afford to keep their streetlights on.

It’s a double whammy for the poor. Solar users get super high prices selling electricity to the grid, even when the grid doesn’t need or can’t use that electricity. By definition, they don’t use much electricity from the grid, so they contribute