The Dallas Mornings News, aka "We HATE Trump News," had another uniformed story in the business section this week. The writer, which I will not name because I don’t want to give him credit for knowing how to type, reported that Oncor, the transmission and distribution electric service company for a large part of Texas, wants to charge people that use wind generators, solar panels or battery back up systems. On the surface, this appears to be punishment for trying to save energy, but is it? It actually is an attempt to treat customers fairly.
The electric utility industry must make billion dollar investments in what is called the "grid" to deliver electricity to your house. Those cost are recovered and a regulated profit allowed by the Public Utility Commission. The grid is designed to have enough electric generation, transmission and distribution facilities to meet your demand for power, anytime, day or night. I also mention here that many utilities offer incentives for energy conservation measures, but when someone wants to provide most of their own power and then stay connected to the grid, just in case, there certainly should be a fee assessed.
Large commercial and industrial customers that consumer enormous amounts of electricity often have "dual feeds" which is a second stand-by feed for power, should the primary feed goes down. They pay a large fee to be able to have a back up system.
Perhaps a simple example will help you to understand it better. How many times have you used the fire department? Never or maybe once in a lifetime. Well then, why should you have to pay for them? Why do you pay for home or auto insurance if you never or rarely file a claim?
Reality is the same old adage, "There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch."
But try explaining that to the Dallas Morning News.
PMO
©2017
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