{"id":20009,"date":"2015-03-27T08:10:50","date_gmt":"2015-03-27T15:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/?p=20009"},"modified":"2015-03-27T08:16:20","modified_gmt":"2015-03-27T15:16:20","slug":"a-shocking-discovery-on-why-your-power-bill-is-higher-than-it-should-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/a-shocking-discovery-on-why-your-power-bill-is-higher-than-it-should-be\/","title":{"rendered":"A shocking discovery on why your power bill is higher than it should be"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chuck<\/a>(Chuck Muth) –\u00a0When it comes to electricity generation and transmission, I don\u2019t know a kilowatt from J.J. Watt.\u00a0 But I do know this: If the government gets involved, someone\u2019s gonna get shocked.<\/p>\n

Indeed, imagine my surprise when I discovered that my power bill \u2013 as well as yours – is higher because we\u2019re subsidizing the installation of solar panels on our neighbor\u2019s roof thanks to government meddling in the energy market.<\/p>\n

A recent in-depth article published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal detailed the growing popularity of home solar systems as a way for people to cut their power bills.\u00a0 However, the only reason these solar systems are even close to affordable is because the federal government is picking up a large chunk of the purchase price.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the article points out that you and I, through our tax dollars, are paying for \u201croughly $9,000 off of a $25,000 system.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s bad enough, but thanks to a 2003 law passed by the Nevada Legislature, NV Energy is also forced to provide rebates to solar system homeowners that ratepayers who can\u2019t afford solar systems are paying for.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s this nasty little thing called \u201cnet metering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Net metering is how those with rooftop solar panels are able to cut their power bills at our expense.\u00a0 Electricity, you see, needs to be constantly generated and transmitted to your home.\u00a0 It can\u2019t be stored like a can of beans and opened anytime you need it.\u00a0 At least not without installing some extremely expensive battery systems.<\/p>\n

So while solar panel users generate more than enough power for their personal use during sunny days – and sell any surplus back to the power company at full retail price for a \u201cnet\u201d reduction in their power bill \u2013 they still must be hooked up to the power company\u2019s grid at night and on cloudy days.<\/p>\n

And even though the power company can purchase or generate electricity at far lower prices from traditional power plants than what the government forces it to pay to your neighbor with the rooftop solar panels, it doesn\u2019t have any choice.\u00a0 Buying electricity from your neighbor at inflated prices is mandated by law.<\/p>\n

In other words, your electric bill is higher than it should be because your power company is forced by the government to pay an above-market price for electricity to your neighbors who can afford the high cost of taxpayer-subsidized solar systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cNet metering, as currently implemented,\u201d the American Legislative Exchange Council accurately explains, \u201cis a regressive tax subsidizing the rich by picking the pockets of the poor.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Look, I\u2019m not against solar power.\u00a0 But I am against paying more for it just so my well-to-do neighbor can artificially pay less for it. Time to turn the lights out on this government meddling in the energy market.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach and the publisher of www.NevadaNewsandViews.com<\/a>. He personally blogs at www.MuthsTruths.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Chuck Muth) –\u00a0When it comes to electricity generation and transmission, I don\u2019t know a kilowatt from J.J. Watt.\u00a0 But I do know this: If the government gets involved, someone\u2019s gonna get shocked. Indeed, imagine my surprise when I discovered that my power bill \u2013 as well as yours – is higher because we\u2019re subsidizing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20009"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20009"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20014,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20009\/revisions\/20014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}