Why Solar Panels Aren’t Unfair or a Scam

Video script and citations:

Get my achieve energy security with solar guide:

Follow-up podcast:

Join the Undecided Discord server:

👋 Support Undecided on Patreon!

⚙️ Gear & Products I Like

Visit my Energysage Portal (US):
Research solar panels and get quotes for free!

And find heat pump installers near you (US):

Or find community solar near you (US):

For a curated solar buying experience (Canada)
EnergyPal's free personalized quotes:

Tesla Referral Code:
Get 1,000 free supercharging miles
or a discount on Tesla Solar & Powerwalls

👉 Follow Me
Mastodon

X

Instagram

Facebook

Website

📺 YouTube Tools I Recommend
Audio file(s) provided by Epidemic Sound

TubeBuddy

VidIQ

I may earn a small commission for my endorsement or recommendation to products or services linked above, but I wouldn't put them here if I didn't like them. Your purchase helps support the channel and the videos I produce. Thank you.

[bertm]

I am always constantly amazed by how much corporations suddenly care about poor people when their bottom line is affected

[Raika]

Shifting blame onto people that don't buy your product for not hitting profit targets is a temper tantrum in a suit. They want the benefits of being publicly subsidized while also extracting profit. Pure astroturfing.

[nysunflower]

I’ve always said that corporations would be more for solar energy if they could figure out a way to charge people for using the sun. It looks like they finally have.

[KF]

This is what our local utility tried to pull recently. They wanted anyone who installs solar to pay an extra $2, 000 a year to the electric company which pretty much negates the savings of installing solar. That was the goal since the utility is privately managed, their income is percentage based, and they are of course a monopoly.

[TechnologyConnections]

This is a very well done video, and thank you for making it! It alleviates many — though not all — of my concerns regarding rooftop solar (or more broadly, private small-scale ownership of grid-tied generation). I agree that ultimately this is a political issue, but I think it’s also tangled with a systems issue. And I’m still very concerned by the inequities angle.

I can agree with the notion that prosumers should be allowed to benefit from their investment, and understand that honest utilities should view them as largely helpful and not harmful for many reasons. But here’s the rub - utilities aren’t honest, and this extra layer of complexity feels ripe to shenanigan-making. So in a lot of ways, while the idea of cost-shifting might be overblown (and they’re trying their hardest to blow it up themselves), it worries me that they currently have the levers to ensure that becomes a reality.

My bottom line is that the grid is a shared resource and its upkeep needs to be a shared cost - and that’s the incredibly thorny part, especially because of how we share that cost now. I think we agree that _that_ is the real problem here. We have a very complicated system for funding the grid, particularly here in the States. And if there’s contention now, there absolutely will be as we move forward to change how those systems operate - which fundamentally I think we have to do.

Setting aside my personal belief that encouraging individuals to work on cleaning up the grid is a bit questionable, if you can buy your way out of contributing to the grid’s upkeep that’s a no-go in my book. And yes, I understand that more solar defers costs, but even just the transformer and wires feeding your house is infrastructure that needs upkeep. I think the most obvious solution is to fund the grid through taxes and tell utilities to shove-off, but this is America.

Maybe chipping away at this problem bit-by-bit is the right path. Solar adoption spreads as it becomes normalized - it’s one of the very real “monkey see, monkey do” aspects of humanity! And perhaps, since we are in the US and have to deal with everything that implies, I should be at peace with letting things fall as they may. But I still can’t say I’m not worried about how we go down this path. I think we need to be careful with how we proceed - we’re diving into the briar patch in one way or another.

[thinktoomuchb]

The news media should be reporting on this stuff. This could have been a piece on 60 Minutes. Well done, Matt!

[rabbitpumpkin]

Reminds me of a community builder who wanted to provide solar generation in their project but the local govt and utility refused to give them permission as it would allow them to govern their own community with regards to power utility. It’s about monopoly control and profits.

[seeranos]

If charges are going to be fixed to spread out responsibility to the widest possible population, then they might as well be publicly owned and funded by rises in taxes. If we can’t opt out of paying for a service, it should not be profit seeking.

[FowlPlayFTW]

I've always been pretty skeptical on the topic of solar users upping the costs for everyone else.
When consumers pay 17-36c/kWh and get offered only an 8c tariff on their solar being fed back to the grid it's obvious we are providing cheaper energy for our neighbors, unfortunately businesses love miss information and will try anything to increase their already obnoxious profit margins.

[tomasbeblar]

Simple rule in life; if a corporation spends money to convince you to do something, chances are, you'll want to do the exact opposite.

[tomim]

"Keep the conversation honest" We CANNOT trust utility companies to be honest or care about their customers. They only care about profit, even at the expense of the customers and the environment. It is despicable the lies and misinformation companies and lobbyists spread to further corporate greed. These utilities make BILLIONS, but aren't satisfied and want more. Matt, keep them honest and keep spreading the word that we need to change our wasteful energy ways.

[JohnSmith-cbqx]

🕴"Everybody needs to pay their fair share!"
🤷"Okay, let's start with taxes."
🕴"No, not like that."

[pillington]

What our electric provider did was to drop the price of electricity and raise the base cost just for being connected to the grid. They did it in a way that the average user didn't see much difference in their bill, but solar owners are now paying an extra $20 per month. On top of this, because the cost of electricity was dropped so much (to 9 cents per kWh), it meant that it wasn't economical for anyone else to put solar on their homes.

[davidellis]

In the UK we pay a standing charge which is meant to "cover the cost of supplying electric and gas to your property" with the energy crisis, the standing charge has been going up and up, which is a hard one to understand but it hits the lower use customers hardest.

[iansampson]

We in Australia invested in 7.8kw of panels (20) and 16KWh of battery (Sungrow). In 12months we have paid our energy provider $50. We are so close to being independent of the grid. We have a pool and A/C. I do monitor our power closely to achieve these results.

[TheLoki]

Fair share is always used as a class warfare tactic....and feels obvious when laws aren't simple and equally enforced

[joeking]

i always love how things could be "twisted" to sound legit

[haroldwestrich]

I love your language - you hit the nail on the head when you said " Turning off the lights and getting more efficient appliances will also reduce your electric bill" is this increasing my neighbors electric bill?AWESOME ! ! !

[therealjingxi]

Cost shifting isn't the most important thing, here. The fact that solar panels help displace the need to build more fossil fuel generating plants is the most significant thing.

[jts]

Well, this video has pushed me a little closer to setting up our new house that we're building as off-grid 100% solar. There was already the cost of running the power to the site from the road, so I think I'd rather spend the $$ on a more robust array and battery bank.