Down here in the southwest, Solar is huge, but there are some problems. Power companies don't really know how to charge them. First they started buying the extra power from them and selling it to other houses. This resulted in people actually getting checks from APS and not bills. It was crazy, then they went to a deal that allowed you to store power on the grid, but you didn't get paid for it, it was just a running total against what you would use at night. Then they realized they were not making any money off these people, and wanted to charge a grid hook up charge. That immediately went to court, and is still being worked out.
I do agree with some of the aruguments APS makes, like they have to maintain a grid for someone, who may only pay 5 dollars a month, when APS has hundreds of vehicles and employees they have to maintain, just so that person can have access to power. The other point goes to everyone else who doesn't have solar, they will have to start paying more for power to help with the lack of households paying to take care of the grid. It is a new technology and a new problem, but I am sure they will find the answer.
Here is the new plans from APS, you can see they are trying to charge a basic service charge per day. It isn't much, but for 2 million homes, it is a nice chunk of change. I also like how they call it the Tariff sheet. HAHA
