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Comment by ortusdux | Hacker News Reader

I re-run the numbers every year, but solar just does not make fiscal sense for my house. For 2022, my utility lowered the our set rate from 6.98 cents/kWh to 6.5, which puts me at about half the national average.

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PGE rates in Northern California are nearing 30cent/KWh. Nearly 5x your rates.

Just to add: During certain hours of the day (2-6PM) in August heatwaves, spot prices to consumers can exceed $1/kWh in Southern California for SDGE.

Because everybody uses AC instead of painting their roofs white and maybe installung some rooftop solar before throwing AC at the problem.

As it turns out PG&E is also one of the most hostile utilities towards rooftop solar.

Do you live adjacent to a hydro dam or solar farm, or what’s the reason for such a low price?

If you live near fracking Wells they have byproduct natural gas that is basically throw away cheap since it's difficult to transport without those unpopular pipelines.

In Québec we have similar prices throughout the province. "We" massively invested in hydro power back in the 60s-70s, and it's paying off very nicely.

What's funny is that everyone still complains about their Hydro bill, but that's because virtually every house is heated with electricity (baseboard heaters), and we have a pretty cold climate. For example, yesterday my house consumed ~180kWh and the outside temperature peaked down to -20°C.

EDIT: mistyped a number

Yeah, if you happen to live near hydroelectric capable rivers then it's one of the best forms of green energy possible. In fact it is so good that most places where it makes sense have already been installed.

Most of them are not very close at all, but "we" also invested in long-distance transport at 735 kV (among the highest voltages in use at the time), which reduces losses. A good chunk of it came down in the late 1990s due to a freezing rain storm, plunging half of Québec in the dark, but ut was rebuilt pretty quickly.

You can do your own solar install for about $1.50/W in the US - ground mount or roof, doesn't really matter (the cost of the per panel electronics for NEC 2017 and later rapid shutdown requirements are about the same as the cost of a ground mount).

It's a lot of work, but can make sense, even in low power cost areas.

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