If some states weren't captured by utility monopolies, then solar users would be legally allowed to disconnect from the power grid, potentially solving the first issue. It's amazing to me that this is illegal anywhere.
[1]: https://off-grid-home.com/is-it-legal-to-disconnect-your-hom...
Edit: If you follow the link in the article, it sounds like this was all because of disconnecting the water hookup and has nothing to do with solar power?
This doesn't seem like an absurd amount of money to have power when your system inevitably goes down for a time.
Additionally - if you want to sell your house - you're going to lose a fortune taking it off the grid. It wouldn't qualify for most financing.
It's not worth saving $10/m for almost any rational/economic person.
wHaT iF eVeRyOnE dId It?!
Everyone isn’t doing it, and ideally more people would be taking advantage of net metering. Until such time that it is causing real issues with the utility companies being able to keep the lights on, this is all a moot point. If it encourages solar adoption, then it’s a good policy, for now. Revisit discussion when it’s actually close to being an issue.
The only reason why some solar customers pay zero is that they _significantly_ overproduce (export more than they use) and overproduction is compensated at the wholesale rate (typically $0.03-$0.04/kWh for PG&E), not the retail rate ($0.11-$0.45/kWh for PG&E).
It's an incredibly low amount of money to have 24x7x365 reliable power. The alternative (off-grid systems) cost tens-to-hundreds of thousands of dollars. $10/m is nothing, and is arguably too low. The solution should be to charge all customers a higher fixed monthly charge for grid access and distribution, and then charge less for the power consumed.