Major disruptor (Score: 1) by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-09-24 06:22 (#ND3Y) While this one singles out cheap natural gas, power companies across the board are struggling with distributed solar. In political actions funded by the Koch brothers, they're coming up with every off-the-wall plan they can. Scare tactics about their death spiral, aimed at convincing regulatory agencies to allow them to stop net-metering, add an extra fee for solar-power-producing homes, or otherwise asking the government to guarantee them a fixed amount of revenue, even as they provide less and less power:https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/utilities-sensing-threat-put-squeeze-on-booming-solar-roof-industry/2015/03/07/2d916f88-c1c9-11e4-ad5c-3b8ce89f1b89_story.htmlhttp://midwestenergynews.com/2015/07/30/missouri-regulators-looking-into-decoupling-utility-revenues-and-profits/http://www.npr.org/2015/01/03/374737086/utilities-fight-for-revenue-lost-to-solar-powerThis mess looks to play out like Bank Bailout... Semi-governmental private corporations, who give the profits they make to their investors, yet can expect the government to protect them from any losses when things go the other way.To their credit, state regulators have been overwhelmingly rejecting their proposals pretty universally thus far, and not allowing them to essentially print their own money.There is some indication that the death sprial is a myth, and this will all just mean slightly lower profits than they've come to expect:http://cleantechnica.com/2014/06/24/will-renewable-energy-cause-utility-death-spiral/ Re: Major disruptor (Score: 1) by billshooterofbul@pipedot.org on 2015-09-24 19:53 (#NFBR) To play devils advocate:These are government allowed monopolies, with some real regulations and restrictions about things like price increases. They're already artificially limited in maximizing their profits by the government, doesn't it make sense to artificially limit the minimum as well? Re: Major disruptor (Score: 1) by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-09-26 21:13 (#NNH6) The Ohio utility in the article obviously fought for deregulation, against government regulation. They want the benefits of both, and none of the downsides.As for others, yes, there should be government guarantees of minimal profitability, but they should NOT be guaranteeing maximum profitability all the time. Residential PV isn't going to put any of them out of business, just make them less profitable, and they won't accept that. They want consistently high profits, no matter what. That's not the kind of guarantee they should be getting, on the backs of the poor who have no choice but to pay their utility bills.
Re: Major disruptor (Score: 1) by billshooterofbul@pipedot.org on 2015-09-24 19:53 (#NFBR) To play devils advocate:These are government allowed monopolies, with some real regulations and restrictions about things like price increases. They're already artificially limited in maximizing their profits by the government, doesn't it make sense to artificially limit the minimum as well? Re: Major disruptor (Score: 1) by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-09-26 21:13 (#NNH6) The Ohio utility in the article obviously fought for deregulation, against government regulation. They want the benefits of both, and none of the downsides.As for others, yes, there should be government guarantees of minimal profitability, but they should NOT be guaranteeing maximum profitability all the time. Residential PV isn't going to put any of them out of business, just make them less profitable, and they won't accept that. They want consistently high profits, no matter what. That's not the kind of guarantee they should be getting, on the backs of the poor who have no choice but to pay their utility bills.
Re: Major disruptor (Score: 1) by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-09-26 21:13 (#NNH6) The Ohio utility in the article obviously fought for deregulation, against government regulation. They want the benefits of both, and none of the downsides.As for others, yes, there should be government guarantees of minimal profitability, but they should NOT be guaranteeing maximum profitability all the time. Residential PV isn't going to put any of them out of business, just make them less profitable, and they won't accept that. They want consistently high profits, no matter what. That's not the kind of guarantee they should be getting, on the backs of the poor who have no choice but to pay their utility bills.