The grid math hasn't changed, every kilowatt you never generate is the cheapest one on the books, and winter peak is a real problem heading at real wires. What's actually broken is the delivery, premiums on the high-tier units, rebates that cover the equipment and pretend the panel doesn't exist, and a contractor base nobody thought to fund.
You can read that two ways, the mandates are wrong, or the mandates are right and starved. And it's worth asking who benefits when the programs stay thin. A utility that gets paid per kilowatt has no incentive to fund the thing that sells fewer of them, and the Republican legislatures defunding the rebate programs keep taking utility money. We spent two years of political airtime fighting about gas stoves and lightbulbs while the actual bottleneck, the panel upgrade and the installer base, never got a dollar. The mandates aren't detached from reality. The funding is detached from the mandates. The places covering whole job costs, panel and all, are the ones where the complaints are quietest.
Efficiency is the cheapest power plant we have. The rebate programs are what's broken.
byu/Significant-Chart403 inenergy
Posted by Significant-Chart403
2 Comments
The part about the contractor base got me, I work in software and I automate half my apartment but when I needed a new panel I called 8 electricians before someone even picked up the phone. Three of them came to look and only one gave me a quote that wasn’t completely random
The whole rebate structure feels like it was designed by someone who never had to actually schedule a home visit. They’ll give you money for a fancy heat pump but nobody thought about the fact half the houses in my neighborhood still have 100 amp service from the 70s
My brother works for a utility and he told me straight up their bonus structure is tied to throughput, not efficiency. Like you said, who benefits when the programs stay thin
REFUND the INFLATION REDUCTION ACT!
There is a bill in Congress right now. Yeah, Republicans messed up big time blowing a massive hole in the grid and energy supplies. Winter is coming.