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Originally Posted by cash4life
as soon as humanly possible i'm investing in solar panels.
did you know the electric company will PAY YOU for excess energy?
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This depends on your state and the state laws. Some states don't require the electric company to pay you for excess.
Some states, you pay for what you use and they pay for what you produce, but the kicker is you pay retail prices and they pay wholesale prices. There are 2 separate meters, they read your use meter and charge you based on that and then they read the production meter and pay you based on that. So in a month you produced the same amount as you used, you will still end up paying them (probably about 4-8 cents/kwh). It does lower your cost and it helps the environment, but it's far from ideal.
The best for the consumer is "net-metering". This is where your meter can actually run backward. You only pay for what you use in excess of your production and they pay you (still wholesale prices) for what you produce in excess of your use. So in this instance, if you use the same as you produce, you pay nothing, but if you produce more kilowatts than you use, they pay you (probably 4-8 cents/kwh) and if you use more than you produce, you pay them (the normal rate 8-16 cents/kwh).