Kochs and Walmart Clan Wage Dirty War to Stop You From Putting Solar Panels on Your Home
 

A new rooftop solar system is installed every three minutes in the U.S., up from one every 80 minutes just eight short years ago. If this pace continues to accelerate or even just holds steady, it will not be long before solar panels become visible, if not ubiquitous, in many neighborhoods nationwide.

That prospect is enough to upset the Koch brothers, the heirs of the Walmart fortune and the utility industry, all which are trying to stamp out the rooftop solar movement or at least make a tidy profit penalizing the people who use it. With the help of powerful lobbyists and PACs like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Americans for Prosperity, they are set to do battle in statehouses across the nation in 2015.

Continued Kochs and Walmart Clan Wage Dirty War to Stop You From Putting Solar Panels on Your Home | Alternet

Greedy fucking bastards:2 cents:

every walmart on the planet is covered with solar panels

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...co_Walmart.jpg

Thugary!

Imagine a world where your big brother government you pay to "keep you safe" says you owe him money from creating free energy from the sun. FUCK THAT REVOLT!

The Kochs, like oil, are old, dirty, and on their way out.

They say they want to charge a $100/month surcharge, which I don't really see an issue with. At the moment the panels feed the grid and any excess that they collect is sold off to the utility company and they have to maintain the grid. The alternative for a homeowner is some way to store the energy they collect, which as I understand is quite expensive.

Stop stopping conspiracies :winkwink:

Eat the rich

What is good for them is not always in their best interest for you to do. :2 cents:

This is a very "real" issue in FL, thanks to both Koch suckers and the utilities lobby. Also special thinks for the worst govenor in this state's history Rick Scott. He recently did away with all tax break incentive for installing solar, making FL the only state in the union to actually go backwards on solar usage.

They have also used the courts to "force" people to stay connected to the grid by removing the certificate of occupancy for house whom are not connected to the electric grid.

FL is one of the state's that would most benefit from solar but the state govt is busy trying to shut it down on behalf of the utilities lobbies and the Koch suckers..

If you don't think this is an issue, you are greatly mistaken. :2 cents:

Not to say it is ok, but curious about this one.
Mandatory minimum of electricity use? Monthly fee even if you do not use that electricity?
If not - you stay connected but do not use it, you use your solar instead. Plus it is not too bad to have backup if you have issues with solar.

I was showing the hypocrisy of walmart. they made a big deal of their committment to go 100% renewable energy starting years ago but they are still only about 2% now + they are contributors to ALEC etc. and no real friend to renewables.

Have Koch brothers ever done anything good? The world will be a better place when they croak.

Their product list is pretty daunting and they produce a lot of things most people take for granted. Just as example think of Dow chemicals and all the stuff they produce as well as 3M. That's just scratching the surface of the many things they produce.

I don't have a lot against them as far as their business goes. If anything they should be looked up to for the things they have accomplished granted often at the cost of other but still their businesses empire is pretty damn massive.

However I do have issue with their political activities and their environmental carelessness that has cost people lives and many health implications. Their political activities are pure shit though so that trashes everything else..

If you can produce your own electric, why should you be forced to pay for electric from a utility company? also Duke energy are fucking cocksuckers since they took over here an average electric bill went from $80 to $150 in the summer to being over $200.

Also one of the things they are trying to pull is limit permits for adding new solar. They make you tie it to the grid, then turn around and claim its a hazard having the house return electric to the grid.

Obviously total bullshit, but that's so called "freedom" in a Republican run state.

Dow Chemicals, yikes, Kochs are more evil than I realized :2 cents:

ruthless ass bastards

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

It looks like you completely misread my post.
I am asking - can you be on the grid but use ZERO of that electricity and only use your own solar. By zero I mean as if you are not home (in the eyes of electric company).

They charge you a minimum usage, meaning you are still paying for using nothing.

Here is what I see in the solar panels.........

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...yBe5r56LKWmmvQ

That was my question :)
Is that fee high one or token like couple bucks?

i'm not reading anything on a .org website.

Unless you have your own means of storage ie. A battery bank, I don't see how it's possible. When you are generating too much you are feeding it back to the grid. At night and on overcast days when demand outstrips supply you are, in essence buying their power. Using the power company as a battery comes at a cost.

Indeed, so being on the grid is not such a bad thing even when using solar. Even if that was not mandatory in FL most of the people would still stay on the grid anyway...

For those who don't know, this is asshole Governor (r) Rick Scott

http://www.occupydemocrats.com/wp-co...Rick-Scott.jpg
This piece of shit has done more harm than any modern governor, from voting rights to privacy rights, public schools to higher education, environmental protection to health care.

From Editorial: If Gov. Rick Scott only had a heart | Tampa Bay Times :

Not everyone wants to use the power company as a battery. Everyone should have "freedom" of choice if they want to be self sufficient or not. They shouldn't have to pay to be connected to the power grid if they choose not to be.

Power grids are old technology, the future will be localized power sources. We aren't there yet but it will happen. It's possible now, but not ready for mainsteam, but those who choose to be early birds, shouldn't be forced to stay grid tied and laws shouldn't stop the progression into the future.

They charge you $70/mth for the first 1k kW no matter if you use that or not. Add on their various other fees and taxes you are a$100/mth for the privilege of being hooked to their power grid regardless if you use it or not.

When it was FPL I used to get $30 and $40 dollar electric bills with the high being $60 to 70 when I lived in Daytona. Now that Duke has taken over much of the state and since Rick Scott has been govoner the prices keep going higher and higher because they are in his pocket and he signs off on the rate increases.

and you know what? They'll win.

That is genuine rip off. Is that FL or US thing? I mean that you must pay so much (like $70) even if you are not using any electricity that month. Is there some states where you would pay $0 for the month you did not use any electricity?

Out of my last $120 bill about $49 was to distribution and transmission.

So we can figure that 40% roughly goes to actually fucking with it.

So if I am going to give them $50 a month in energy they can charge me $20 for the privilege and pay me $30.

But here is the thing. Do they also do that to their own suppliers? As in are they charging the closest Dam that sold them $100,000,000 in electricity last year $40,000,000 for the privilege? I think not!

So if they don't want my energy, fuck em. Put solar on all houses and privatize the transmission and distribution.

It's a state by state thing. It was never this bad in FL until Duke energy started moving in and partnered up with Rick Scott. Prior to Duke it was Florida Power and light (FPL) and they were always reasonable.

Duke energy is the one that was fucking up North Carolina and they let them into FL to further fuck this state up. The best ass fucking they have given to date, was getting the state govt to allow them to charge extra for a future nuke power plant ( yea the state let them charge customers for a proposed power plant) then they canceled the power plant and the state let them keep everyone's money.

This is the type shit that happens in Republican run states.. They cry on the news day in and out about freedom and this and that, but in the end they are just fucking the people. This is why I always criticize Republicans..

you guys getting fucked at my condo my bill is $50-$55 a month normally then $80 a month in the summer because of the AC

That power plant scam was huge and I still cannot believe they got away with it.
Just in the last year it has been crazy. With my old AC last year it was 170 in summer. This year double that. Even put in a new AC so it was not running 24/7 but didn't do much. Rick Scott is a crook. He spends 20 million to get a job paying 1/50 of that. He is making his investment back by changing laws that will help him or just flat out getting paid to do so.

Floridians still decided to elect the asshole, they get the government they deserve.

Yeah, that was my point. Many people do not even burn 1000 kw per month... And they charge that as a minimum even if you burn 0 kw. This is plain thievery. If it was 100 kw per month then you may get some understanding.

When I think about it more, it is really hard to believe that they charge you minimum of 1000 kw. I mean that is more than what people use, it would be a revolution if someone did that in almost any country. Unbelievable. Can somebody confirm that? OP being anti repub might twist something :)

I'm pretty sure crockett meant 1 kw. 1000 kw = 1 megawatt = would light up a stadium. or 2.

if your solar array cranks out enough energy, simply cancel your account with the electrical company.

But at the same time he says they charge you $70. Doubt that 1kw is 70 dollars. So no he did not mean 1kw, he meant 1k kw :)

Anyway I tried googling and nothing like that came up (if it was true there would be tons of angry articles about this alleged thievery).

Would be funny to see if he was lying or completely misinformed in order to BLINDLY bash repubs :)

no, he was figuring the base amount is a unit of 1. 1 kw isn't $70. he's saying the minimum monthly account charge is $70.

crockett knows quite a bit about solar energy and outputs, he hardly meant 1000 kilowatts.

That's not the only thing bad about Duke Energy.

Duke Energy Dan River Coal Ash Spill Updates: What We Know, What We Need To Know ? Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation

Plus, the ex CEO of Duke Energy became GOVERNOR of North Carolina, and came up with a fucking bullshit legal trick to keep Duke from paying fines or cleaning up their shit.

INSTITUTE INDEX: Just how cozy are Gov. McCrory and Duke Energy?

I've been to North Carolina a long time ago and it's a beautiful state with good people. How are they letting it turn into America's biggest cesspool?

Amen to that! I have a bottle of bubbly at the ready, for when either or both, kick the fucking bucket!

Sadly this state is filled to the brim with red necks and old people. Even still it was a very close election and the opposition to him was actually the former Republican governor whom rebadged himself as a Democrat. Meaning wasn't a whole lot of reason for the left to vote..

Granted both Christe and Jeb Bush were 100 times better for this state than Rick Scott has been. However I suspect the aforementioned just voted "Republican" and not for Rick Scott, because no one could be so dumb or blind to willingly vote for that asshat as badly as he has fucked this state in his first term.

Yes I'm pretty sure Duke energy walked away with 2 or 4 billion in customers money for that "proposed" power plant, which Rick Scott appointed the committee which allowed them to do.. Not only that, Scott had the ability to stop Duke from charging customers in 2006 knowing by that point they were not going to build the power plants.

Edit..

I just looked it up, it was actually for two power plants and they scored 3.2 billion in customers money, which the state allowed them to keep.

Well hells bells.. The Tea Party in Florida is actually trying to do something useful..

The tea party is pushing for solar power in Florida - The Washington Post

A tea party leader and a conservative state lawmaker are behind a petition to make solar panels more profitable in Florida, reports Ivan Penn of the Tampa Bay Times. The group is collecting signatures to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would allow residents to sell electricity generated from the sun directly to their neighbors, tenants and friends, instead of giving the utilities a cut.

For conservatives, solar power is a chance to put an end to state-regulated monopolies in electricity and create an opportunity for investment for every homeowner.

I'm amazed they are going against their beloved Tea Party lover Rick Scott.. I'm sure Duke & Scott will squash it, but who knows I'll be signing it..

That is actually quite amazing... .