The utilities see that folks “can” and will not tolerate the usury of the past moving forward. Utilities want the proposed NEM 3.0 in Californian to be the template of the nation. All residential and private solar PV installations overgeneration would be credited at the wholesale energy rate and charged at the residential “bundled” electricity rate when grid power is used. Allowing the coddled “regulated monopoly) electric utility to enjoy “avoided costs” of not having to purchase property, float bonds or loans and payout interest, purchase, install, maintain and insure a distributed solar PV system. O&M is bundled into the cost of each kWh of residential electricity used, O&M of a distributed solar PV and smart ESS system should also be compensated for long term O&M also. Adoption of solar PV and smart ESS isolates the residential end user from the utility and forces partnerships like creating a VPP from 100,000 distributed ESS units in a community.

Also like the article mentions, these solar PV State and Federal programs are a mishmash of requirements for one to qualify for the ITC. As mentioned, the ITC just might have the requirement of a battery backup system “has” to be charged off of solar PV alone to qualify for the ITC. No consideration by the Federal edict, that smart ESS systems can also use arbitrage to bring down electricity costs for consumers. Conflicting Federal, State, County, Local ordinances are a spaghetti mix of cancellation of the benefits of installing solar PV and smart ESS. Unbridled “soft costs” are creating roadblocks to solar PV and or energy storage technologies adoption in the residential sector.