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Wednesday, November 20th, 2019

Alabama Power fees on solar challenged

Author:    
Source:     WHNT19/Associated Press
Publication Date:     :43 PM, NOVEMBER 16, 2019
 Link: Alabama Power fees on solar challenged
Stephan:   It is very interesting, if tragic, like watching a slow-motion car wreck, to see the difference between the Blue value states and Red value states when it comes to the transition out of the carbon era. You know the outcome will be disastrous, but it is hard to look away. Red value Alabama, less a state and more a third world country, makes the point very clearly. And the amazing thing is that the people of Alabama will probably vote to continue their incompetent corrupt government in 2020 even though it trashes their lives in a 100 ways.

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA — When Jim Bankston installed solar panels on his Tuscaloosa home, he estimated it would trim his electricity bill, and the savings would eventually offset the cost of the hefty investment.

After it was running, he noticed fees on his Alabama Power bill that he didn’t understand and learned there was a $5-per-kilowatt capacity charge on customers who use solar panels to produce a portion of their own electricity.

“I am having to pay them just to use the photons that are hitting my own roof,” Bankston said.

He had estimated the system would eventually pay for itself in 20 years. With the fees included, he said it could be twice that. “I won’t be alive anymore, maybe,” the 45-year-old radiologist says wryly, also noting that it also might be beyond the life span of the panels he installed.

The Alabama Public Service Commission will hold a Nov. 21 hearing on a challenge to the fees charged by Alabama Power. The utility says the fees are needed to provide backup power for customers. But critics say the fees are some of the highest in the […]

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