The Koch brothers have another sideline; opposing renewable power production, even when it is on the roofs of homes and businesses.
In partnership with the ultra-conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), a group that they fund, they are pushing legislatures in states to penalize homeowners by taxing the excess electricity produced by solar panels or wind turbines mounted on or around people’s homes. So far Oklahoma, Georgia and Arizona are working at passing variations of the ALEC model legislation, with other states sporting Republican Governors close behind.
So, what is so terrifying about clean energy?
Lost income and the possible death of a two century old monopoly is what is so terrifying to people who own the energy companies.
Solar Panels and The Current Electrical Power System
The resistance to what seems to be simply good sense renewable energy policies is caused by money and power.
The fear is caused by the very real threat of lower dividends and stock prices for energy stocks in coal, oil and gas. That is the major element of the investor class fear of clean, renewable energy.
But there is another, more primal fear that drives the resistance to clean energy.
The Power Grid
The electrical grid spans the nation with literally thousands of miles of high voltage power lines, a system of thousands of power stations to distribute that power, several thousand power plants burning coal, oil and natural gas and a few clean energy producers. Billions of dollars has been invested in the system, and it has been ingrained into the economic system.
Technically, the power grid is inefficient, since a large amount of all electricity generated is lost to friction through those very same high voltage lines. Also, they are vulnerable to weather, electrical storms, computer hacking and sabotage.
However, the grid has a tight grip on the nations’ resources. One outage and cities go dark, one part failed and a quarter of the nation’s population had no power for days. The grid is considered so vulnerable to hacking and sabotage that it has been labelled a major national security issue by the Federal government.
Photo credit: www.thewhirlingwind.com
The solution to that vulnerability of the grid is complicated and many-sided; one can make it smarter using computerized systems, and therefore more responsive to outages and failures of parts of the system. One can also redesign it with more localized sources of power, like with wind farms, massive solar power plants, and other clean energy sources and move away from the normal coal, gas and oil fired pollution producers.
One can also decentralize it totally by installing solar panels on businesses and homes, which reduces and could possibly eliminate the dependence on a national grid itself.
It is this possibility that has the Koch brothers and their ilk in panic mode. Each small percentage of reliance on the grid that we can eliminate through decentralization using wind and solar power lessens the threat of it being a national security issue.
But this impending elimination of the grid as a cash cow is the major reason for the seeming virulent resistance to the concept of global warming and the resistance to the concept of clean energy.
If the power grid is not centrally controlled, it cannot benefit the oligarchical society that the investor class depends upon for their continued wealth.
The Cash Cow of All Cash Cows
As it stands now, the system is a cash cow for many investors and a few oligarchs, like the Koch brothers, and they do not want it messed with at all.
Consider: Since you were a child, your family’s paying of the electric bill has been a major household expense, right?
That monthly expense is like a monthly tithe to the investor class. It is, as it were, the tax you pay them for your access to electricity and the many benefits it brings you.
That cash cow would be an interlocking system that uses their coal mines and oil wells to create the electricity, their grid companies to distribute it and their utility companies to charge for it. An entire legacy system controlled by a few very powerful interests that is now making a dependable and steady income goes out of profitability.
Solar Panels Could Kill The Grid
A major threat to that cash cow is a growing movement from centralized power production via the grid to localized dispersed power production via solar panels on the roofs of homes and businesses. A solar panel system, accompanied by a battery storage system and a small generator for emergencies, could eliminate entirely the need for the grid for a home or a business.
If you put such a solar panel system on your home you no longer pay that monthly tithe. The grid becomes, for you at least, immaterial and unnecessary. Enough people do that, and the grid loses customers until its grip on profitability is loosened. The Koch brothers lose their major cash cow.
This threatens to remove one very powerful monopoly that for over a century has held a solid grip on people's income by forcing them to tithe monthly to the power utility companies. With that monopoly broken, they'll be required to earn an honest living, and that terrifies them.
So much so that Arizona and Georgia are or have passed laws putting a surcharge on any excess electricity produced by solar panels, in an effort to make them less cost-effective for homeowners. OKlahoma is reportedly passing laws that would tax ALL electricity generated by wind turbines or solar panels on homes.
Restraint of trade? Certainly.
ALEC and The Model Solar Panel Tax Laws
With the usual technical setup, any excess electricity your house does not use is sent back through the utility meter, making it run backwards, showing a minus usage. This is a major selling point for solar panels. During the heat of the day a well-designed solar panel system will create more electricity than your house uses, and sends the excess back to the utility company. This creates a deduction from your electric bill. At night, when the sun does not shine, the grid provides electricity you use. If you send back as much during the day, then the amount you use at night will be less than you use at night.
In states that are cool with solar panels, the utility deducts electricity sent back through their grid from your total bill at the same rate they charge you for using electricity, meaning some people pay zero in electricity bills.
So the Koch brothers among others are fighting back to protect their monopoly and their perceived right to make you pay a monthly tithe to them. One shot is to have the ALEC laws passed to make you pay for your own excess electrical production.
That is the electricity they (the ALEC folks funded by the Koch brothers) want to tax you so you cannot make a profit by having excess generation power available. It is a bold and arrogant plan to stifle competition from homeowners who install solar on their homes. They protect their monopoly and the cash cow market for coal, gas and oil continues at the same pace.
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