this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2026
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[–] carpelbridgesyndrome@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

There are two parts of this problem:

  1. If you are connected to the grid and using it you need to pay for it somehow. This is not a capitalisim thing this is a maintenance issue. Deploying lots of rooftop solar reduces the amount people are paying the grid operators for the same infrastructure as before while they are still using it. This could be solved by making the grid operators public utilities again and charging taxes instead of billing electric rates. Either way rooftop solar owners are going to need to pay grid fees unless they are entirely disconnected from the grid (this is rarely ever the case).
  2. It creates issues where generation may outstrip load as well as transmission and storage capacity. A lot of this can be solved with more investment but if you are earning less of power sales and still need to maintain everything this can be financially challenging.

There is also a third problem where home solar isn't centrally planned resulting in cases where utilities need to delay homeowners' solar installations while they figure out grid capacity.

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 5 points 1 week ago

Uh, most countries have a base utility fee that's charged, and then usage on top of that.

Tried that one?

Most of summer our bills are negative use because we have a fuckoff huge solar array, but we still pay "property charges"

[–] meekah@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

How about just decoupling grid fees from electricity costs? As in a base fee and in turn a cheaper price on electricity used

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 4 points 1 week ago

That seems to be what is happening in some states. They have a minimum price which is effectively the cost of hooking up to the grid.

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

I don't see a problem with being disconnected from the grid. That's even preferable I think. The only reason that isn't already the case is bcz of calitalism.