wrote in message
...
program since the Social Security tax.

Poor people pay more for power and a bigger tax bite so rich people
can buy solar collectors.

That pretty much sums it up. Here in the Peoples Republic
of NJ, that's how it works. They put a tax on everyones
electric bill. That money goes to send nice, big fat checks
to the NJ folks that put up solar collectors. Those checks,
plus the federal tax credits are what makes it have an
acceptable pay back to install. And you get those big fat
checks, not for any excess power you produce, but just
based on the total power you produce, whether you use
it for you hot tub or send it to the grid. Most people use
all they produce.

If sized about right, you use the power grid as your 'storage battery'. In
this fellows case, the house is empty most of the day. The power time of
day usage is higher, then he and family is home at night. Daytime power
cost is about 15 cents per hour, and night time power is about 5 cents per
hour. So he is selling most of the power at a higher rate and buying it
back at a lower rate.

Think I said he show a bill where his usage was a negative $ 51 for the
month.
He will not get payed for this, but will be able to apply it to a month with
a positive usage if he has one.

This fellow is not that rich, but smart enough to work the system.
I think he calculated his payback was 5 or 6 years, but the power comapny
has has one rate hike and is asking for another 10% so the payback is going
to be slightly less, especially if they average 5% or more every year.

One other thing that helps is to have enough land to put up the big
collectors. He had 2 that were 16 feet each way and I think he installed
another one mainly for his electric car.