Just in 2022 alone, utility rates around the United States have been going up at a fast rate. In fact, rates have gone up by over 70% in Texas this last year alone. To be specific, the average residential rate is now at 18.48 cents per kilowatt hour. That’s a utility rate increase of 76% from the 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour in June 2021.
That utility rate increase in Texas represents an increase of $80 a month for a family using 1,000 kWh of electricity. An as you’ll see, electric rates are increasing everywhere. Therefore, read on to uncover more about the recent utility rate increase happening now.
Utility rate increase in the news
Reputable news outlets are reporting these electrical utility rate increases. And they’re rising throughout the United States and all over the world. That means, they’re impacting you, no matter where you live. What are the reasons for this?
According to the New York Times:
“Rates have jumped because of a surge in natural gas prices and could keep rising rapidly for years as utilities invest in electric grids.”
Bloomberg blames the following reasons for the recent utility rate increase:
“…a combination of tight supplies of natural gas and coal, an unrelenting drought in the Western US, and a nationwide forecast for extreme heat.”
The BBC says this about the latest utility rate increase:
“Households are facing a steep increase in their energy prices due to supply and demand on the global wholesale market.”
These factors do make sense and are certainly a reality. But, there are deceptions coming from utility companies making even worse.
Latest utility company deceptions
Utility companies regularly deceive and trick clients like you to mask the real reasons. For example, they’ll say it’s due to recent storm outbreaks or the war in Ukraine. These two reasons are absolutely false. The reality is this: regulated utilities won’t innovate, so they litigate. To explain, they change laws in their favor.
The electric company in Texas posted that the “recent heat wave” is causing prices to increase. But common sense says that kilowatt hour or kWh price doesn’t increase. Electric bills increase when you use more kilowatt hours in a month. They know that most of their customers don’t use common sense.
There were certain changes to laws, regulations, and market rules due to winter storm Uri in Feb. 2021, according to the Public Utility Commission of Texas. As a result, Texans are now seeing a large utility rate increase. When utility companies change laws, regulations, and market rules, they take advantage of the public and deceive them by hiding the real reason for this utility rate increase.
What the U.S. government is saying
According to the EIA or the U.S. Energy Information Administration:
“The largest increases in U.S. electricity generation in the next two years are likely to come from renewable energy sources, driven by expanded generating capacity from these sources.”
The EIA doesn’t forecast power supply shortages, but that can change in an instant. But for now, this is what the EIA has to say about that:
“Although we expect annual U.S. natural gas fuel costs for electricity generators will increase 59% in 2022, we do not expect a significant decline in generation from natural gas-fired power plants because of the limited ability of coal power plants to act as an alternative source of generation.”
Exponential utility rate increase
When you look at the 30-year history of rising electricity prices, you’ll typically find that they’ve increased by around 5%. But in 2022, some utility companies are increasing their rates by over 50%. That’s what happens when laws change in their favor.
In the past, utility companies were prevented from increasing rates by more than four to six percent. But now, they’ve been given much more leeway by the U.S. government. Watch the following video to see some first-hand knowledge and experience with this issue.
In the video, Eric Martineau reveals his personal experience with rising electricity prices from various states around the United States. And, he present actual numbers and historical data to back up his claims. He’s the founder of Just Get Solar™ and he has your best interest at heart.
Looming foreign power-grid threats
Now that Russia has become a global threat, let’s look at some recent problems they’ve already caused. Back in 2015, Russian government hackers breached the Ukrainian power grid. Then in 207, Russia deployed the notorious NotPetya malware. That virus has quickly spread across the globe.
On March 21, 2022, President Biden warned about potential Russian cyber attacks on the US. This was based on “evolving intelligence” that Russia is considering launching cyber attacks against critical infrastructure targets in the US.
These threats are obviously ominous and scary. Fortunately, you can achieve your own solar electrical independence for your household. Your best two options for this are off-grid solar systems and hybrid solar systems, as we’ll look at shortly. The primary difference between them is electrical grid connection.
Why is our power grid vulnerable?
There are nine power grid “interconnections” throughout the United States and Canada. The largest interconnection is the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC). It covers western Canada and the western US States down to the Mexico border. On July 2nd, 1996, the WECC had a blackout affecting two million people for two hours.
If you thought that July 2nd blackout was bad, the next incident was worse. On August 10th, 1996, the WECC had another blackout affecting 7.5 million people for six hours. In the following video, Eric Martineau reveals his own personal story about that day, August 10th, 1996. He’s the founder and owner of Just Get Solar.
In a news article from Reuters on December 17, 2021, the headline read “U.S. to face increasing power reliability issues over the next 10 years. This came from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). On their website, they call themselves a not-for-profit international regulatory authority whose mission is to assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the reliability and security of the grid.
More recently, The Wall Street Journal published an article titled “America’s Power Grid is Increasingly Unreliable,” on February 18th, 2022. In the article, it explains that “Behind a rising number of outages are new stresses on the system caused by aging power lines…”
Solution to the utility rate increase
The solution to rising electricity prices is simple – install a solar system and become energy independent. And as mentioned, Just Get Solar™ makes it easy and cost-effective. So now, let’s take a look at what types of solar systems exist and what goes into them.
The two primary solar system options
The distinguishing factor between the two primary solar system design options is your power grid connection. To explain, when not connected to the grid, your solar system design will be an off-grid solar system. If you plan to remain connected to your power grid, your solar system design will be a hybrid solar system. Hybrid solar systems are sometimes called a grid-tie solar system.
Another distinguishing factor between off-grid and grid-tie solar systems is power storage. Generally speaking, hybrid solar systems store excess power within the grid in the form of a credit. Then, you use that credit when your solar panels are not generating power at night.
When keeping your grid connection and using a process called “net metering,” your solar system is a hybrid solar system. But, a solar-energy household completely disconnected from the grid is an off-grid solar system. Both are self-sustaining, but off-grid solar is more complex and requires more attention.
Off-grid solar systems use a backup solar battery bank to store excess power generated during the day. Also, off-grid solar systems usually include a backup power generator. Generators provide power when during long periods of time without sunshine.
Use only highly-trained solar installers
You must be trained, experienced and certified to install a solar system. In other words, solar installation is not a DIY project. In fact, solar component installation and wiring requires an electrician and a construction contractor to do it right.
Installing a complete solar system is like installing a circuit breaker unit along with other major electrical systems. One primary component of a solar system is the solar power inverter, which powers your entire home. That means, safety and reliability is no different between the two.
The ability to perform construction is also necessary to install a solar system. As an example, solar panel arrays are typically secured to the top of existing structures. That means, the physical connections must be strong and reliable. Additionally, structures are sometimes built from the ground up to carry the load of your solar panel arrays sufficiently. Therefore, if you’re not familiar with construction, do not attempt solar installation.
To learn how to choose a great solar installer near you, check out this informative article:
SOLAR INSTALLERS NEAR ME: How to pick a solar installer to do it right
