LETTERS: Net metering decision shows poor math skills

Solar math

Back in September, I made the decision to purchase (not lease) a solar panel system for my home. I did all of my homework and research to determine if it was a good investment. I read everything on the NV Energy website explaining how net metering worked. It was at that point that I decided to invest in solar energy for my home.

At that time, NV Energy net metering was based on 1 kilowatt hour produced equaled 1 kWh earned, and any excess kWh produced would be credited and carried over toward future consumption on an equal basis. Under that rate structure, if on average you consumed 1,000 kWh and produced 1,000 kWh per month, all you would be required to pay would be your connection charge, plus taxes and fees.

In 2020, under the new rate structure, a household consuming 1,000 kWh per month would have to pay an additional $106.37 per month, when all the math is worked out. I paid $24,000 for my system. Based on this rate ripoff, it would take me a minimum of 75 years just to break even, for a system with a lifespan of 25 to 30 years. When I purchased my system, I calculated my break-even at 8.7 years. In any other bait and switch, someone would be going to jail.

The entire argument for changing the rules in the middle of the game has been that solar customers shift an unfair burden onto nonsolar customers, yet nobody can prove what those costs are. I just provided a dollar amount showing how the new rates will affect me. I am not a math major and don’t claim to be. However, I think there may be some individuals out there who must have skipped all of their math classes.

Paul Kiros

Henderson

Rooftop solar

Nevada’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, which mandates 25 percent of the state’s energy come from green energy, was heralded as being on track by Gov. Brian Sandoval, through $467 million dollars in incentives, grants and loans to develop the solar industry in Nevada (“Sandoval praises solar energy achievements,” Jan. 23 Review-Journal). How can support of corporate-level solar programs be great, but supporting thousands of individuals with rooftop solar be bad?

Such an arrangement might be of benefit to NV Energy, a monopoly, and to politicians seeking campaign contributions, but not to the state and 2 million-plus people in the Las Vegas Valley, one of the sunniest areas in the nation. The Public Utilities Commission needs to right its recent wrong on the net metering rates.

Harry Ray

North Las Vegas

Fee to breathe

Regarding the article on MGM Resorts charging for parking (“Murren: ‘MGM not tone deaf'”), I was fascinated by MGM’s $90 million parking strategy. I wondered if “free parking” hasn’t always been factored in to the room rates, concert ticket fees and assorted charges you pay when you patronize one of MGM’s properties, just as water bills have always been included in the rent I pay for my apartment.

It is ridiculous to tell someone that any business supplies “free” anything; the business doesn’t present you a bill for that service, but you certainly pay for it in other ways. No business operates long as a charity.

Will MGM stop charging after recouping its $90 million investment to “enhance” our experience? Of course not. The company will just use it as justification to get as much money out of its customers as possible, much the same as it did with resort fees, put in place to charge us for previously “free services” such as a pool and Wi-Fi — which we mistakenly thought was included in our room rates all these years.

As MGM executives sit in their boardrooms thinking of ways to dupe the gullible public, I would offer a suggestion that could generate more money before they price themselves out of existence: Charge for air. You have been giving it away forever, and you apparently think the public will go for anything.

Tim Buckley

Las Vegas

Nevada slogan

With regard to NV Energy and the net metering decision from the Public Utilities Commission, I have a suggestion for a new state motto: “Nevada: Where Warren Buffett owns the sun — and the PUC.”

Barry Finn

Las Vegas