Sacramento’s power company and law enforcement agencies have been running an illegal mass surveillance scheme for years, using our power meters as home-mounted spies. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is seeking to end Sacramento’s dragnet surveillance of energy customers and have asked for a court order to stop this practice for good.
My solar panels & battery are part of a Virtual power plant that our electric utility can pull from during peak power events, which is basically summer afternoons with high temperatures. They pay a premium for power supplied during VPP events. Last year we received over $5000 for participating.
During normal non-peak hours when our panels are generating excess power it goes back to the grid as well, and this is paid in the form of credit on our bill. Between winter & summer months that equals out so our bills average close to $0.