I’m particularly interested in how South Carolina has progressed. I knew they made some changes after this article was completed, but I can tell you that Net Metering in SC is still a very cumbersome, convoluted, unfair process which, at least in my neck of the woods, offers ZERO opportunity for a private homeowner to make one single dime of profit from investing in renewable energy technology and hardware. The best you can hope for is to net out your own usage and even that isn’t 100% possible due to their additional “facilities charges” they impose when you become interconnected. So, no matter what, you will never make a net profit from your excess kWh generation and you will ALWAYS pay them something above $0.00.

The current, overly-complex infrastructure of South Carolina’s power production network is, by all I can see, NOT currently geared towards promotion of home-based, green power production. They have eliminated any possibility of ever hoping to do anything but “almost” net out your own consumption. And even THAT is only available to those who are wealthy enough to afford the equipment upfront. There is not much hope for someone who wants to start small and increase their kW capacity over time by reinvesting their savings due to high application fees and stringent inspection and permitting requirements. We should have been encouraging and structuring the home-based development of alternative energy DECADES ago. South Carolina is openly squelching it…and I’m sure you can follow the money to figure out who is responsible.