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Working Together

The popularity of producing clean energy with your own solar power system continues to increase. As more people go solar, utility companies are using programs like net metering to help integrate solar power and the grid.

Despite what people often think, going solar doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be off the grid. In fact, no conversation about how solar energy works would be complete without discussing the relationship between solar power and the grid. This is because the majority of homes that install solar panels still draw power from the grid that utility companies help operate.

Homeowners with rooftop solar panels purchase less energy from the grid and pay less to utility companies. People who participate in net metering programs can sometimes produce enough surplus electricity to offset the majority of their utility bills, so they end up paying almost nothing to their utility company.

Utility companies should be ready to accept that the time for a change is here and look for ways to upgrade the current top-down system to support distributed generation. This new smart grid can potentially benefit solar homeowners, utility companies, and the grid at the same time, but only if everyone works together for the greater of good.

Understanding Electricity