When it comes to the U.S. economy, the "con" part offers the best description of the current relationship between business, government and the preyed upon consumer. The way things work in early 21st century America is large businesses bribe politicians in a variety of ways at both the local and federal level, and the end result is laws that are designed to increase corporate profits at the expense of the wellbeing and freedom of the American public. Politicians end up with financial war chests to run their next campaign, while bureaucrats see a lucrative opportunity to swing through the ever spinning revolving door should they play ball with lobbyists and their patrons. Yes, there's always some degree of corruption within any society of humans, but there are peaks and valleys in such cycles. I'd argue we are somewhere in the peak corruption phase.

Today's article focuses on one of the most highly regulated industries in the country, electric utilities. It's one of the most boring businesses in America. I know this because it fell under the umbrella of my responsibilities during my last Wall Street job, and I could barely read a utilities research report without immediately falling asleep. Nevertheless, as you'll see in today's piece, the industry still finds a way to generate large profits while simultaneously harming the people it's supposed to service.

When I think about solar panels, it's not just the use of a renewable resource I find appealing, but also the potential to take energy generation into your own hands; something that can prove quite useful in a major global crisis, or even something more minor like Hurricane Irma's impact on Florida. The latter could've been a lifesaver for some Florida residents recently, but a local electric utility has done everything in its power to deny its customers such freedom.

Here's some of what we learned about this situation from a fascinating article published by the Miami New Times, Why Didn't FPL Do More to Prepare for Irma?

Hurricane Wilma, the last 'cane to hit South Florida, tore through the area in 2005 and killed power to 3.24 million of FPL's then-4.3 million customers (75 percent of the grid). Many of those customers had to wait up to two weeks for power to return. Since then, the company has spent more than $2 billion supposedly girding itself against the next storm, according to a Sun Sentinel piece published before Irma hit.

But after Irma, which by most reports brought only Category 1-strength winds to South Florida, by some measures the company did even worse. Despite all of those upgrades, an even larger percentage of FPL's customer base - 4.4 of 4.9 million customers, almost 90 percent - lost electricity this past weekend.

FPL and its parent company, NextEra Energy, have for years heavily influenced state and local politics through donations, making billions in profits each year ($1.7 billion alone in 2016) thanks to favorable state laws that are sometimes literally written by the power company's own lobbyists.

FPL's lobbying wing has fought hard against letting Floridians power their own homes with solar panels. Thanks to power-company rules, it's impossible across Florida to simply buy a solar panel and power your individual home with it. You are instead legally mandated to connect your panels to your local electric grid.

More egregious, FPL mandates that if the power goes out, your solar-power system must power down along with the rest of the grid, robbing potentially needy people of power during major outages.

"Renewable generator systems connected to the grid without batteries are not a standby power source during an FPL outage," the company's solar-connection rules state. "The system must shut down when FPL's grid shuts down in order to prevent dangerous back feed on FPL's grid. This is required to protect FPL employees who may be working on the grid."

Astoundingly, state rules also mandate that solar customers include a switch that cleanly disconnects their panels from FPL's system while keeping the rest of a home's power lines connected. But during a disaster like the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, FPL customers aren't allowed to simply flip that switch and keep their panels going. (But FPL is, however, allowed to disconnect your panels from the gridwithout warning you. The company can even put a padlock on it.)

The law winds up forcing residents to remain reliant on the state's private power companies. For now, solar-panel owners can still get something out of the law, in that the "net-metering" provision lets you sell excess power back to the company. The provision also lets power companies charge a $400 or $1,000 application fee for consumers who want to install systems more powerful than 10 kilowatts.

But if power companies had their way, the net-metering law would vanish tomorrow. Both FPL and its trade association, the Edison Electric Institute, have spent millions trying to kill that net-metering law and instead win the right to charge you for installing your own solar-panel system. In 2016, FPL spent more than $8 million on Amendment 1, a ballot initiative that industry insiders admitted was written to trick customers into giving up their rights to solar power.The law's language would have paved the way for Florida to kill net-metering rules.

This past April, the Energy and Policy Institute caught an FPL lobbyist straight-up drafting anti-solar laws for Fort Myers state Rep. Ray Rodrigues, who also took a $15,000 campaign contribution from FPL this year.

Thanks to power-company influence, one of America's sunniest states lags far behind the rest of the nation when it comes to solar adoption.

Does this sound like an industry looking out for the best interests of its customers? Does it sound like the behavior of an industry where heavy regulation has successfully ensured that corporate interests are aligned with the general public?

No it doesn't, and it makes me wonder how common this sort of behavior is across the country. I encourage readers to share knowledge of their own local utilities in the comment section.

I've worked with electrical panels up to 440/460vac.
Lockout/Tagout is extremely important for safety.
It would be stupid for the electric company to ignore
possible sources while repairing their grid.
In that sense, it needs to be documented and safeguards
in place for any source connected to the grid.

The lock isn't placed on your panels to prevent you from having power, it is placed there to prevent your neighbor from being hurt or killed when they try to make repairs.

Lockout/Tagout material has to be of highest quality and of complete function. If the Lockout/Tagout can easily be circumvented it is not effective and physical harm can occur much easier. That is why it is so expensive to add your system to the grid.

so...why does it HAVE to be on the grid? and how would that your fault if your neighbor doesn't shut off the power first?

Little

I read a story about a woman in Fla being fined by the city, I think it was Miami. She was completely off grid. No water, electricity, nothing from the city. The city of claimed it was not sanitary. Never heard the
final results.

she lost, almost all states won't allow it...

Really? I guess the city is no place for it. Have to go rural I guess.

If you hook it into your grid without isolating it from the public grid it will feed back thru the connections unless there is a lockout. So, unless it is new construction with no connection to the grid, there is danger.

Some zoning laws require new construction to include utility connections. Those zoning laws are determined at city hall and you have to attend some meetings to have say in the laws they come up with. It is amazing the stuff you can find out if you actually go to city hall and pay attention to the notices.

"Portable" emergency generators are not considered a threat because in most cases the appliances being powered are on extension cords from the generators power distribution panel that also has circuit protection.

"Permanent" generators connected to the residence/business grid also needs a means to isolate the grid from the city grid. This is usually done with a relay panel that must be periodically inspected by the power company to make sure it is in working order. In most cases, there is a redundant Lockout/Tagout the utility uses before doing grid work.

My sister's father in law built a solar home in the early 90s. The home was also connected to the city grid and required a lock out system. His connections from the solar system connected on the home side of the meter. Not only was he required to install the lockout and relays he was required to have his voltages checked by the city utility periodically. It was the zoning laws that required his new construction to be hooked to the grid. He was also required to have city water and sewage connection.

thats really super sad to hear for the people that had to live through it : (

you cant catch rain water to use in i think about all states now
cant use it to wash your car , water plants, etc etc etc

they are all so attacking the homesteaders
i heard a story a while back about a family getting attacked by the government cause they where living off grid for like 6 months or something (its been a while back 2 or 3 years)
i remember them talking about taking the kids from the parents because the kids didn't have running water or electric and they feared for the lives of the kids

the kids where fine ... well other then missing a little t.v. and video games
<shrug>

as well as other people that where getting attacked because they lived off grid (they had there own gen's for power and or panels and bought bottled water or made there own)

just another day in the land of the free
(don't hunt there , those are the kings deer)

and as all ways , thanks for the update moe

i think Alaska is the only state you can do it legally...

I think if electricty and water services are required by society they should be free. The moment society says you must have something to live it becomes a necessity.

The issue is in the control that society demands over personal preferences. I've argued this point before relating to making too many laws affecting personal issues.

If they made it a law that everyone must have a TV, people would expect a TV to be provided free.
They already made you buy a new TV so cell phones could have the signal.

If they require you to be on the grid, they should make the grid free.

Society is in the habit of infringing on people's freedom. Yet it doesn't justify its infringements. Instead, it persecutes non-compliance. It is so deeply set into society that many never notice.

Grew up in Pennsylvania Amish country.
This is very true.

City ran water and sewer out of the city to the rural areas. People were made to cap off water wells for no further use. They were charged accordingly for instalation/work running the lines. Some people refused to pay so all they did was put a lean in affect against your property.

That's a fact! They like to target the sawmills $$$.