Saturday, June 1, 2013

How To Sell Electricity To Your Local Power Utility Company

By Frances Keith


Selling power to your local grid may not be such a bad business idea if you think of it. Though it requires a lot of research and hard work on your part, it certainly can be done and may prove to be a fairly good side hustle. Below, tips on how to sell electricity to your local power provider have been outlined.

First, you must take this as a business and the investment must make perfect sense. In short, if you intend to produce power via wind, the local where you set up your wind turbine must be able to support the same. You do not want to spend eighty thousand dollars on installation cost only for the investment to produce a few mega watts.

Consider using a broker as an intermediary between you and the power utility firm. In most states, it can be hard if not impossible to sell electricity back to your local utility company, more so if you are a small time producer. The only viable way to sell back may be through a local broker. You could search online for a local broker or talk with other local producers.

Take advantage of government initiative that encourages such investments. The future of power generation is clean energy. With countries that produce crude oil having vast and many political problems, renewable sources of energy is seen as a viable alternative. In light of this, many governments the world over are encouraging generation of clean energy. In some states, laws that require power utility companies to generate a certain percentage of power from renewable sources have been enacted.

Take to professionals to help you with the installation. Handling power installation and equipment is not work fit for the people with little or no experience. You will need to ask for help from professionals. Electrical engineers and technicians can come in handy at this juncture. Also, you'll need funding, footing eighty thousand dollars is not exactly an easy fit; in some states, the government has legislation in place to help individuals with the initial investment. It's wise to seek out such funding avenues.

It's also advisable to have an idea of laws affecting this business. For instance, there is the "net metering laws". In most states, power utility firms are supposed to buy power at the same rate they sell to their customers.

Talking to the power utility firm you intend to do business with is somewhat wise. You will be entering into a business agreement with a customer so it pays to talk to them well in advance. Generally, this people will give you sound advice and what you should expect; a basic outlook of how you will be transmitting the power back to the grid etc. Making assumptions on issues concerning your investment in never a wise move.

If there is any advice you need to take from this piece is doing research. You need to do a lot of reading before venturing into this form of business. Any savvy business person will tell you to have a good business; lots of research is necessary. Checking out a few sources online, reading a few books talking to people who are in this business are all part of research. Doing research helps you identify how to sell electricity to the grid.




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