A Deval Patrick RIPOFF of electricity customers, including poor people, by the way. Yet another "Green Energy" project that does more harm than good.----And what exactly is this "Review" and when will it occur? If Deval has any say, it probably will NEVER occur.

Something fishy about David Abel's story on wind and solar energy. He seems to be purposely calling everything a subsidy when actually there are two things going on here, one a subsidy to get alternative energy systems off the ground and two the energy produced as a result of that subsidy. Right now in Massachusetts you can put panels on your roof, run it through an inverter and connect to a breaker in your panel. If you are using less energy than your panels are producing your meter starts running backwards and you are feeding power to the grid. In effect you become a producer, if the rate is .17$/KWH you are getting credited that for every kilowatt hour your solar panels produce. Things get really interesting as utilities move to a smart grid with different rates for peak and off-peak. I'm in a pilot program with NSTAR; for 20 hours of the day my rates are less than yours: .12$/KWH vs your .17$/KWH. But during the recent heat wave I was notified of a Critical Peak price of .95$/KWH, 8 times as much as off-peak. If I had had panels on my roof they would have been humming during the 12-5 bright hot critical period and at .95$/KWH I would have been making some serious money producing electricity to run all those air conditioners downtown. Maybe the real story is that big business and utility companies have a problem with that. So Abel writes this story about how utility companies, the chamber of commerce, utility representatives and business groups are concerned about fairness to regular folks, arguing that its not fair since you have to be pretty wealthy to put panels on your roof. This is when my BS detector started ringing like crazy. Since when has big business and utility corporations ever cared for those of modest means. In an ironic twist the argument proceeds to call into question all subsidies for alternative energy that go to small producers. So now even fewer of us have a shot a being producers. That's even fairer in utility speak, with John as Abel utility spokesperson. We need to recognize the enormous subsidies that have gone, and continue to go to, the fossil fuel / nuclear energy industry, and, start to quantify the environmental costs of non-renewable sources. Against that we need to balance a policy that serves to put in place clean energy sources where you don't have to continually refill the tank; once they are up and running they produce free energy. A clear policy might be as follows: On the federal level keep in place tax credits for both large scale and small scale non-fossil fuel clean energy production. Instead of placing a tariff on China solar panels, match China's subsidies for buying any US made panel. On a local level continue to work with utilities to make the costs of our energy more transparent on a day to day, hour to hour basis. Encourage a smart grid in which if you can do your part to contribute during times of peak usage, you receive the full benefit of your contribution. Extend subsidies so that anyone with a roof faci

Solar power provides many benefits, including much needed peak power on hot, sunny days when air conditioners are running at full blast. The Northeast blackout that lasted several days in 2003 and cost the region $8 billion was caused by high demand resulting from a heat wave. During the July 2011 heatwave, ISO NE officials stated that our recently added solar power generation capacity was a key component in allowing us to avoid blackouts here in Massachusetts. New England has some of the highest costs in the country for peak demand electricity, between 30 and 35 cents per kWh during the July 2011 heat wave. There are many solar power financing options that can make solar power affordable and available for all homeowners, even lower-income homeowners like Habitat for Humanity homeowners. Solar actually saves ratepayers money. Solar power also creates many much needed local jobs. I'd encourage you to look at the many other benefits of solar power outlined in this paper. "Solar Power Generation in US: Too Expensive or a Bargain?"

... Extend subsidies so that anyone with a roof facing south can get in the production business. As consumers we should beware of Boston Globe articles that obfuscate the issues playing the upper middle class against the middle class and the poor meanwhile serving the interests of big utilities and their rich stockholders. Don't believe that big business or elected officials have the interest of the poor and middle class at heart. Strive to take control over your energy usage and be wary of schemes in which you sign away your power as a producer to some company that gets to use your roof for chump change.

Here's the report from EIA on peak electricity demand in New England during the heat wave this time last year. http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=2350# And a link to the graph showing ISO-NE's peak power costs between 30 and 35 cents per kWh. http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/images/2011.07.25/powerdemandp2b.png

I think we need to be wary of schemes in which you sign away your power as a producer to some company that gets to use your roof for chump change.