Michigan rooftop solar producers will not be able to use their own energy under Senate proposal.

Michigan rooftop solar producers will not be able to use their own energy under Senate proposal.

Proposed Senate Bill 438 would forbid homeowners and businesses from using their own solar, require them to sell it back to DTE at wholesale rates, then buy electricity from DTE at retail rates. The Alliance for Solar Choice opposes this bill. We need to network with them. We support  them, they support us on smart meters.  The Alliance sees this  as a property rights and customer choice issue, so we have a lot of common ground with them.

This is corporate fascism.

DTE tries to claim that homeowner solar production costs DTE money.

The Solar Choice alliance says utilities are backing the net metering changes because they're looking for more control.

"Utilities want to own it, control it and charge you for it," Heart said.

Here's one comment on the MLive site (please comment and mention smart meters and choice). 

Help me understand this! I own an apple orchard and sell at wholesale to the local grocery stores. I take some fruit from my own orchard for my table for the cost that I paid to build my orchards. The government might have helped me build my orchard through lower taxes or subsidies because they want Michigan fruit in stores. That is now in the solar energy game -right?

Now I have to sell all of my fruit at wholesale to the grocery and have to go and buy it back at retail for my own table? Is this a good analogy.

Are they going to tax my well water next?

Read more of the story at MLive.