this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2025
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Voter anger over the cost of living is hurtling forward into next year’s midterm elections, when pivotal contests will be decided by communities that are home to fast-rising electric bills or fights over who’s footing the bill to power Big Tech’s energy-hungry data centers.

Electricity costs were a key issue in this week’s elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, a data center hotspot, and in Georgia, where Democrats ousted two Republican incumbents for seats on the state’s utility regulatory commission.

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[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 53 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (17 children)

This has been the push I've needed to pull the trigger on installing solar. My electric rates have gone from $0.09/KWh to $0.23/KWh in the last 5 years. Just got my bill after reducing as much as I could (my house is all electric sans the furnace). "Surely it'll be under $100 this month," I thought. Nope.

I've got 800W of PV currently in an ad-hoc setup* but I'm putting together the plan for a 3.2 KW system that can auto switch between battery, PV, and grid without backfeeding. Minus the batteries, the whole setup is going to cost me about $7,000. (Batteries aren't required and will be added later)

Grid-tie is technically legal in my area, but the hoops you have to jump through are insane and there's a high likelihood of being denied by the power company over the most bullshit of minutiae (seriously, they treat someone possibly feeding back 400 watts the same as if you were a MW-scale solar farm).

*The ad-hoc setup is just 4x200W panels in a 2S2P config. I charge an Anker PowerStation from that and use it to power random stuff. It's currently powering my server stack while charging from the panels. :)

[–] pc486@sh.itjust.works 32 points 6 days ago (2 children)

What really makes me angry about this is around 35% of Americans rent. That's a third of people who have no ability to avoid the rapid increase in electricity costs. And I have no idea just how many with their own house have the capital, or legal ability (HOAs), to install solar.

Good luck with your solar install. Signed, a grid tied user with $0.56/kwh power.

[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 14 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Thanks. And yeah, being able to install solar eventually was one of many factors when I decided to buy a house on a whim rather than rent (not so much a whim as "ahead of schedule" due to unforeseen circumstances surrounding the house I was currently renting).

$0.56/kwh power

Jesus. My condolences. I hope anything you feed back is credited at retail rate.

[–] BreakerSwitch@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

You're very right. Also worth noting that while very limiting, balcony solar is gaining popularity and can be done by some renters. If you have a balcony that gets sun, you can put some panels up over the railing, feed em into a battery or other "portable" system.

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