I'll be watching with keen interest, Crockel, as an Alberta resident myself. In terms of the WWW, we're practically neighbours.
I also have a bit of a chip on my shoulder, so if you don't accept my "negative nellie" attitude then all the power to you (pun intended).
I've noticed many retailers that have an incentive price, and the price you quote matches what I see on their sites.
To those who want to know more, specifically about the Alberta utilities, they can use these sites for some comparisons:
https://energyrates.ca/alberta/micro-generation-in-alberta/https://ucahelps.alberta.ca/residential.aspx(note that neither site is fully functional)
For clarity's sake, the 0.258$/kWhr export rate only applies if you actually produce more than you consume. If you consume more, then your export rate is only 0.083$/kWhr, which is less than the average rate to buy electricity over the past year. I guess it's better than a wet slap but you aren't going to pay back your solar panel array with that.
Second clarification is that the "electricity rate" is only a fraction of the ACTUAL electricity rate that you pay as a consumer in Alberta. Offers are being made for only
one of the floating consumption rates, not
all of them. From my last bill:
My Consumption: 887 kWhr (26 Feb to 30 Mar)
Energy charge 106$ 0.120 $/kWhr
Transmission charge 53$ 0.060 $/kWhr
Distribution charge 39$ 0.044 $/kWhr
Track the transmission and distribution charges on your bills and you will see that they are also consumption rates, however you are not reimbursed for those even by the greenest of retailers.
Depending on your retailer, you may actually be CHARGED for both producing electricity at those rates and for consuming at the same rates. Be very careful.
As a memory aid, and to more explicitly understand the meaning of the 3 charges for electricity on my bill, I can refer to them this way:
Retailer charge = Epcor's piece of the pie
Transmission charge = Altalink's piece of the pie
Distribution charge = Fortis's piece of the pie
If you look at your bill and see similar charges, substitute names as applicable to your retailer and location.
If you swap retailers, you are ONLY going to change the first of those charges, not the other 2.
The only way to change your distribution charge is to move north or south of Edmonton relative to where you live now.
The only way to change your transmission charge is to leave Alberta altogether.
Micro-generation and local generation reduces load on long-distance transmission lines, so I think micro-generators deserve a break on that.
I'm slightly more willing to trust the retailers that actually publish an example of their micro-generator bills on their website. That lets me read exactly how they do their billing.
However, it's never complete and you can't tell if they exclude from their examples any other "green" fees tacked on.
So as you can see, I'm a bit grumpy about the whole thing. Other jurisdictions have FIT programs.