By Dan Robichaud
Well. Here is the story [of why we are closing UJ Robichaud Timber Mart, Church Point]. If you can find a way to make it presentable, I can talk. But I am so disturbed by the whole experience, I am not sure I can present it professionally!
it is very simple. If you have a gazzillion dollars to sink into a solar energy system, and dont NEED the money youd save by having it, NSP will green light you all the way. IF YOU NEED the alternative energy system to LIVE... no chance in frozen hell they will ever approve you. Ive lived through it twice - both at my HOUSE - where going offgrid was going to represent tens of thousands of unnecessary work IMPOSED by NSP.... making it damn near impossible... and at my retail store, where I have over 120k$ in alternative energy systems installed... and no way in frozen hell will NSP give us the permission to actually turn any of those systems ON.
when i built my house three years ago i was told. and i quote the inspector verbatim "Even if NSP has no infrastructure on or anywhere near your property. even if you build thirty miles away from the nearest utility pole and there is absolutely no foreseeable connection to your home, ever... NSP still has to sign off on your "alternative energy system"... otherwise you don't get your occupancy permit."
Even if your home is not connected to the grid, they still have to prove they attempted a meager test - even if there is nothing to test! I carefully explained that i have a homesteader insurance policy that covers all non-CSA installations. I carefully explained that I purposefully wanted to build a home designed for low energy consumption, and that at absolutely no time in my life would I ever own a clothes dryer - and i was still FORCED to install the plug, circuit and breaker for an electric clothes dryer. If i didnt... they would refuse to sign off. The inspector even forced me to change my non-CSA all LED lighting before he'd sign off. THAT is how anal they are.
At the store, we have a heavy-duty wind & solar installation. All underground conduit. All 25yr Kyocera Industrial PV Panels. Redundantly large battery array. Redundantly overkilled dummy load. Twin MagnaSine inverters for true 240v. Twinned charge controllers. All the copper in the entire store is doubled with industrial transfer switches. Total investment over 120 000 dollars. Everything was installed under NSP's close watch. Four years into it and we still not allowed to turn it on. Last report we got it needed another 40k in modifications because the "codes changed since the installation began". Already had to replace the battery array at a cost of over 5000$ because they were just sitting idle for too long.
Result = our business is shutting down on April 17th. At my house (550sq ft small space) one man alone, low energy consumption lifestyle. total lighting load 43 watts. i do most of my cooking on a wood range and don't use a clothes dryer... all i needed for a hugely redundant system was about a 5000$ investment. What NSP insisted (and I mean, absolutely. not negotiable. anally insisted) I needed, would have cost in excess of 30 000$ !!!! Completely prohibitive.
Moral of the story = if you want to go offgrid, don't tell NSP. It was my understanding that because my property HAD service connected prior to, and during construction, the municipal building inspector didn't move without NSP's signoffs. No other option was ever presented to me if there were any. And as it was explained to me, even if it was physically impossible to run poles and wires. even if i had been thirty miles from the nearest service - if it was a construction on a permit... If NSP didn't sign off on the alternative energy system... you didn't get your occupancy permit. period.
The way it was presented to me was that even if I consented, and wished to live as a hermit in the dark - even if i was allergic to plastic covered strands of copper -I would not get an occupancy permit without an electrical system installed and signed off by NSP. and the nsp inspector I dealt with was passionately obstinate about it all. he was determined I wouldn't be offgrid. The entire experience was profoundly disturbing and disappointing. if you want to go off-grid, DO NOT netmeter, and for the love of god DO NOT tell anyone you are doing it - they WILL force you to stop.