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small wind Success StoriesCustomer Interviews Acton, CA (Los Angeles County) - Daniel J. Scott is a Southern California Edison (SCE) customer in rural northern Los Angeles County. With three teenagers at home and two electric pumps needed to get well water for household use and landscape maintenance, his electricity consumption is well above-average: 980 kWh/month at a minimum. Scott began to be concerned about the impact of deregulation on electricity prices and availability towards the end of the year 2000. He started looking into alternative energy options, and concluded that wind would be more economical than solar for his situation. Concerned that he would not be able to get a variance to exceed the county's "With more than one windmill, I had to go to the L.A. County Regional Planning Commission. These folks thought three windmills (totaling 9.6 kW) meant I was putting in a commercial wind farm and planning to sell power! I had to educate them about the California Energy Commissions program and about net metering. Nobody knew about residential wind turbines. Everybody's perception was that I was planning to put in these huge units like out at Tehachapi." Scott also had to educate his neighbors, showing them pictures, assuring them that the units would not be noisy. "Once Regional Planning signed off, getting a permit from [the local County office of] Building and Safety was a breeze." Scott installed the units himself, with the help of his sons. He built a control house to accommodate the wind turbine controllers, inverter, and batteries. The control house and batteries were not covered by the CEC rebate. "By the time you finish installing, it ends up costing more than you think..." Nevertheless, Scott did get an $18,600 rebate, resulting in a net investment of about $21,000. In addition, he will be able to take a state tax credit. Scott opted to get a monthly bill from SCE. If he consumes more electricity than he generates in a month, he pays the difference, but if he generates more than he uses in a month the difference is credited towards his next billing cycle. SCE also offers an annual billing cycle, but in that case, any excess generation at the end of the year is credited to the utility. "Southern California Edison made things very easy," says Scott. "There were no special requirements. I called SCE on a Friday, we faxed a few things back and forth, and it was settled by Monday." Since his three turbines went into operation at the beginning of March, Scott says he's "watched that meter spin backwards, and I've watched it spin forwards."
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