Homeowners can only trade excess energy they generate with local energy companies for discounts. Or for off-peak hour energy redistribution. Contrary to popular belief, no one sells any excess solar power energy that they generate to power companies. Homeowners receive any excess energy as a credit.
This process is called net-metering. The energy company doesn’t cut you a check if you generate extra energy at home. You may get a discount of the equivalent energy amount on your next energy bill. Or, you might get an automatic distribution of the excess energy that you generate back to your home at off-peak energy consumption hours.
Energy companies have spent millions of dollars lobbying politicians to make sure that net-metering and other such energy redemption methods never progress. Meanwhile, over 30 countries around the world have reached energy grid parity. This means that the cost of energy generated via a home solar panel setup is the same as the process used by a power company. So why, as a homeowner, should you be beholden to monopolized energy prices by behemoth energy companies?
So, Is Power Ledger a Good Investment?
Power Ledger is an online energy marketplace platform that is powered by blockchain technology. Homeowners with solar power energy collection systems, energy storage batteries, and microgrid systems can trade energy on a peer to peer system. Power Ledger’s business model is to allow homeowners, on a global scale, the right to sell or trade their energy on their terms in a trustless and non-restricted manner.
Power Ledger is an Australian startup company, revolutionizing the sale of energy between people and cutting out energy companies as the middleman. To join Power Ledger, you must join their decentralized energy marketplace platform, which is based on the Ethereum open-source code. Transactions on Power Ledger are legitimized by Smart Bonds, also knows as smart contracts. These are digital contracts that enforce platform transactions.
Ethereum, a cryptocurrency platform that allows for the creation of signature cryptocurrencies for use in business, enables the Power Ledger platform. To access Power Ledger, you must purchase the POWR token. You can then convert your POWR tokens into Sparkz tokens. You can use these tokens in the Power Ledger energy trading marketplace, or you can convert them into a fiat currency.
Basically, Power Ledger allows you to monetize the excess energy that you generate with your home power system on your terms, without interference from energy or utility companies. Secondly, you can then buy energy relatively cheaper from a fellow member on the Power Ledger platform.
A Worthwhile Investment
The average electricity bill is about $1,200 a year. But it can be more expensive depending on the city that you live in and rate of personal consumption. The average person can save anywhere between $15,000 and $25,000 with a home solar panel system. However, that is after redemption of solar income tax credits. Also, those savings usually occur over years or decades and is reflected in savings relative to what one would have paid without the solar panels.
I think that Power Ledger is a good investment for long-term energy savings potential. It is a new company, and it still must integrate itself into the current energy payment infrastructure. You must ask your energy company to allow you to trade energy on Power Ledger before you can use the platform.
More people need to make such requests to make Power Ledger more viable as an investment in cheaper energy alternatives. If you are in the habit of negotiating with your energy company to credit your excess energy or storing your energy in batteries, you may want to consider investing in Power Ledger.
Do you think Power Ledger is a good investment? Share your thoughts below.
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Allen Francis was an academic advisor, librarian, and college adjunct for many years with no money, no financial literacy, and no responsibility when he had money. To him, the phrase “personal finance,” contains the power that anyone has to grow their own wealth. Allen is an advocate of best personal financial practices including focusing on your needs instead of your wants, asking for help when you need it, saving and investing in your own small business.