Utility companies want to pay you to generate power for the grid

The Wrights turned their Texas home from a solar-powered standalone into part of a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) network, which returns excess energy to the grid.

HOUSTON — Jeff and Jenny Wright haven’t paid an electric bill for their Houston home in more than a year. Instead, the couple sells their unused power back to the grid in a system that some states hope can offer a way to help meet surging demand for electricity.

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Americans today pay 40% more, on average, for their electricity than they did just six years ago.

Generating their own power makes a big difference for the Wrights and rarely more so than it did this spring, when energy costs soared even higher because of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Nationwide, energy prices jumped 4% in April alone.