Exactly. It is a problem created by physics.
Right now, today, even with net metering on generation if you have a "large" commercial service with a substantial PV array the inevitable one-day of overcast haze where temperatures spike screws your demand charges up for the whole year.
Residential rates are traditionally not time-of-day based, just pure energy without any look at timing and demand factors. Of course Residential makes the most sense with net-metering to the customer!
You can pick how you want to be screwed; nobody is fighting that:
- Real Time Pricing: Pay 5x on a hot day and 10x when something else goes wrong. End up paying double if you can't just shut down when the outside temperature is over 80F.
- Time-of-Use: Pay through your nose on a hot overcast day.
- Net Energy with a Tie-In Surcharge: Pay a big tie-in surcharge to achieve the same as the other two above.
- Off-Grid: Pay for batteries to provide your off-hours backup, and have a small generator to cover the overcast winter week.
From the LCCAs I have done for work, they all come out in a similar place based on an 8760-hour analysis of BIN data. The only people who can actually save are the ones that can shut down any time without any substantial cost impact to their operations.
Ultimately, the best solution is to have a mix of the following (in order): demand-side management tools, on-site generation with planned net-energy objectives around 50% of anticipated peak demand, time-shifting options in the form of thermal storage, batteries capable of sustaining 50-80% of demand for up to 1 hour, time-shifting options including batteries to move generation to peak at 4-6PM.
If you pull off all of that, your electricity costs can be as low as practical with current energy mix in place. It can improve slightly with more hydro-electric power, but that isn't "environmentally friendly."