Hey guy’s, lets suppose that I was able to sale electric company’s electricity. How would I find out how much I’d be making? Like how much would they give me per killowatt or something like that? I know that prices probably fluctuate, so I’m just wondering if there is a website or something that I can go to to find out.
-Jimmy
Hmmm… lots of people “sell back” electricity to the electric company. For example, if someone has a wind-powered generator, they might make more electricity than they use in a month. That results in a power surplus, and a negative reading on their meter, which usually results in them receiving a credit from the electric company for the overrage, at a rate slightly lower than what they normally pay per kilowatt-hour (lower because the electric company still has costs involved, for bookkeeping and meter-reading, plus overhead).
All of the electricity from all the power companies everywhere (for all practical purposes, at least in a major, industrialized landmass) travels a gigantic grid that is completely interconnected, so that’s about the only fair way to deal with that situation.
Now, if you want to set yourself up as a utility, make your own electricity, and market it… good luck. The phrase “red tape” was practically invented for describing how utility companies interoperate with the governement (my grandfather ran an electric utility, I know whereof I speak).
Now, if you’re wanting to steal electricity and re-sell it, then I guess you’ll make however much your patsies-- er, I mean, clients will pay. 
Electricity is sold per Unit ( 1 Unit = 1 Kwhr )
Normally the price you can sell it for is negotiable, depending on how much you have to sell and whether or not you can maintain the supply or not.
A power company would not want an unreliable source.
From personal experience as an electrician who has installed a 100kw power station, I would say that the costs involved in going through the red tape to sell power back onto the grid are prohibitive in this country (NZ).
Unless you have like 50,000USD you are going to get nowhere. However, your country may be different.
There is a lot of equipment that needs to be installed especially if you are generating the power yourself.
Core components would be similar to the following:
Speed regulation of prime mover
Undervoltage/Overvoltage Protection
Voltage Regulation
Underspeed /Overspeed Protection
Power Factor Regulation
Synchronisation ( Auto or Synchroscope)
Metering
Safety Shutdown system
I did some digging (I’m in the US), and people who do their own power generating seem to spend around 20,000 USD or more for their equipment and installation, some of which can be offset by government and private grants. Most people who generate any excess power seem to not do it all year round, and simply settle any differences in charges with their power utility annually.
Most people who do this seem to do so because they want to be more “green” and contribute less to the production of greenhouse gases and so on. I’ve seen where a couple of animal farms that produce large amounts of methane have set up generators of their own and typically make a surplus, although they’re hooked into the grid anyway, just in case the animals run a little short. 
Hmm… Thankyou very much guy’s, I looked into it some too, it seems that here in Texas the average is around $0.09 per kWh and they add $0.02 per kWh for fuel which makes the original price excluding the cost for fuel $0.07. So would I be making $0.07 per kWh or more?
I would only be guessing, but I would say you would make less because they would want a cut out of it.
They have to pay for lines maintenance, transmission losses, transformer losses, and still have a bit of profit on top.
Beleive it or not, there is a lot of energy wasted just in transmission, especially if the lines are not maintained well.
And that revenue is before taxes, government fees, equipment maintenance costs, payroll, office supplies, and the other 'leventy million costs of running a utility. 
Texas, hmm?
Solar Panels + lots of sun = lots of electricity…you’re going to be rich (after you overcome the barrier of buying the solar panels)!
From my understanding (limited though it is) wind generators are generally more cost efficient than solar panels (unless you don’t have much wind). If you don’t mind the look of it, I’ve heard of a man who cut a 55-gallon drum barrel in half and staggered the halves to make a wind catcher for under 1000USD. Seems that it powers his house in Michigan adequately, though I imagine it fluctuates like mad. I think he had it hooked to batteries to store and release the energy at a steady rate. Sorry that I can’t offer info as useful as Captain Jack or azecraze, but I hope to hear if you pursue this idea.
What if I was able to generate 2000 kw per hour?
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Well, you could run a number of homes or a few businesses with it, I guess. Of course how much you can generate is just a maximum of what can be used, and it’s what’s used that counts.
As an example, in the summer time (when I use the air conditioner quite a bit) I average (very roughly) about two to three kilowatts of usage per hour in my home. That would mean that, at 2,000 KWh, you could probably provide power for a small town without any industry. After you get the wiring to them, install meters, get government licenses, get them to hook up with you, and so on, of course.
Electric utilities are pretty much government sanctioned monopolies, so starting a utility in any given area is difficult.
If you could afford the capital cost, I would say go for it. Because after that you are only paying a small upkeep on it.
2 MWatt is a sweet money maker - year in and year out.
Its all the work initially that will kill the project. No good going in half cocked on it.
I’m seriously interested to know how you’ll produce 2000 kw? (a fairly odd output; big for a diesel genny and small for a turbine) If you *could produce it you’d already know what it costs after capital and how much you’d *need to sell it for to make it worth the trouble.
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I know what kind of equipment I need and how to do it, but I am sworn to secretcy on the actual project and it’s workings. I can tell you this however, there will hopefully be a huge multimillion dollar energy business that will provide people with incredibly cheap energy and supply free energy to countries and families that are struggling. I will be a part of this company if it can take flight.
If you can do it in some non-traditional way where you don’t need to run wires into people’s homes, you might have a shot in the US. Otherwise, going to other countries would probably be a much better start. The amount of effort and money it would take to wedge yourself into the current power grid system (physically and politically) would be nigh on unachievable, I’d think.
To use existing supply wiring, you’ll have to get permission to attach to the other utiliries, and to supply your own wiring you’d have to get civic permission to run the wire. If you can transmit or carry it in in some sort of battery or generator, you’ve still got to comply with construction codes regarding the connection and utilization of the electricity.
I wish you all the best, I really do, but you are undertaking a big job, and that’s a fact.