Thomas pulled a second folding chair onto the flagstone porch. He had spent the afternoon running degradation models on the lithium bank. Two years of unmetered peak-shaving cycles had shaved roughly four percent of useful service life off cells three and four."
Brought peace offerings," Frank said, handing over a sweating bottle. He settled his broad frame into the canvas seat, letting out a heavy breath. "I came to write a check, Tom. My freezer stayed frozen during the freeze last February because of your copper. I didn’t know it, but I used it. I’m not living on another man’s tab."
Thomas cleaned the dust from his safety glasses against his denim shirt before looking up. "
Keep your checkbook in your pocket, Frank."
"
It ain't right," Frank insisted, tilting his bottle toward the south field where the forty-eight dark blue rectangles sat cooling in the dusk. "
Seven houses were pulling your juice. We should pony up."
"
The houses didn’t draft the work order," Thomas said mildly. "
Karen and her rubber-stamp committee authorized eighteen grand out of the neighborhood capital reserves to run an illegal tie-in. Laura filed the formal restitution claim this morning. The HOA’s insurer and the reserve fund are settling the cell wear and the kilowatt-hours. Not you. Not your neighbors."
Frank stared out at the shadowed valley, shaking his head. "
She had us convinced you were the bad guy. Twenty-three letters about panel height, and all the while she had Mark flicking the relay whenever the transformer down the hill started humming too hot."
"
People get territorial when they feel powerless," Thomas observed. "
She wanted the security without the hardware."
"
Well, the board’s dead in the water. We’re holding a special election Tuesday. The recall petition cleared eighty percent this afternoon." Frank took a slow drink. "
Question is, what do we do when the county grid dumps out next winter?"
Thomas reached beside his chair and lifted a roll of drafting vellum, spreading it flat across the cedar table. He weighted the corners with two clean brass terminal lugs.
Drawn in crisp, black technical ink was an elevated steel canopy designed for the clubhouse parking lot—forty-five kilowatts of photovoltaic generation tied to an isolated, code-compliant commercial battery rack."
You build your own," Thomas said, tracing the busbar schematic with his thumb. "
Legally. Safely. And completely independent of my hill."