The main reason is it's ~20 degrees lower than the typical lowest low during the year. Normally 15-25 and it's -2 during the night the last 2 nights. Stupid people running their AC at 65+ when their AC can't heat their house that many degrees above the outside temp so it just runs constantly and never stops. Also many electric companies charge a flat rate per KWH used, and so demand sky rockets but the price does not so people keep using electricity they don't need when others desperately need it. Also electric companies are never held responsible for not being able to deliver electricity, at least as far as I know, so there's no incentive for them to plan for extreme demand. They can just shut of your electric even though you have a contract and there's no repercussions afaik.
It's not full blow socialism, but maybe a little. Also maybe a little of corrupt capitalism. Or it might just be people entering in to stupid contracts. Why would you enter into a contract with a company that can fail to deliver the product you need with no consequences? I don't know much about the legal aspect of how electric delivery is handled but someone who does could probably give more info.
That's not how the relationship between electricity price and demand works. If your electricity price skyrockets it takes about three billing cycles before households say, hmm, maybe we should consider unplugging the toaster when we're not using it, see if that helps, etc. The elasticity doesn't accommodate special time-sensitive circumstances; it would merely be gouging.
Not sure what you mean. Texas has a wholesale electric price that updates every 5 minutes and there are plans you can use that you pay wholesale price at the time + delivery instead of a flat rate. Normally it is around 2 cents a kWh plus 3.92 cents delivery per kWh, but it shot up to over $9 per kWh because demand was so high. That could easily costs you hundreds of dollars to run your HVAC system for an hour. Luckily I saw this coming because I was using Griddy for a while and was able to switch to a plan that charged only 7.5 cents per kWh. Next day that company removed that plan and switched to a 15cents per kWh plan.
Yeah, being on a moment-to-moment plan like Griddy sounds great until you realize it's a lot like shorting stocks, it has infinite downside. You're not going to learn how much the price has shot up for the last 5 minutes until you've already used it.
There are state public utilities commissions in every state that give certain advantages to utilities in exchage for steady production. Extreme cold is not an excuse - they hit 100 year lows today but they have to be prepared for 500 year lows. This is doable with fossill fuels because they can be physically stockpiled in the offseason at lower prices. I dont know to what extent wind and solar can be efficiently stored.
Energy is the post heavily regulated industry in the U.S. They dont have the option of faoling. Contact state PUCOs and tear into them. Hold them accountable.
I thought you were going in a totally different direction.
Yes, this is definitely crony capitalism and overregulation.
The power companies should have sent out a notice to all customers on Friday that electricity was going to be scarce and therefore the price would triple for the next week. That would have gotten people to conserve and it would have encouraged the power company to buy fuel at inflated rates rather than just sustain blackouts.
The main reason is it's ~20 degrees lower than the typical lowest low during the year. Normally 15-25 and it's -2 during the night the last 2 nights. Stupid people running their AC at 65+ when their AC can't heat their house that many degrees above the outside temp so it just runs constantly and never stops. Also many electric companies charge a flat rate per KWH used, and so demand sky rockets but the price does not so people keep using electricity they don't need when others desperately need it. Also electric companies are never held responsible for not being able to deliver electricity, at least as far as I know, so there's no incentive for them to plan for extreme demand. They can just shut of your electric even though you have a contract and there's no repercussions afaik.
It's not full blow socialism, but maybe a little. Also maybe a little of corrupt capitalism. Or it might just be people entering in to stupid contracts. Why would you enter into a contract with a company that can fail to deliver the product you need with no consequences? I don't know much about the legal aspect of how electric delivery is handled but someone who does could probably give more info.
That's not how the relationship between electricity price and demand works. If your electricity price skyrockets it takes about three billing cycles before households say, hmm, maybe we should consider unplugging the toaster when we're not using it, see if that helps, etc. The elasticity doesn't accommodate special time-sensitive circumstances; it would merely be gouging.
Not sure what you mean. Texas has a wholesale electric price that updates every 5 minutes and there are plans you can use that you pay wholesale price at the time + delivery instead of a flat rate. Normally it is around 2 cents a kWh plus 3.92 cents delivery per kWh, but it shot up to over $9 per kWh because demand was so high. That could easily costs you hundreds of dollars to run your HVAC system for an hour. Luckily I saw this coming because I was using Griddy for a while and was able to switch to a plan that charged only 7.5 cents per kWh. Next day that company removed that plan and switched to a 15cents per kWh plan.
Yeah, being on a moment-to-moment plan like Griddy sounds great until you realize it's a lot like shorting stocks, it has infinite downside. You're not going to learn how much the price has shot up for the last 5 minutes until you've already used it.
The grid operator is legally required to shut off all businesses usage first. If it is found out they did not do this there will be hell to pay.
Electricity is totally socialized. At least in my area (not in Texas though). There's one company and they get a monopoly from the local government.
There are state public utilities commissions in every state that give certain advantages to utilities in exchage for steady production. Extreme cold is not an excuse - they hit 100 year lows today but they have to be prepared for 500 year lows. This is doable with fossill fuels because they can be physically stockpiled in the offseason at lower prices. I dont know to what extent wind and solar can be efficiently stored.
Energy is the post heavily regulated industry in the U.S. They dont have the option of faoling. Contact state PUCOs and tear into them. Hold them accountable.
So you'd rather have socialized energy? Fuck that
I thought you were going in a totally different direction.
Yes, this is definitely crony capitalism and overregulation.
The power companies should have sent out a notice to all customers on Friday that electricity was going to be scarce and therefore the price would triple for the next week. That would have gotten people to conserve and it would have encouraged the power company to buy fuel at inflated rates rather than just sustain blackouts.
That's way more thought than anyone should put into anything I say.
Morons gonna downvote because they can't comprehend what you said.