Whenever they have a spike in demand, the de-regulated prices go up by several hundred percent. Example

  • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    More questions here than answers, unfortunately.

    It’s my understanding that there is a cap at $5000/MwH ($5/kwH). That is still hella expensive, but would only be for a day or two at maximum?

    For the headlines of +$16000 power bills, that is probably a one-off for heavy power consumers, like businesses that have massive freezers and such, correct?

    • AlternatePersonMan@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Not correct.

      I have coworkers in Texas that got hit with multi thousand dollar bills during brown outs.

      Deregulating critical services never ends well for the consumer.

    • Kalkaline @leminal.space
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      4 months ago

      I have a friend from high school that got hit with a something like $20,000 bill because he signed up for some discount program on his electric bill. The freeze a couple years ago did similar things to demand and he got hit with a massive bill.

    • rand_alpha19@moist.catsweat.com
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      4 months ago

      there is a cap at $5000/MwH

      It’s MWh (megawatt hours). That’s only for wholesale electricity, which is available to retail electrical providers, not consumers. So your utility company can charge you whatever they want, but their price is capped. Funny how that works.

      More info about the cap specifically available here. (PDF)

      • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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        4 months ago

        Ok, that clears up my misunderstanding then. I was thinking that the cap applied across the board. (That does change things a bit, don’t it?)

    • meco03211@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      A properly insulated industrial freezer should consume less electricity than a house with AC, even if it’s set at a reasonable temp.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I’m curious as to how this would compare to a properly insulated home?

        most the houses in texas are uninsulated to keep construction costs down. (despite the fact that even a minimal amount of insulation would pay for itself inside of a year or two.) (Why would you want to insulate against heat, right? global warming is a woke-ist hoax! /s)