Electricity prices with surge pricing in Texas

whomitconcerns

This is insane... Texans have enough problems at the moment. But reading this this morning takes the biscuit..

They can sign up to electricity providers that literally tie the rate you pay to the current demand... One guy has a 16k bill for the last 2 weeks as he was lucky enough not to be cut off..

Insane.. The suppliers say it encourages people to be careful how much they use.. Does this make any sense? Could they do it here?


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/texas-storm-electric-bills.html

Your Face

Shocking.

TheValeyard

Jesus that's absolutely mental.

MadYaker

That country is falling apart before our eyes

Mrmoe

That would meet some resistance here if implemented.

astrofool

Mrmoe wrote: »

That would meet some resistance here if implemented.

This is a plan that they chose to sign up for, they can get much cheaper electricity the rest of the time than neighbours on other plans, however, a residence signing up for this is beyond stupid, as it's more suited to companies who will plan production and capacity according to the price they can get electricity at.

The texans signed up for a fully deregulated electricity system, this is the cost of that.

(on the other hand, it's quite likely that the person complaining has saved more than the equivalent cost over their lifetime, but obviously not in one big hit)

Darc19

Similar is available to businesses here. You pay pass through charge, standing charge, a facility fee and then the wholesale electricity charge.

In the last year the wholesale electricity charge has been from under 7c to just under 10c a unit. Passthrough charge is about 7c and facility fee (billing company) is 1c-2c

Hyperbollix

America is a great window into what happens when a civilized society is left entirely to fend for itself against corporate power and relentless de-regulation.

Claw Hammer

whomitconcerns wrote: »

This is insane... Texans have enough problems at the moment. But reading this this morning takes the biscuit..

They can sign up to electricity providers that literally tie the rate you pay to the current demand... One guy has a 16k bill for the last 2 weeks as he was lucky enough not to be cut off..

Insane.. The suppliers say it encourages people to be careful how much they use.. Does this make any sense? Could they do it here?


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/texas-storm-electric-bills.html

That guy probably had lights on all over the place, air conditioning, heating TV fridges freezers running round the clock. If he wasn't so wasteful it wouldn't be as bad.

It's hilarious seeing what happens with no regulation. Other people were cut off by their suppliers and told to find someone else to sell them electricity.

Zebra3

Mrmoe wrote: »

That would meet some resistance here if implemented.

Unsure if that's a pun or not.

steddyeddy

whomitconcerns wrote: »

This is insane... Texans have enough problems at the moment. But reading this this morning takes the biscuit..

They can sign up to electricity providers that literally tie the rate you pay to the current demand... One guy has a 16k bill for the last 2 weeks as he was lucky enough not to be cut off..

Insane.. The suppliers say it encourages people to be careful how much they use.. Does this make any sense? Could they do it here?


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/texas-storm-electric-bills.html

Vote republican for decades and this is what you get. All of the poorest states in the US vote republican. Darwin awards, not sympathy are what's needed.

Harry Palmr

This sort of thing needs a circuit breaker in times of extremis.

Infrastructure is the next great American disaster.

SteM

Would never happen here. They couldn't even implement basic water charges here without certain sections of society going into meltdown.

Sleeper12

Well, they have made America great again. That's for sure

Rodney Bathgate

steddyeddy wrote: »

Vote republican for decades and this is what you get. All of the poorest states in the US vote republican. Darwin awards, not sympathy are what's needed.

Pretty judgmental post. Sickening victim blaming.

Smee_Again

Vote Republican, get screwed over and blame the Dem. It’s the way the system works.

RandomViewer

Claw Hammer wrote: »

That guy probably had lights on all over the place, air conditioning, heating TV fridges freezers running round the clock. If he wasn't so wasteful it wouldn't be as bad.

Do you turn your freezer off a lot?

Ger Roe

SteM wrote: »

Would never happen here. They couldn't even implement basic water charges here without certain sections of society going into meltdown.

The example of what is currently happening in Texas is why the introduction of water charges failed. No safeguards were offered to ensure that the badly implemented process wasn't going to result in a situation where commercially motivated forces would be the only future consideration. Big Phil tried to enforce the measures and failed, some persuasion and assurance would have worked a lot better.

The Gov didn't have the foresight to get people on board first by trying to address their future concerns. They just ran into it feet first following an EU directive to get it done asap.

People were afraid of being sold out to be manipulated by market forces and that is what is now happening in Texas - a screwed up system that has more focus on generating profit than voltage.

MrMusician18

SteM wrote: »

Would never happen here. They couldn't even implement basic water charges here without certain sections of society going into meltdown.

If this kind of demand pricing model was every introduced here it would almost certainly come with unit price cap for domestic users. Simply to avoid this.

Zebra3

SteM wrote: »

Would never happen here. They couldn't even implement basic water charges here without certain sections of society going into meltdown.

Correct, as it was brought in to pay for the failure of banks.

steddyeddy

Rodney Bathgate wrote: »

Pretty judgmental post. Sickening victim blaming.

Yes I am blaming people who voting for a senator that fled the country through the last crisis. I worked in the US and the closest thing to a republican voter is a DUP voter. They vote based on not liking Democrats.

steddyeddy

steddyeddy wrote: »

Vote republican for decades and this is what you get. All of the poorest states in the US vote republican. Darwin awards, not sympathy are what's needed.

And what of the poorest,that didnt vote that way.....to be simply fcuked under the bus for political purposes


This is every bit as immoral.as sh1te trump used pull as regards delaying relief....its always the poor,whom.suffer the most


People should be looked after,irregardless of.their political persuasion

EmmetSpiceland

[Deleted User] wrote: »

And what of the poorest,that didnt vote that way.....to be simply fcuked under the bus for political purposes

This is every bit as immoral.as sh1te trump used pull as regards delaying relief....its always the poor,whom.suffer the most

People should be looked after,irregardless of.their political persuasion

Sounds downright unAmerican.

ressem

astrofool wrote: »

This is a plan that they chose to sign up for, they can get much cheaper electricity the rest of the time than neighbours on other plans, however, a residence signing up for this is beyond stupid, as it's more suited to companies who will plan production and capacity according to the price they can get electricity at.

The texans signed up for a fully deregulated electricity system, this is the cost of that.

(on the other hand, it's quite likely that the person complaining has saved more than the equivalent cost over their lifetime, but obviously not in one big hit)

According to the NPR report, on some retail electricity plans, after the 12 month fixed rate signup rate ends, US retail customers may be auto-switched to these wholesale plans.
Per KWh rate went from $0.12 to as high as $9.
https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-winter-storms-2021/2021/02/21/969912613/after-days-of-mass-outages-some-texas-residents-now-face-huge-electric-bills

Similar happened in Pennsylvania in 2014, it's not exclusive to Texas. US states that prevent these plans from being sold to householders are the rare case.

Das Reich

Hyperbollix wrote: »

America is a great window into what happens when a civilized society is left entirely to fend for itself against corporate power and relentless de-regulation.

Don't forget the demographic shift.

steddyeddy wrote: »

Vote republican for decades and this is what you get. All of the poorest states in the US vote republican. Darwin awards, not sympathy are what's needed.

From what I had seen California is the state with the biggest amount of homeless.

km991148

Zebra3 wrote: »

Unsure if that's a pun or not.

In these current times it's good to check!

steddyeddy

Das Reich wrote: »

Don't forget the demographic shift.



From what I had seen California is the state with the biggest amount of homeless.

True but California is the outlier. All of the poorest states in America, with the lowest quality of life vote republican.

Guy:Incognito

Das Reich wrote: »

From what I had seen California is the state with the biggest amount of homeless.

Is that by percentage of population or pure number of homeless people? Cos it's the state with the biggest population by about 11m (next being Texas)

punisher5112

Be cheaper to run a genie

Yurt2

Democratic states preside over just as much reflexive deregulation. People forget Bill Clinton was the man that put the bullet in "big-government" (shorthand for the state having a role in reigning in the excesses of the market and rentierism) and set loose the dogs of big-finance to dominate almost every aspect of the economy.

America is crocked because both parties more or less subscribe to the same empty economic playbook. Perhaps Bernie would have made a stab at stopping some of the madness, but Sleepy Joe will just be tinkering around the edges of a nation and society in serious decline.