Amid rising electric bills, states are under pressure to insulate regular household and business ratepayers from the costs of feeding Big Tech’s energy-hungry data centers.
Bigger clients negotiate bulk discounts, basically. But the other factor at play here is supply and demand. The higher the demand, the higher the price for the supply. Household demand has remained more or less the same, but because data center demand has shot up, prices have too.
“When capacity goes up prices will come back down”
Loooooool. I know that’s how its supposed to work but you’re mistaken if you think that they will ever decrease the price. That almost never ever happens.
My electric company (which is the only one in my area) even started fucking mining bitcoin and they hit us with a surge pricing model charging us even more for the electricity we use not only during daytime but also during summer. I’m sure they say some bullshit about capacity loads or whatever.
They sure got enough capacity to mine the fuck out of that bitcoin though.
It depends and varies wildly based on your area and how the electricity is actually sold.
If they are using an energy stock exchange, as many places are, then increased capacity, especially increased renewable capacity, greatly reduces the price per kWh because the price depends on the most expensive method of generation.
And because renewables always offer their electricity for free to the exchange, as they don’t have any fuel etc costs, you sometimes end up in the peculiar situation like here in Finland (and in the entire NordPool area) tomorrow between 13:00 and 16:00, where electricity is literally priced at 0€/MWh, as there is enough renewables to cover it all.
Free electricity is cool unless you produce solar. Everyone who does will be paying to produce electricity because the grid fees go both ways (produce or consume) lol
Luckily I do not produce solar. Wanted to install, but lately I’ve been thinking… With how NordPool works, the more common solar becomes, the less attractive it’ll be because there’ll be more and more periods where you have to PAY to produce electricity. Or disconnect your panels from the grid every time that happens? AKA whenever solar is the most effective…
I’m not familiar with NordPool specifics but this is exactly right and is playing out in California and elsewhere too. Basically just the duck curve. Storage is all but required as solar covers 100% of midday load.
Bigger clients negotiate bulk discounts, basically. But the other factor at play here is supply and demand. The higher the demand, the higher the price for the supply. Household demand has remained more or less the same, but because data center demand has shot up, prices have too.
As prices go up it becomes more attractive to build more generating capacity. When capacity goes up prices will come back down.
“When capacity goes up prices will come back down”
Loooooool. I know that’s how its supposed to work but you’re mistaken if you think that they will ever decrease the price. That almost never ever happens.
My electric company (which is the only one in my area) even started fucking mining bitcoin and they hit us with a surge pricing model charging us even more for the electricity we use not only during daytime but also during summer. I’m sure they say some bullshit about capacity loads or whatever.
They sure got enough capacity to mine the fuck out of that bitcoin though.
Greedy fucks, all of them.
It depends and varies wildly based on your area and how the electricity is actually sold.
If they are using an energy stock exchange, as many places are, then increased capacity, especially increased renewable capacity, greatly reduces the price per kWh because the price depends on the most expensive method of generation.
And because renewables always offer their electricity for free to the exchange, as they don’t have any fuel etc costs, you sometimes end up in the peculiar situation like here in Finland (and in the entire NordPool area) tomorrow between 13:00 and 16:00, where electricity is literally priced at 0€/MWh, as there is enough renewables to cover it all.
Free electricity is cool unless you produce solar. Everyone who does will be paying to produce electricity because the grid fees go both ways (produce or consume) lol
Luckily I do not produce solar. Wanted to install, but lately I’ve been thinking… With how NordPool works, the more common solar becomes, the less attractive it’ll be because there’ll be more and more periods where you have to PAY to produce electricity. Or disconnect your panels from the grid every time that happens? AKA whenever solar is the most effective…
I’m not familiar with NordPool specifics but this is exactly right and is playing out in California and elsewhere too. Basically just the duck curve. Storage is all but required as solar covers 100% of midday load.