There have been multiple accounts created with the sole purpose of posting advertisement posts or replies containing unsolicited advertising.

Accounts which solely post advertisements, or persistently post them may be terminated.

some_guy ,

They pay their savings directly into the pockets of bought politicians and corrupt energy execs.

scytale ,

By living in an area that has a regulated utility provider. One of the primary requirements I have when choosing a place to live is to make sure the utility provider in the area is a regulated entity.

Donebrach ,
@Donebrach@lemmy.world avatar

I find it highly unlikely that a human being is deciding their living situation based on whether or not their utility provider is regulated.

scytale ,

Well I did, so shrug I guess I’m an outlier. My home search was very limited to one county so I could make sure we were covered by that city’s resources. Besides, I didn’t say it had to be the only reason. Just answering OPs question on how people live with those private unregulated utilities, which I did by avoiding them altogether.

Bridger ,

By eliminating nonessentials like food.

Supermariofan67 ,

Those are the wholesale prices to the utility company itself from the grid operators, not the prices to end users from the utility company. End users pay a flat amount per kWh that does not change by demand.

scoobford ,

Most of us do. A few people do sign up for variable rate plans, and they did get astronomical bills during the snowpocalypse. IIRC they didn’t get any aid or anything, it was a small enough number of people that they just got hung out to dry.

nothacking ,

Power companies average things out.

Now some customers specifically ask to pay the instantaneous price, and those people just turn things off. This has the advantage that you end up paying less during times if low demand.

dandroid ,

I live in Texas. Our electricity delivery is quite complicated. I moved here from California where our only choice was to have PG&E or no power. We paid what they told us to pay, and we said, “thank you.” It was simple. But in Texas, you have different choices for power companies. Where I live, I have about a dozen or so choices for companies, and each one has multiple pricing schemes. So you could have a pricing scheme that is a flat rate, or you could have ones that have time-based tiers, or usage tiers, etc. I’m sure someone offers a pricing scheme that roughly follows the market prices, but honestly you’d be dumb for choosing that one. Most people go with tiered usage ones because they appear to be the lowest prices. So you pay based on how much you use, but the more you use, the more you pay.

I have solar panels, and when choosing a power plan that works best for that, I did see many that purchased your excess power based on the market price. Usually it was like some percentage of the market price, not 100%. However I ended up going with a time-based pricing scheme where my power is free between 9 PM and 7 AM, as my solar panels and batteries cover me for the rest of the time. I essentially pay nothing for power, and I have an electric car, electric dryer, and electric oven.

hperrin ,

I live in California, and I’ve been on SDG&E, PG&E, and SoCal Edison, and they all work the same as what you’re describing, with multiple different pricing schemes depending on usage and hours. Wherever you live in California, you usually only have one company to choose from, but I’ve never had only one plan to choose from. Maybe you lived in a very niche part of California, but that’s definitely not how it works in San Diego County, Riverside County, Santa Clara County, San Mateo County, or Alameda County.

As far as solar, that’s the same everywhere. My dad is on SDG&E, and he sells his solar back to the grid when he doesn’t use full capacity.

In my thirty six years in California, I’ve experienced a handful of blackouts. The last one was in 2012. How often does Texas have blackouts? I remember most of the state going dark just a few years ago. And now again. It may not be all of the state, but it’s enough that it’s newsworthy.

RubberElectrons ,
@RubberElectrons@lemmy.world avatar

Same, stuck with tiered on SCE and it worked reliably and at reasonably low cost.

Burn_The_Right ,

I live in Texas and lose power for more than a day 2-3 times a year. It’s July and I’ve already lost power (for more than a day) at least 3 times this year so far. Generators are extremely common here. Newcomers learn that lesson the hard way.

Sometimes it’s only out for a day and sometimes it’s out for 10 or more days. Power companies don’t do preventative maintenance in Texas because power companies are unregulated here. It is more profitable for them to wait for something to fail and slowly fix it rather than replace what hasn’t broken yet.

In fact, power companies base their trade pricing on availability, so widespread outages are extremely profitable for them, as they can claim there are shortages where there are not. There is no mechanism to prevent this. And since the governor’s campaign is paid millions of dollars a year by power companies, they are in control of their own “oversight”.

As long as conservatives are in charge in Texas, this cannot improve. It can only become worse.

WeirdGoesPro ,
@WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Before a few years ago, we basically never had major backouts. That snowpocalypse really kicked things off.

Cort ,

With free power overnight, do you charge the batteries up to full before 7AM?

dandroid ,

I don’t. When I installed my solar panels and batteries there was a stipulation that if I charge my batteries from the grid, I don’t get a tax rebate. Essentially they gave me $10,600 USD for me to not do that. If they catch me doing it, I would need to pay that back. However there is an exception for inclement weather. If there is a severe thunderstorm, fire, etc. in my area, my batteries are automatically charged from the grid.

Cort ,

Well that’s pretty reasonable. I figured there was some sort of restriction

sunzu ,

Get a hotel room like any adult man does when he is hot and bothered...

BippinThatBop ,

🤣

Etterra ,

I’d be shocked that anyone puts up with this, but then I remember how the healthcare system “works.”

blazera ,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Hopefully getting their own solar panels

Burn_The_Right ,

I hear you, but a solar set up with batteries for a house in TX is often well over $100K. It’s not easy for most of us to pull that off, even with financing. And it’s not an option at all for renters.

thr0w4w4y2 ,

$100k

that’s ten times what it costs to install domestic solar, battery storage across all of Europe including major cities. Why is it so expensive? Panels are ~$200 each online and an inverter is $5k for a really good one.

A quick google search shows prices more in line with my expectations (sources: www.forbes.com/…/solar-panel-costs-texas/ and www.energysage.com/local-data/…/tx/)

Burn_The_Right , (edited )

In Texas, you must also have enough battery power to run your HVAC for at least 12 hours, which is extremely expensive here (~$80k est. for my moderately-sized home), given how hot it is. Without a substantial battery system, you will lose power when everyone else loses power.

My $100k approximation is what I was quoted by multiple solar and battery installers here and is also in line with what my local friends, family and colleagues have paid for their systems.

As an anecdote of what happens if you don’t have enough battery storage: One of my close friends who has a whole-home system (2300 sqft home) actually still had to keep his HVAC turned off on day 2 of the recent derecho outage a few months ago because his $125k battery system could not store enough power due to cloud cover. They took out a second mortgage for that solar/battery system in 2023. He still loves the system and it mostly works fine, but it’s not perfect and it was still $100k more expensive than a 24kw Generac natural gas generator.

So, if you can find a vendor that can install solar and battery storage for a system that can keep our HVAC going in one of our multi-day outages here, please send me their information! I will definitely call them and get an estimate!

blazera ,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Thats not gonna be the minimum, its a sliding scale of how much solar you can afford.

Burn_The_Right ,

When you include enough battery storage to keep your HVAC working without interruption, the price becomes extremely high. I was not able to find anything less than about $100k installed here that could cool a 1500-2000 sqft house for a half day.

blazera ,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Crazy thing about AC, its power draw lines up perfectly with solar production, you dont need much storage to run it.

Burn_The_Right , (edited )

That is simply not accurate in south Texas. It’s 90 degrees at midnight with 80% humidity. You need a great deal of storage.

Also, the system needs to over-produce and store that excess energy during the day so you can continue to run all night. If there is heavy cloud cover, you will also be relying on that storage during the day as well.

blazera ,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Im seeing lows in the 70s. If theres heavy cloud cover you wont need as much AC. Texas summers are ideal solar scenario

Burn_The_Right , (edited )

Where?! Austin?! Haha. Just stop. Our lows are in the high 80’s on a good day in the summer! Usually, that low happens at 4 am and is only that temp for an hour or two. At midnight, the temp is usually about 90. Also, humidity is extremely high, making our temps much more deadly. So, just stop. You definitely, definitely do not know what you are talking about.

Also, you can’t just turn off your AC when there’s cloud cover and easily get your house cooled back down when the sun comes back out, as you are implying. It takes a great deal of energy and an over-powered HVAC system (which no one has) to cool a house quickly when the sun is out.

I’m not sure what you are doing right now. Is your goal to try to convince me, a resident of this place who has tried for years to afford a solar system, to embrace a solar solution? I already want one. If you know of a vendor in south Texas that can install what’s needed to keep me and my family alive when the power goes out for the low prices you claim, please let me know who they are and I will call them!

Until then, I will just have to make do with my Generac natural gas generator that can run everything when the power goes out. That solution only costs $15k installed. There’s a reason people get whole-home generators instead of off-grid solar here. That reason is very obviously price. One day I hope to afford a solar solution (panels/batteries/installation) that can keep everything running when we lose power for several days at a time, but as of today, that is at least a $100k investment for a 1500-2000 sqft home.

blazera ,
@blazera@lemmy.world avatar

Our lows are in the high 80’s on a good day in the summer!

You know i can look up weather online right? Im in Mississippi, im all too familiar with humidity and muggy nights, ive lived without AC in the summer, i know its not comfortable temps at night, or during cloud cover. But its much lower temps than midday sun and the AC has to run a lot less to maintain desired temps.

Burn_The_Right ,

Neat.

Donebrach ,
@Donebrach@lemmy.world avatar

Donebrach deleted their comment :(

NegentropicBoy ,

Wholesale or Retail? I couldn’t read the article.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • [email protected]
  • random
  • lifeLocal
  • goranko
  • All magazines
    •