this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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Texas power prices soar 20,000% as brutal heat wave sets off emergency::On Wednesday evening, spot electricity prices topped $5,000 per megawatt-hour, up more than 200 times from Wednesday morning.

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[–] [email protected] 164 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Don't worry everyone. The free market will take care of this for sure! Deregulated private companies always have the best interests of the consumers at heart!

[–] Edgelord_Of_Tomorrow 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The free market is trying to supply renewables, they are cheaper, more flexible and simple to deploy, the free market loves that shit.

It's vested interests fighting it at every turn that's the issue.

[–] douglasg14b 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, those vested interests are part of the free market.

You don't get to cherry pick this

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

It doesn't seem like a very "free" market with lobbyists, subsidies, and pet politicians propping up the establishment entities in every corner of the market. Too big to fail and all that.

[–] fkn 107 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Waaaaat? The Texas power grid is price gouging again?!? Who could have foreseen this??? After all that work they put into the power grid after the last time this happened? It's almost like someone should regulate this power grid or something.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It not price gouging, it's "free market economics". You don't have your MBA yet, do you?

[–] netburnr 26 points 1 year ago

Its trickle down economics, the sweat trickling down your back

[–] sirboozebum 77 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Texas talks a lot of shit for a state that can't keep the lights on.

[–] GrabtharsHammer 28 points 1 year ago

The stars at night Are big and bright Clapclapclapclap Cause we got rolling blackouts

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Friday Night ~~Lights~~

[–] Kbobabob 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Even motel 6 can do that

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

We have a saying in germany about our state owned railway operator:

The four biggest enemies of punctuality are Summer, Winter, Autumn and Spring.

Maybe the same is true for energy reliability and ERCOT?

[–] Bassman1805 58 points 1 year ago

Good thing we brought all those bitcoin miners to "incentivize" the power companies to improve the grid. And then we give them millions in energy credits to make them stop so we don't have a total meltdown.

10/10 plan, there.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And they will still continue to vote against their interests.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

They absolutely deserve it, too. Dumbfuck Texans.

[–] Burn_The_Right 37 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

All these motherfuckers, including Abbott and every CEO sitting on ERCOT, need to go to prison for the rest of their goddamned lives. This is ALL market manipulation and price gouging. All of it.

[–] kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Wait, I have seen that before. I have a déjà-vu

EDIT: so it's 5$ kWh, current price in France is 0.2€ kWh for comparison. Makes a real point for energy-efficient computers/software!

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago

Impossible. Isn't Texas the richest, most developed place on earth?

Was I lied to???11!

[–] overzeetop 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Emergency? You mean kind of emergency where I have to call my naval architect to lengthen my new summer yacht by another half a football field because I need to spend this profit windfall. -Power Co execs in TX

[–] Corran1138 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Someone has to take Ted Cruz to Mexico.

[–] unphazed 3 points 1 year ago

That only happens when it gets cold

[–] Illuminostro 31 points 1 year ago

"The system is working as intended. The shareholders thank you."

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago

At ERCOT's request, the Biden administration declared a power emergency in Texas on Thursday, waiving some air-pollution rules so generators in the state could produce more electricity.

Why not just say "yes, but only if you promise to put in more clean energy, drop gas, and connect to say, I dunno, the fucking international grid, you fucking dumbasses?"

If you have the means, move out of the state before anything worse happens from your galaxy brain politicians, who would seem to rather kill you than see you have normal living conditions. Jesus.

[–] Gazumi 25 points 1 year ago

No doubt that the climate science deniers of Texas will struggle on..

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

This state is such a shithole.

[–] xkforce 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

FREEDOM! SO FREE! Free to die baking in the sunnnn

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't get it. Texans live close to the ocean, just go for a swim if it's too hot.

[–] Doomsider 1 points 1 year ago

Did you see ocean temperature off the coast of Florida reaching one hundred degrees? Cool off in a hot tub...

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

5000$ ÷ 1000 kilowatts = 5 bucks a kilowatt jesus, In my area its 0.14 ¢ a kilowatt. I'm pretty sure the math is right.

[–] fne8w2ah 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No wonder those dumbasses want to avoid federal rEgUlaTIon!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

The solution is staring at them straight in the face. Unfortunately, they're so utterly brainwashed that they'll never even consider it.

[–] FireWire400 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Don't worry! I've read on the internet that an ice age is coming in a couple of years /s

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So it is some between 2.5c to $5 kwh. Is this even possible? I scanned linked 2 pages could not find any price chart.

I am wondering if similar can happen in stock market, a penny stock no one is trading, you decide to buy/sell 1 share $10000 to yourself. Then suddenly every owner become millionaire? At least on paper, right, right? /s

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

What you're describing is a pump and dump scheme. In any market where there is low volume, either in terms of units or value, it is possible that a wealthy individual buys a large enough share of the available item to make the price jump up a bunch. Then when other people buy to get in on the next bitcoin/NFT/GME craze, often motivated by person A, that first person can then sell to the next wave.

What is weird about the power grid is that A) electricity has to be used at the time of purchase so you couldn't resell it and B) there are often power plants specifically for spikes in demand (called peaker plants) that rely on those moments to jump in and produce to make their profit, keeping things under control. However if you're the Texas grid, which is isolated from any other electric grid, you can just ignore obvious signs that more power is needed and everytime demand spikes you make a bunch of profit and super promise you'll fix it for the next time

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Contrary to what clickbait articles lead you to believe these spikes are incredibly brief. https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards/systemwideprices

I’m really not sure how else an electrical grid is supposed to artificially encourage lowering demand than to fluctuate pricing. Lots of new appliances now can connect to the grid and shut themselves down temporarily when costs are high, this is an opt-in system that without pricing tied to it most people would ignore. If you need to use electricity at high demand time it had better be important.

And yes I realize in an ideal world every electrical grid would be 10,000% oversized and be able to handle infinite demand. That is unfortunately not the world we live in.