They kind of are like this: there are real-time electricity markets in the US. One issue is that a lot of demand is inelastic because price signal transmission is very hard. Grandmas don't want to be adjusting their Air Conditioner on a second-by-second basis due to price fluctuations. Utilities effectively buffer this movement by aggregating demand and purchasing enough to meet that demand.
Re:A battle over solar power in Nevada
by toomuchtodo on Monday February 08, 2016 @04:42PM
(#11061085)
> Grandmas don't want to be adjusting their Air Conditioner on a second-by-second basis due to price fluctuations. Utilities effectively buffer this movement by aggregating demand and purchasing enough to meet that demand.
This is how Nest makes money. They serve as demand response. You sign up to get a credit on your electric bill, and when demand is extremely high, a utility can signal to Nest to reduce demand for 15 minute increments; its cheaper than firing up a peaking natural gas plant.
Prices should be quoted appropriately. Frankly, grid operators should be market makers, continuously quoting bids and asks they'd be happy to buy and sell power at. If the mid-day rate subsidizes the evening, maybe the latter needs to be higher.