When the drought was at its worst here in CA, there was a concern that LADWP would have to jack up their rates because people were doing such a good job conserving water. They have lots of fixed costs (salaries, pensions, infrastructure improvements) but their incoming $ is tied pretty tightly to consumption

My water bill is always something like $50 for various "service fees" and surcharges, and $30 for water. EBMUD even charged me $36 to set up an online account with them, so I could have the privilege of using autopay.

When I moved to LA in 1990, we were in a drought and DWP did raise it's rates to both accommodate for and encourage lower usage. After the drought though, oddly enough they didn't go back down...

My local water district here in NorCal raised it's rates 2 years ago during the height of the last drought as well...

From a consumer point of view, it's probably easier to take a price hike when you're forced to use less water, than if you were using a lot of water.

They want to reduce peak power demand but see overall use grow at a steady, predictable rate.

Don't know about US or the developed countries, but these times are a boon for the African nations, India and several others. Energy-efficient electricals alongwith improved Solar facilities are going to have a significant impact on the economy for these countries. It's still gonna take years, but I can't wait to see the world getting over the oil/coal economy!

I don’t get it. If they have fixed production, why not increasing the prices instead of lowering the demand by begging?

The biggest problem isn't really lowering overall consumption but lowering peak consumption. There's typically enough capacity during the night, but not on summer afternoons. Some power companies will pay you to install a device to cut off your AC for ~15 minutes during peaks (controlled by them, of course).

Nest has a program that gives the power company a small amount of control, in return for which you get a bill credit (and a free or discounted Nest).

https://nest.com/energy-partners/#rush-hour

And, of course, there's peak pricing, which is more what you're suggesting. But power companies are a regulated monopoly, so there are typically restrictions on how much they can increase the price. If they can lower peak consumption within their regulated prices, they can defer on infrastructure investments and thus save money.

That's the biggest load of bull I've heard. (From the power companies.) They need to invest in batteries and diesels, not tell us what to do.

Diesels are the industry term for small generators that can start within a few seconds during high load. They can run on diesel or natural gas.

Paying to turn people's A/C off for 15 min is more efficient than having a bank of generators used for 15 min, 2 days a year. If it works, it's much preferable.

There are various and somewhat complicated electricity regulatory systems in the US, it's not so simple as just raise the price.