News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by ev1 on Sunday February 14, 2021 @10:17PM (#26138667)
$0.05 to $0.10/kWh seems like normal pricing.

Average US house uses ~1100-1200 kWh (I don't actually know this, based on googling, assuming most places in Texas are standalone houses) per month.

If prices are $3000-9000 per MW, then ~40 to 60 kWh/day (let's be generous, people are explicitly turning on heat for this extreme cold) for a week...

Even $2/kWh (which was exceeded days ago) would demolish peoples' budgets.

Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by maxerickson on Sunday February 14, 2021 @10:27PM (#26138717)
I think most people are on fixed prices though. The supplier gets a big mark up over the wholesale cost and then is expected to have a plan to deal with situations like this.
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by rstupek on Sunday February 14, 2021 @10:34PM (#26138759)
Griddy is a different provider which gives you grid prices for power
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by maxerickson on Sunday February 14, 2021 @10:35PM (#26138768)
Yeah, this is the answer to slater's question, that some people have signed up for exposure to wholesale prices.
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by ev1 on Monday February 15, 2021 @12:43AM (#26139484)
griddy's twitter is full of people angrily demanding refunds because "i signed up for cheaper rates and it's been cheaper til now why am i paying higher rates??? this is a scammer"
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by phonebanshee on Sunday February 14, 2021 @10:53PM (#26138860)
Those prices are far below normal prices. Normal is 28-50 cents in places like San Diego (https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/energy-green/s...).
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by shiftpgdn on Sunday February 14, 2021 @10:58PM (#26138900)
In Texas griddy exposes you to real time spot pricing. I was frequently getting paid to use electricity at night due to excess generation by wind. As an electric car owner this was fantastic as I frequently got paid to recharge my car. My average delivered rate before this week was 7c/kwh all in.
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by tzs on Sunday February 14, 2021 @11:11PM (#26138986)
Does anyone there get a battery system, like a Tesla Powerwall, to save up negative priced night electricity to use in the daytime?
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by rstupek on Sunday February 14, 2021 @11:22PM (#26139054)
It doesn't happen enough that I've seen to make it worthwhile
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by manyes on Monday February 15, 2021 @08:56AM (#26142763)
Of course, during these cold snaps, the battery doesn't really work well, right?
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by tzs on Monday February 15, 2021 @01:47PM (#26145752)
Powerwalls have an operating temperature range of -4 F to 122 F (-20 C to 50 C), although they recommend 32-86 F (0-30 C).

They can also be mounted indoors.

Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by xxpor on Sunday February 14, 2021 @11:15PM (#26139016)
CA power is hilariously expensive compared to the rest of the country. 10c is much closer to average.
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by jeffbee on Sunday February 14, 2021 @11:53PM (#26139236)
The weighted average price is 10.54¢ per kwh. In California it's 16. Both 5 and 35¢ are pretty poor estimates.
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by kevinventullo on Monday February 15, 2021 @12:38AM (#26139454)
I paid $.36 last month living an hour north of SF.
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by jeffbee on Monday February 15, 2021 @12:39AM (#26139464)
Average or marginal? Most PG&E customers have a “baseline allowance” with a higher marginal cost as you draw more energy over the month.
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by kevinventullo on Wednesday February 17, 2021 @08:51PM (#26174492)
Marginal. I was doing a back-of-the-envelope calculation about getting an EV and realized that the $/mile cost to charge it would be about the same as paying for gasoline on a car which gets 30 mi/gallon.
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by maxerickson on Sunday February 14, 2021 @11:06PM (#26138950)
My power comes from, I believe, a nuclear plant in Wisconsin.

$0.098 per kW-h, with $15 a month connection fee.

Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by bfrog on Monday February 15, 2021 @12:22AM (#26139379)
Wi has a lot of coal by the lake, where is there a nuke? Chicago was almost all nukes at one point
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by khuey on Monday February 15, 2021 @01:11AM (#26139655)
Point Beach is still operating afaik. Kewaunee shut down several years ago though.
Re:Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid by Aloha on Sunday February 14, 2021 @11:44PM (#26139189)
I'm paying 8.5-8.3 cent kWh on a fixed contract.

Power is very very very cheap in Texas.