Electricity over $900/MWh in most of Western US now

Post by jillesvangurp » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 7:21 AM UTC

biased_coin wrote: post #192

jillesvangurp wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a lot, it's 0.9 $/kwh, which depending on where you live is about 10-30x the retail price of electricity under normal circumstances. If it's only for a few days/weeks, it's not going to matter a lot (financially) to most. Of course there are a few people who are going to get squeezed hard by this and I imagine some businesses are also going to have some hefty bills. It's tempting to single out technologies or pa…

Do normal households and small businesses keep track of prices ? Are they able to cap their bills in any way ? In my country, where I live, the per unit prices are fixed and any increases are announced. I doubt whether people anywhere could keep up with 10-30x changes in prices.

Post by m463 » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 7:23 AM UTC

thorwasdfasdf wrote: post #33

kasey_junk wrote: post #24

I track my electricity in Chicago pretty regularly and we’ve been seeing between 5x and 100x ‘normal’ pricing all week. For scale, at this time of night I’d expect my power to be priced at ~ 0.8 c/Kwh. Right now we are sitting at 15 c/Kwh.

Here in CA we pay 24c / Kwh on a regular basis. Why is it your power can be 0.8c/Kwh?, that seems really really low.

Post by chmod775 » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 7:38 AM UTC

baybal2 wrote: post #258

zbrozek wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great! Now go tear down the entire housing stock so we can rebuild it better. Unfortunately, as a society we're already under-building, so we can't really afford to tear down what we've already got. In some places (like here in the Bay Area) it's ridiculously difficult and expensive to build anything, so much of the building stock is untouched since the 1950s and simply rots in place. We'd do well to be as good at ho…

> Great! Now go tear down the entire housing stock so we can rebuild it better. Unfortunately, as a society we're already under-building, so we can't really afford to tear down what we've already got. Well, why not? Japan effectively rebuilt its entire housing stock few times over since WW2, and so did Britain, Germany, and ex-Union countries. I believe USA has more money than the broke USSR did 20 year timelines is…

Post by jjav » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 7:49 AM UTC

nimos wrote: post #14

jedberg wrote: post #2

I need more context. Is that a lot? Is that low? Is it a big change from before? In what direction?

900/Mwh is 90c per kwh. Normal wholesale is about 5-7c. Retail national average is about 14. Higher cost states are around 20c with Hawaii near 30c.

Post by panarky » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 7:55 AM UTC

baybal2 wrote: post #256

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #172

Note there are three tabs in this graphic: Day-ahead, 15 minute, and real-time. Day-ahead contracts are high because uncertainty is also high. 15 minute and real-time prices are an order of magnitude lower, despite the sun being down and electric heaters presumably consuming a lot of electricity. Energy companies need to decide how much of their capacity they want to lock in at the high $900 rate for tomorrow, and ho…

Yes, daily averages vary wildly in industrialised countries with real time electricity pricing. In much of Europe, residential, and office will pay $0.3-0.5 during normal use in winter, but dramatically less in off-peak hour in countries with "smart meters." This way you get seemingly sensible $0.1-$0.2 per kWh averages , but drop your jaw when you see your electricity bill.