Not a fan of this. People buying electricity at wholesale prices is on them.
It’s surprising there isn’t some insurance product to defend against the surprise bills.
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Griddy Is Shutting Down
21–30 of 267 posts
Re: Griddy Is Shutting Down
#22Not a fan of this. People buying electricity at wholesale prices is on them.
The problem here as I understand it is that ERCOT stepped in and artificially set an absurdly high wholesale price, to try to stimulate production. And then Griddy was forced to pass this price straight down to their customers. The narrative about this being a "market failure" seems really wrong. Really seems like it should be on TX to make the customers whole here, given that they ordered Griddy to pass along huge a…
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Re: Griddy Is Shutting Down
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem here as I understand it is that ERCOT stepped in and artificially set an absurdly high wholesale price, to try to stimulate production. And then Griddy was forced to pass this price straight down to their customers. The narrative about this being a "market failure" seems really wrong. Really seems like it should be on TX to make the customers whole here, given that they ordered Griddy to pass along huge a…
>The problem here as I understand it is that ERCOT stepped in and artificially set an absurdly high wholesale price Incorrect. ERCOT set a price ceiling, not a price. The wholesale price without the ERCOT price ceiling would have been far, far higher than $9000 kwh. That ERCOT is at blame for the price ceiling is absurd . * ERCOT is to blame for a lot of other things though.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26282576
disagrees with you
Re: Griddy Is Shutting Down
#24Not a fan of this. People buying electricity at wholesale prices is on them.
It’s surprising there isn’t some insurance product to defend against the surprise bills.
I had a friend who worked there and we discussed potential solutions to this after the 2019 spike (I worked at a BNPL fintech and now at an insuretech). It was really a lot for a startup to do and no third parties would take on a program at that scale.
Technically this company was trying to fulfill the market need driven by the deregulation, and trying to provide lower cost solutions to the consumer, but they needed to build something to help with these spikes. They could have eventually I think, but just a tough business frankly!
Re: Griddy Is Shutting Down
#25Context? Edit: thanks, guys!
Griddy sold people on cheaper overall prices by essentially bypassing most utility company's models in which higher prices are paid over time to hedge against extreme swings in demand. You pay a higher price because the utility fronts the risk if costs to acquire more power go to the moon.
Griddy allowedpeople to pay lower wholesale rates when times were good at the cost of beimg along for the ride if things ever went off the rails like they did last week.
Texas actually has some fairly generous consumer protection laws for things like these 5 figure power bills, so Griddy will likely not be able to recoup their losses from keeping the power going for their customers.
Least that was my understanding.
Re: Griddy Is Shutting Down
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree completely. This business model should never have been allowed to exist, in the same way and for the same reason that " almost fully self-driving cars" should not be allowed on the roads: humans are just not capable of quickly and correctly responding in situations where 99.99% of the time no input is required and once in a blue moon you have to act immediately to avoid disaster. Good riddance.
Griddy seems like it would be a win-win for people with solar panels and decent battery storage
Do they do net-metering down in TX ?
Re: Griddy Is Shutting Down
#27> No choice but
to power down.
That pun seems particularly insensitive given the context.
Edit: You know a bunch of people died because they couldn’t heat their houses right? https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/02/25/texas-power-...
Re: Griddy Is Shutting Down
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem here as I understand it is that ERCOT stepped in and artificially set an absurdly high wholesale price, to try to stimulate production. And then Griddy was forced to pass this price straight down to their customers. The narrative about this being a "market failure" seems really wrong. Really seems like it should be on TX to make the customers whole here, given that they ordered Griddy to pass along huge a…
>The problem here as I understand it is that ERCOT stepped in and artificially set an absurdly high wholesale price Incorrect. ERCOT set a price ceiling, not a price. The wholesale price without the ERCOT price ceiling would have been far, far higher than $9000 kwh. That ERCOT is at blame for the price ceiling is absurd . * ERCOT is to blame for a lot of other things though.
I don't think you are correct. Here's another source: https://thetexan.news/texas-utility-regulator-increased-elec...
> “Because energy prices should reflect scarcity of the supply, the market price for the energy needed to serve load being shed in the face of scarcity should also be at its highest,” the PUC’s news release stated.
> The PUC added, “The decision was spurred by ERCOT’s discovery that energy prices across the system were clearing at less than the current system-wide offer cap of $9,000 established by Commission rule.”
> In addition, the PUC ordered wholesale prices be backdated to February 15 when the storm escalated circumstances in the state.
Re: Griddy Is Shutting Down
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem here as I understand it is that ERCOT stepped in and artificially set an absurdly high wholesale price, to try to stimulate production. And then Griddy was forced to pass this price straight down to their customers. The narrative about this being a "market failure" seems really wrong. Really seems like it should be on TX to make the customers whole here, given that they ordered Griddy to pass along huge a…
>The problem here as I understand it is that ERCOT stepped in and artificially set an absurdly high wholesale price Incorrect. ERCOT set a price ceiling, not a price. The wholesale price without the ERCOT price ceiling would have been far, far higher than $9000 kwh. That ERCOT is at blame for the price ceiling is absurd . * ERCOT is to blame for a lot of other things though.
Out of curiosity can you point me to where that's stated in plain English by the parties involved (if there is such a place)? I must have bad info/assumptions
Re: Griddy Is Shutting Down
#30Can someone explain in layman's (or a 5-year-old's) terms what "wholesale electricity" is?