Texas energy expert provides theory about high electricity bills | Y'all-itics: June 16, 2024

[@russshaber8071]

Texass politicians said they knew better. They isolated Texas from the national grid. They deregulated and urged local companies to compete. Electricity in Texas was cheap for many years as companies stopped improving their infrastructure and capacity, and focused on profit. This is what happens when public utilities are deregulated.

[@frequentlycynical642]

I live in Texas. We are most certainly not deregulated. The market grid that many of us can partake in is tightly regulated. I get 100% renewable electricity delivered for 14.7 cents per kw/hr.

[@DataJuggler]

How much has power increased for data centers recently? I know we have had growth in people in the last 3 years, but Microsoft Azure has built and expanded multiple data centers in Texas, and I am sure AWS and others use huge amounts of power and water.

[@pwn3dg4m3r]

Nuclear energy would solve the majority of the energy crisis The sun will expand and engulf the earth before we run out of nuclear fuel.

[@lestermarshall6501]

You can say the same thing about geothermal.

[@Patmorgan235Us]

@@lestermarshall6501 Geothermal is a lot more expensive and is reliant on specific geologies

[@flotsamike]

During the big freeze of 2021 we lost 50% of our nuclear capacity😊 because a gauge froze. If that plant had not tied up more than a gigawatt of transmission lines wind would have been more reliable than nuclear in the big freeze. Because the ~ 1 gigawatts of wind that's installed from Corpus Christi to Brownsville did not freeze, I just had no way to transmit its power to the rest of the state. Offshore wind Worldwide has a higher availability rate than nuclear power plants do. I'm not opposed to nuclear.

[@pwn3dg4m3r]

@flotsamike you solve that problem by just having more nuclear power plants, so if efficiency goes down for some reason you have more than enough extra plants to cover that lose.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

​@@flotsamike So you winterize the nuclear and fosil plants. Offshore wind has a 40% capacity factor. On shore wind has a 30% capacity factor.

[@williamredmond1191]

I twould be great if the interviewer didn’t interupt his guest so often.

[@robertcetti6935]

I didn't know Tommy Lee Jones knew so much about Texas energy!

[@darwinjina]

reminded me of an older Fonz.

[@timothyross7822]

I have this feeling that important truths have been edited out. Therefore the 'expert provides theory'.

[@ramboseemenomore1728]

For Texans electric companies, it’s the greed 😅 not hard to figure it out and your government could care less

[@frequentlycynical642]

COULDN'T care less. You COULDN'T be more wrong..

[@davidnadel9679]

Batteries don't work with alternating current and reactive power. Batteries are an expensive way to store a little energy - do the math for crying out loud. Give me a price break to cycle off my air conditioning when the spot price gets ridiculous. I can run the ac on a generator for 80 cents an hour. Also, we can set a minimum price so they don't need to gouge us when demand spikes as the sun goes down.

[@Ignatz71]

Batteries work wonderfully with an inverter. Inverters are really great at augmenting reactive power, in fact. You are correct that they are expensive and they don't work well for long-term storage. However, batteries work wonderful for maintaining grid stability and frequency. As with investing, a diversified portfolio is the best strategy.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

Batteries are 10X too expensive to be a viable proposition. Variable renewables plus batteries makes for the most expensive electricity on earth according to Lazzard levelized cost of storage.

[@alrivas1477]

Another great report. Well done WFAA for putting this out. There's many topics which simply can't be covered in 30 seconds. We need this.

[@txspare]

I think one solution to “unplanned” outages would be to charge the involved companies more than the prevailing rate of power during their “unplanned” outage. That would dramatically decrease the incentive to cheat. This would not apply to outages planned at least 4 weeks in advance, so weather patterns could not be used to scam the system.

[@flotsamike]

I thought electricity got to $9,000 a megawatt hour during the big freeze because the Texas Utility commission sent out a memo that ask ERCOT how can they declare an emergency unless they were charging that much. I'm glad to know I was wrong and the cat was $5,000 and megawatt-hour. In the hearings they had in the Texas state house one of the people being questioned accidentally mentioned the ERCOT had taken 1 or 2 gigawatts of power transmission capacity off line to keep lines free for the nuclear plant to come back online. That was why roughly 2 gigawatts of wind between Corpus Christi and Brownsville sat idle

[@danielking2944]

I didn’t build my off-grid solar to save money,but because I became aware of the sorry condition of the infrastructure in Texas when I was the electrician for a school district. We often told the Oncore crew where the fuse was blown because we anticipated it. The woodpeckers on the three poles along my yard always keep one eye open because they don’t know which way the pole is going to fall. The energy expert was right, the smart money is in self generation and consumption even if it isn’t cheaper . My food preservation and air conditioning priorities justify the investment in battery storage. It turned out to save me money although that wasn’t the original motivation.

[@fritzprints7182]

Good conversation, terrible situation

[@markwriter2698]

Supply and demand. The more electric cars, the higher the electric bill. Regardless we need more power and agree with the next comment that nuclear seems the obvious choice. I understand there are new designs that are much smaller. Smaller is cheaper and safer to control in an emergency. As a municipality grows another min-station can be added.

[@who2u333]

17:12 Nat gas (methane) is at a very low cost, but electricity is at a high cost, why?

[@fueymanchoo1291]

Capitalism. When your product is in high demand, you charge more.

[@joshsimpson10]

​@fueymanchoo1291 texas only produces natural gas lol not like we have a crazy abundant supply for pennies on the dollar

[@stephenkolostyak4087]

@@fueymanchoo1291 only if the supply is insufficient.

[@blaydCA]

Bill, baby Bill. Give me your money! 😂

[@StevenHaskett]

Because you are paying for idle gas plants when solar and wind are able to provide power.

[@iancarrie7447]

this was really good thanks

[@JohnChampagne]

How much could we improve the situation by creating the option, along the boundary between grids, to shed load and transfer it to a neighboring grid? It seems that it would do enough good to make the additional short-range transmission and switches worth investing in. How much of Eagle-Ford shale gas is being flared? Small gas burners would pop up if we charged appropriate fees to industries proportional to emissions and extraction. Data centers could be sited there. Those generators could be tapped for the general grid, and the data needs can be foisted onto more distant facilities, when power demand spikes.

[@Thumper68]

Lots of wasted power burnt off all over the state

[@levipack3835]

Interesting

[@CharlesWT-TX]

High electricity bills are what you get when ideology and politics trump physics and economics.

[@darwinjina]

PG&E agrees. lol. Various areas of California will have scheduled daytime outages this summer.

[@shoutingatclouds1050]

We know Xcel is trying to be as disruptive in service as possible and intends on being poor quality as a goal.

[@TheBitterSarcasmOfMs.Anthropy]

Do you need 'theory' to understand high electricity bills? ITS CALLED CAPITALISM!!!

[@markwriter2698]

Anyway more I keep a generator handy.

[@shoutingatclouds1050]

People not from Texas talking about Texas.

[@MrJacobegg]

WTF are you talking about? They're both from Texas. Even if they weren't, what would that have to do with what they're talking about?

[@thewolfofgod3908]

Why are you so small and simple minded.

[@shoutingatclouds1050]

@@thewolfofgod3908 It does no good to have a power company owned by a failed state, Californian's living in Vail Colorado not paying attention to Texas. And a panel of self proclaimed experts also not from Texas a state that's bigger than most countries.

[@ramboseemenomore1728]

For Texans electric companies, it’s the greed 😅 not hard to figure it out

[@GregariousAntithesis]

You can thank Chenney and Bush

[@GregariousAntithesis]

One more example of why utilities shoukd have never been privatized

[@frequentlycynical642]

Good god. ALL utilities have started as private companies. Some have been bought up, mostly many years ago, to become publicly owned, like Los Angeles. Get your facts right before you type.

[@GregariousAntithesis]

@@frequentlycynical642 Utilities have been privatized in various ways and at different times, including: 19th century Wabash, Indiana created the first municipal utility in 1880 by owning its electric lighting system instead of franchising it to a private company. 1920s and 1930s Private utilities like Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison began to buy up smaller utilities to maximize profits. However, resentment against private utilities led to a resurgence of public power utilities, and by the late 1930s, there were roughly 2,000 public power utilities. 1970s and 1980s Water utilities began to be privatized, and by the 1990s, the global trend was to privatize the utility industry. From 1980-2018, 82 public power utilities were privatized, and in 1996, President Clinton sold the Alaska Power Administration. 1998-present The Air Force has been privatizing utility systems at military bases since 1998, transferring ownership of more than 600 utility systems to private and public entities since 1988.

[@GregariousAntithesis]

@@frequentlycynical642 Most are public not private. Public utilities are typically owned by cities, towns, counties, public utility districts, or states. They can also be cooperative utilities, which are owned by their customers and are usually found in rural areas.

[@GregariousAntithesis]

@@frequentlycynical642 hey dull tool do your home work. Los Angeles' electricity is public, provided by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), which is owned by the city and overseen by an elected board of commissioners. LADWP is the largest municipally-owned utility in the United States, serving over four million residents and businesses. As a non-profit public benefit corporation, LADWP reinvests revenue into reliability upgrades and green energy programs. Rates only need to cover operational costs since there are no profit demands or shareholders, and LADWP maintains some of the lowest electricity rates nationwide.

[@GregariousAntithesis]

@@frequentlycynical642 Los Angeles' electricity is public, provided by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), which is owned by the city and overseen by an elected board of commissioners. LADWP is the largest municipally-owned utility in the United States, serving over four million residents and businesses. As a non-profit public benefit corporation, LADWP reinvests revenue into reliability upgrades and green energy programs. Rates only need to cover operational costs since there are no profit demands or shareholders, and LADWP maintains some of the lowest electricity rates nationwide.

[@blaydCA]

Maybe UNPLUG a few things? You wanted free market Capitalism, you got free market Capitalism. Stop crying!

[@257.4MHz]

Australia already proved that solar and batteries stabilize the grid and bring prices way down

[@darwinjina]

Australians would not agree. Even with heavy government subsidies and high electricity costs.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

Australia has some of the most expensive electricity on earth.

[@tomkarnes69]

Elon will save us with his electric vehicles right, zero emissions, light touch on the grid, and if for some reason it dosen't work out, there's always Mars.

[@GregariousAntithesis]

Building small nuc power plants that taxpayers will pay for especially when the fuel rods are expended.

[@UQRXD]

What's with all the waving hands about?

[@harrybaulz666]

Yep youall vote republitard this is what you git hahahaha and texas is only getting hotter longer hahaha

[@huemann7637]

You should come down here and talk to people like that…

[@gregorymalchuk272]

Dumb Texas Republicans thought they could "do" central planning better than Democrats. (They can't).

[@Hybridog]

The Texas electricity market should have NEVER been deregulated. The Texas grid should be immediately connected to the national grid. ERCOT needs to create and manage a statewide battery network to stabilize wind/solar generation.

[@darwinjina]

Why? Most of all grids in the US are run by private companies (for better or worse)

[@gregorymalchuk272]

No way. Batteries make for the most expensive electricity on Earth according to Lazzard.

[@frequentlycynical642]

It's NEVER been deregulated. I live in Texas and my supply is as regulated as any state's.

[@platoonsergeanttracemiller]

The homes, are not built correctly built. They are engineered to be an, oven, with an air condirioner. The walls and attics ate not built right. That is the cause of the bills. My bill is 50-100 dollars a month minimum, wether anyone is there.

[@stephenkolostyak4087]

"The homes, are not built correctly built. They are engineered to be an, oven, with an air condirioner." That's one way to tell us you're not from the U.S., let alone Texas.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

​@@stephenkolostyak4087He's basically correct. Energy is cheap and our houses aren't well insulated. Especially historic construction.