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If they priced residential power in line with real market rates (in this case negative), I suspect this would not be a problem for long. But we need smart meter

If they priced residential power in line with real market rates (in this case negative), I suspect this would not be a problem for long. But we need smart meters first. I would love to be able to have my heat pump run during steep discounts, but in Colorado we currently have a flat 12 hour off-peak (at night -- the opposite of this) with a mild 20% discount.

Declanomous 9y ago
It's possible to get a smart meter in Illinois, and I've thought about rigging up appliances to run when rates are negative. However the price feed is lagging by 15 minutes or so. So while you can have a pretty good idea rates would be negative, you can't actually be sure. It's not a huge deal if you are doing something productive with the energy, but if your goal is to make money it's probably not very effective. That being said, it might be productive to rig up your gaming pc to mine bitcoins or fold proteins when the price is close to zero.
- URSpider94 9y ago
  I'm not aware of any utilities that pass on spot pricing on power to their customers on a minute-by-minute level. Even with smart meters, most just tier the pricing into 2-3 levels per day that stay constant for 6 months or so (here in CA, it resets every summer/winter)
  - Declanomous 9y ago
    Com Ed in Illinois only has two types of metering: standard flat rate, and hour-by-hour. https://hourlypricing.comed.com/ https://hourlypricing.comed.com/ https://www.comed.com/SmartEnergy/SmartMeterSmartGrid/Pages/ForYourHome.aspx https://www.comed.com/SmartEnergy/SmartMeterSmartGrid/Pages/...
URSpider94 9y ago
Most customers don't want this. You have to realize that slightly negative costs in some slots (and your power cost would not actually be negative, as it would be more than balanced by the transmission and service costs) would come with eye-poppingly high rates on other days, like 50x the normal rate. Imagine the horrible news stories and "NBC on Your Side" pieces that will come about when someone pops their A/C on at the wrong time and gets a $1000 power bill. Even with smart meters (which we all have already in CA) I don't think residential customers will ever see more than three tiers of time-of-use cost per day, although those hours may shift around. However, utilities already contract with major users like universities and large businesses to shape demand, in return for deep discounts. And, smart home devices like EV chargers and battery storage units will be connected to the grid to provide near-instant capability to suck up excess power, or curtail usage.

Declanomous 9y ago

It's possible to get a smart meter in Illinois, and I've thought about rigging up appliances to run when rates are negative. However the price feed is lagging by 15 minutes or so. So while you can have a pretty good idea rates would be negative, you can't actually be sure. It's not a huge deal if you are doing something productive with the energy, but if your goal is to make money it's probably not very effective. That being said, it might be productive to rig up your gaming pc to mine bitcoins or fold proteins when the price is close to zero.

URSpider94 9y ago
I'm not aware of any utilities that pass on spot pricing on power to their customers on a minute-by-minute level. Even with smart meters, most just tier the pricing into 2-3 levels per day that stay constant for 6 months or so (here in CA, it resets every summer/winter)
- Declanomous 9y ago
  Com Ed in Illinois only has two types of metering: standard flat rate, and hour-by-hour. https://hourlypricing.comed.com/ https://hourlypricing.comed.com/ https://www.comed.com/SmartEnergy/SmartMeterSmartGrid/Pages/ForYourHome.aspx https://www.comed.com/SmartEnergy/SmartMeterSmartGrid/Pages/...

URSpider94 9y ago

Most customers don't want this. You have to realize that slightly negative costs in some slots (and your power cost would not actually be negative, as it would be more than balanced by the transmission and service costs) would come with eye-poppingly high rates on other days, like 50x the normal rate. Imagine the horrible news stories and "NBC on Your Side" pieces that will come about when someone pops their A/C on at the wrong time and gets a $1000 power bill. Even with smart meters (which we all have already in CA) I don't think residential customers will ever see more than three tiers of time-of-use cost per day, although those hours may shift around. However, utilities already contract with major users like universities and large businesses to shape demand, in return for deep discounts. And, smart home devices like EV chargers and battery storage units will be connected to the grid to provide near-instant capability to suck up excess power, or curtail usage.