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The only way to exclude the market from the equation is for the state to have total control over the entire energy pipeline, from pulling natural gas out of the
by PragmaticPulp 6y ago
The only way to exclude the market from the equation is for the state to have total control over the entire energy pipeline, from pulling natural gas out of the ground to the power plants to delivery.
You can't simply mandate that energy prices will be a certain amount if the power plants still have to buy natural gas and other power sources from the free market. If you tried, the power plants would simply shut down when it wasn't profitable according to the legislated rate, making the problem even worse.
If you tried to legislate that power plants or energy producers must sell energy at a fixed cost no matter what it costs them to produce and they can't shut down, they have to price that risk into their long-term model. You're now paying more for the same service just to make it worth someone else's while to take the risk.
The energy market at least provides a feedback loop to large, energy-consuming businesses. Large consumers of electricity like manufacturing facilities will simply decide to shut down when energy prices are too to be profitable, and wait for the cost to go down. You don't see this as a homeowner, but there are industries that adjust their schedules around energy pricing.
- njarboe 6y ago"You can't simply mandate that energy prices will be a certain amount if the power plants still have to buy natural gas and other power sources from the free market." You can and that is what California did[1]. It lead to large scale blackouts, the first bankruptcy of PG&E, the successful recall of California's governor Gray Davis, and brought to light Enron's crazy company culture which lead to its bankruptcy. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000%E2%80%9301_California_electricity_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000%E2%80%9301_California_ele...
- Florinator 6y agoI think you've just described Germany, which has the highest electricity prices in the world.
- monadic5 6y agoGermany isn't an international embarrassment at the moment.
- refurb 6y agoInternational embarrassment? Didn’t Europe have a heat wave 5-10 years ago where tens of thousands died? I’d be careful throwing stones about extreme weather if I lived in a glasshouse too.
- monadic5 6y agoAll I can state confidently is my own embarrassment at being associated with this country at all.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- imtringued 6y agoThe electricity prices in Germany are growing faster than the cost of electricity. It's a counter productive tax structure at work, not a failure of renewable energy.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]