> If bitcoin miners are chasing cheap power ... then it shouldn't be possible for miners to increase the price of power in a fixed area as they would immediatel

> If bitcoin miners are chasing cheap power ... then it shouldn't be possible for miners to increase the price of power in a fixed area as they would immediately migrate elsewhere where power is cheaper This would be true only if people and Bitcoin miners bid in the same market. They do not. If a BitCoin mining company has x year contract with an utility at some fixed price then they get that electricity at that rate. This has an disproportionate impact on the price consumers have to pay. To meet consumer demands electricity suppliers buy electricity from electricity producers. If BitCoin miners have contracts for all electricity generated in a region cheaper then x cents per unit that means that electricity suppliers can only begin to meet their customers demand with electricity more expensive than x. This means it might be necessary to buy electricity from really expensive sources (for example far away sources) they wouldn't have to rely upon with the cheaper then x electricity was available. The fact that the cheaper then x electricity producers could get more money if they wouldn't have signed long term contracts is in an environment with multiple such sellers a tragedy of the commons like situation which can not be fixed by the market alone. What makes it even worse is that perverse incentives exist where a company by selling all their cheap electricity to miners can keep assets which would otherwise be stranded (coal power plants) produce electricity at a premium rate because electricity supplies must meet the customer household demands.