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€0.49 / kWh is an insanely high price for electricity. Here in the US in Cali, $0.32 / kWh is considered a steep price. I've heard the price in Oregon is $̶0̶

€0.49 / kWh is an insanely high price for electricity. Here in the US in Cali, $0.32 / kWh is considered a steep price. I've heard the price in Oregon is $̶0̶.̶0̶2̶ ̶/̶ ̶k̶W̶h̶ $0.20 / kWh. What gives.. why can't electricity be delivered less expensively / more economically in Germany? Edit: Thanks for the corrections regarding Oregon, makes me feel a little better about the situations elsewhere. :)

taspeotis 4y ago
> why can't electricity be delivered less expensively in Germany? https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/moscows-decades-old-gas-ties-with-europe-lie-ruins-2023-02-14/ https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/moscows-decades-old-...
LinuxBender 4y ago
Oregon is 11.9c/kWh [1] Still not bad. [1] - https://www.eia.gov/state/print.php?sid=OR https://www.eia.gov/state/print.php?sid=OR
bpye 4y ago
I'm in BC and BC Hydro has two step billing. $0.0950/kWh for the first 1350kWh/2 months and $0.1408/kWh beyond that [0] - and that's CAD so about $0.071/kWh and $0.11/kWh in USD. I'm guessing you meant $0.2/kWh for Oregon? I'm definitely less concerned about the cost of running a machine 24/7 here than I was back in the UK. [0] - https://app.bchydro.com/accounts-billing/rates-energy-use/electricity-rates/residential-rates.html https://app.bchydro.com/accounts-billing/rates-energy-use/el...
rahimnathwani 4y ago
I live in Northern California, in the PG&E service area. I pay something like $0.35/kWh in the evenings, and more during the day. (It's a bit confusing to calculate the rate, as for some reason the bill has separate sections for 'generation' and 'delivery'.)
- metadat 4y ago
  We know why we can't have cheap and efficiently delivered power in California: PG&E has no incentive to deliver such a product. My solution is to run my servers and live life as I please (within some degree of reason), and not look at the power bill too often. In my experience, the monthly charges don't correspond with my actions attempting to reduce or increase consumption in specific categories (e.g. hottubs, servers). With that said, I do flip off the lights when not in use :p
  - rahimnathwani 4y ago
    Not only is it expensive, but uptime since I moved here (3+ years ago) is barely three nines.
    - metadat 4y ago
      It depends a lot on the specific area you live in. Down here in the Peninsula, it varies by municipality and 1/4 mile+ zones. The wealthier the area, the more reliable the service. Also, tree limb falls happen. The jaded side of me attributes this to PG&E executives not wanting to anger the elite powers that be. Atherton service has likely never been affected by the rolling brownouts in summer. Go a mile or three away and it's a very different story.
blindriver 4y ago
If I charge my EV at home, within a week I'm in Tier 3. That's 0.49/kWh. On some other plans, the electricity rate is 0.55/kWh at some time periods.
sgt 4y ago
Here in South Africa I pay around $0.11 per kWh, not that bad all things considered. The challenge is more that electricity supply is not consistent, which luckily is easily remedied by investing in solar/batteries. It's not yet common for consumers to feed back into the grid.
weberer 4y ago
Germany made the silly decision in 2011 to shut down their existing nuclear reactors, and build more natural gas plants to import cheap, natural gas from Russia. Then after Russia's second invasion of Ukraine last year, the gas got cut off. Overall, it was a pretty bad idea that most people should have saw coming since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014. https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-g-n/germany.aspx https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-pr...
- gsich 4y ago
  True, but the high prices mostly come from company greed. They were insanely high even before that.

taspeotis 4y ago

> why can't electricity be delivered less expensively in Germany? https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/moscows-decades-old-gas-ties-with-europe-lie-ruins-2023-02-14/ https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/moscows-decades-old-...

LinuxBender 4y ago

Oregon is 11.9c/kWh [1] Still not bad. [1] - https://www.eia.gov/state/print.php?sid=OR https://www.eia.gov/state/print.php?sid=OR

bpye 4y ago

I'm in BC and BC Hydro has two step billing. $0.0950/kWh for the first 1350kWh/2 months and $0.1408/kWh beyond that [0] - and that's CAD so about $0.071/kWh and $0.11/kWh in USD. I'm guessing you meant $0.2/kWh for Oregon? I'm definitely less concerned about the cost of running a machine 24/7 here than I was back in the UK. [0] - https://app.bchydro.com/accounts-billing/rates-energy-use/electricity-rates/residential-rates.html https://app.bchydro.com/accounts-billing/rates-energy-use/el...

rahimnathwani 4y ago

I live in Northern California, in the PG&E service area. I pay something like $0.35/kWh in the evenings, and more during the day. (It's a bit confusing to calculate the rate, as for some reason the bill has separate sections for 'generation' and 'delivery'.)

metadat 4y ago
We know why we can't have cheap and efficiently delivered power in California: PG&E has no incentive to deliver such a product. My solution is to run my servers and live life as I please (within some degree of reason), and not look at the power bill too often. In my experience, the monthly charges don't correspond with my actions attempting to reduce or increase consumption in specific categories (e.g. hottubs, servers). With that said, I do flip off the lights when not in use :p
- rahimnathwani 4y ago
  Not only is it expensive, but uptime since I moved here (3+ years ago) is barely three nines.
  - metadat 4y ago
    It depends a lot on the specific area you live in. Down here in the Peninsula, it varies by municipality and 1/4 mile+ zones. The wealthier the area, the more reliable the service. Also, tree limb falls happen. The jaded side of me attributes this to PG&E executives not wanting to anger the elite powers that be. Atherton service has likely never been affected by the rolling brownouts in summer. Go a mile or three away and it's a very different story.

blindriver 4y ago

If I charge my EV at home, within a week I'm in Tier 3. That's 0.49/kWh. On some other plans, the electricity rate is 0.55/kWh at some time periods.

sgt 4y ago

Here in South Africa I pay around $0.11 per kWh, not that bad all things considered. The challenge is more that electricity supply is not consistent, which luckily is easily remedied by investing in solar/batteries. It's not yet common for consumers to feed back into the grid.

weberer 4y ago

Germany made the silly decision in 2011 to shut down their existing nuclear reactors, and build more natural gas plants to import cheap, natural gas from Russia. Then after Russia's second invasion of Ukraine last year, the gas got cut off. Overall, it was a pretty bad idea that most people should have saw coming since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014. https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-g-n/germany.aspx https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-pr...

gsich 4y ago
True, but the high prices mostly come from company greed. They were insanely high even before that.