5 ms·

I had a similar contract when I lived in IL, and I also liked it and it made me more conscious of my energy usage patterns. But there was always this niggling

I had a similar contract when I lived in IL, and I also liked it and it made me more conscious of my energy usage patterns. But there was always this niggling concern that the price could spike to 200x like it did in Texas, without me being able to react. Regulation to cap the peak rate would help allay consumer fears, IMO, while still offering ample profit potential to providers.

0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
Even with a cap, it feels like it would just take one freak occurrence (power plant/transformer/blizzard) meltdown to erase any potential savings from subscribing to dynamic pricing.
- zdragnar 3y ago
  Nah, just switch over to a generator for your bare essential needs and hunker down for a bit. You can't go into a dynamic environment and only plan for upsides.
- jltsiren 3y ago
  Fixed pricing is basically dynamic pricing + insurance. In the expected case, you pay more over any period of time if you take the insurance. If you can afford the risks, going without insurance tends to be cheaper.
- everybodyknows 3y ago
  In California TOU plans, there are caps on all three of: 1. Price per kWh - $1 last I checked 2. Hours per day at max price - ~9 3. Days per year max price charged - ~10 Even in the worst case, not too scary.
  - 0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
    With the horror stories in Texas, I was assuming significantly worse caps. Regardless, I have very little consumption I can time shift to off-peak hours (laundry? dishwasher?), so dynamic pricing would unlikely ever work out for me.
londons_explore 3y ago
I want to see electricity meters configurable with a "max I am happy to pay per day" setting. When that limit is near, they beep/alert you. When you hit the cap, they turn off the whole house. You could adjust the limit as you please, with a default of perhaps $100 - but they spare you from million dollar bills, even with uncapped dynamic pricing. If a reasonable number of these were deployed, the prices would never spike super high, because there would always be someone else willing to turn off their tumble dryer to save 50 bucks.
- bushbaba 3y ago
  There’s circuit breakers with wifi connectivity that lets you turn off load through an api. Could code this up or use their apps for energy management. Consumer demand just isn’t there for this type of product yet
  - ipaddr 3y ago
    It's easier to use and get cutoff later
- blacksmith_tb 3y ago
  Just hoping that everything in fridge doesn't spoil until billing resets at midnight? That doesn't sound like a gamble most people would be willing to make, especially on a regular basis. I would imagine that at least for the (shrinking) middle class and above that widespread instability in the grid will drive the sale of a lot of PV systems and battery storage.
  - WalterBright 3y ago
    From my experience with regular power outages in the Seattle metropolitan area, your fridge will last 24 hours after the power goes out, if you don't open the door. Your water heater will provide water hot enough for a quick shower for a couple days.
    - blacksmith_tb 3y ago

0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago

Even with a cap, it feels like it would just take one freak occurrence (power plant/transformer/blizzard) meltdown to erase any potential savings from subscribing to dynamic pricing.

zdragnar 3y ago
Nah, just switch over to a generator for your bare essential needs and hunker down for a bit. You can't go into a dynamic environment and only plan for upsides.
jltsiren 3y ago
Fixed pricing is basically dynamic pricing + insurance. In the expected case, you pay more over any period of time if you take the insurance. If you can afford the risks, going without insurance tends to be cheaper.
everybodyknows 3y ago
In California TOU plans, there are caps on all three of: 1. Price per kWh - $1 last I checked 2. Hours per day at max price - ~9 3. Days per year max price charged - ~10 Even in the worst case, not too scary.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
  With the horror stories in Texas, I was assuming significantly worse caps. Regardless, I have very little consumption I can time shift to off-peak hours (laundry? dishwasher?), so dynamic pricing would unlikely ever work out for me.

londons_explore 3y ago

I want to see electricity meters configurable with a "max I am happy to pay per day" setting. When that limit is near, they beep/alert you. When you hit the cap, they turn off the whole house. You could adjust the limit as you please, with a default of perhaps $100 - but they spare you from million dollar bills, even with uncapped dynamic pricing. If a reasonable number of these were deployed, the prices would never spike super high, because there would always be someone else willing to turn off their tumble dryer to save 50 bucks.

bushbaba 3y ago
There’s circuit breakers with wifi connectivity that lets you turn off load through an api. Could code this up or use their apps for energy management. Consumer demand just isn’t there for this type of product yet
- ipaddr 3y ago
  It's easier to use and get cutoff later
blacksmith_tb 3y ago
Just hoping that everything in fridge doesn't spoil until billing resets at midnight? That doesn't sound like a gamble most people would be willing to make, especially on a regular basis. I would imagine that at least for the (shrinking) middle class and above that widespread instability in the grid will drive the sale of a lot of PV systems and battery storage.
- WalterBright 3y ago
  From my experience with regular power outages in the Seattle metropolitan area, your fridge will last 24 hours after the power goes out, if you don't open the door. Your water heater will provide water hot enough for a quick shower for a couple days.
  - blacksmith_tb 3y ago