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> People RUSH to turn off devices, and sit in the dark with phones on battery to make some vig. You mean poor people sit in the dark. The rich aren’t going to
by irrational 3y ago
> People RUSH to turn off devices, and sit in the dark with phones on battery to make some vig.
You mean poor people sit in the dark. The rich aren’t going to sit in the dark for a rebate.
- ggm 3y agoYes. And only some people, and in a context of power costs having gone up 6x normal. I'm using it as an example of another mechanism but its the corollary of rich people can pay: you can pay poor people not to use it, instead of just letting them have to not use it. And, you can profit less from the situation. Utility profits should tend to the longterm rate of return, not the surge pricing rates of return. Under surge pricing there are perverse models where it pays the utility not to generate to earn better revenue per cost of unit electricity made.
- atdrummond 3y agoYour last paragraph is basically saying that private utilities aren’t revenue or profit maximizing, which is a pretty extraordinary claim.
- ggm 3y agoIt's a regulated monopoly. Its not pure market, there are public utility oversight issues. Down here, the "gold plating" of the network allowed them to seek year on year 8% rate of return on capital investment. Caused a few problems. Regulator didn't do its job properly. I don't tend to like private power functions, or water, or sewage or gas. I tend to thinking public utility really should be public. Texas Power probably doesn't align with my bad economics. I am sure they seek any profit they can get away with. (and. I stress bad economics. I am pretty sure a lot of people think surge pricing is the least-worst choice. I just question how Texas wound up there)