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'KERKDRIEL, the Netherlands—For much of the spring and summer, Jeroen van Diesen got paid for using electricity. Sometimes his neighbors came over to power up
by Bostonian 2y ago
'KERKDRIEL, the Netherlands—For much of the spring and summer, Jeroen van Diesen got paid for using electricity.
Sometimes his neighbors came over to power up too, generating even more cash.
Van Diesen’s situation reflects the strange, new dynamics of electricity that could soon become the norm in many parts of the world: A big increase in wind and solar power has pushed wholesale prices to zero or below for many hours of the year, spurring a sea change in the way people use power—based on whether the sun is shining or the wind is blowing.
Most people pay a fixed price for each kilowatt-hour of electricity they consume throughout the day. The price is set by their power company and only changes at infrequent intervals—once a week, a month or even only once a year.
Van Diesen, a software salesman, recently signed up to receive electricity from two providers that charge him the hourly price on the Dutch wholesale power market, rather than a fixed price that resets monthly or annually. When the price of electricity falls low enough, smart meters in his house begin charging his two electric cars.'
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- circlefavshape 2y ago> Van Diesen, a software salesman, recently signed up to receive electricity from two providers that charge him the hourly price on the Dutch wholesale power market, rather than a fixed price that resets monthly or annually. Didn't this kind of thing result in some people in Texas getting electricity bills for tens of thousands of dollars a few years ago?
- lrasinen 2y agoSome context based on recent history (EU/Finland perspective): - On average the market electricity contracts are cheaper than flat-rate contracts - Day-to-day (and hour-to-hour) variation can be huge; yesterday evening it was 32 c/kWh, tomorrow it'll be about 2-3 c/kWh for most of the day. - You know the day-ahead prices around noon (UTC), so you can plan ahead. - EU has a wholesale electricity price cap; not sure what's the current value but it was 500 c/kWh a while ago. Plus taxes, probably.
- lrasinen 2y agoOh and in Finland there's a separate per-kWh fee to the local electricity network operator for transferring the electricity, so the breakeven point is somewhere around -4 c/kWh.