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>delivery to residential customers and essential services should always be prioritized over industrial bulk purchasers. This is not how the grid works in the U

>delivery to residential customers and essential services should always be prioritized over industrial bulk purchasers. This is not how the grid works in the US. Industrial is very frequently critical and gets higher priority over residential. Outages at major industrial operations can cost millions in lost revenue and can cause direct damage to hardware. The grid absolutely is a market and should be. Reliable power at fixed prices is a thing you can try to buy from it, but that’s by no means guaranteed.

sangnoir 2y ago
> The grid absolutely is a market and should be. ...but generally not a free market in most jurisdictions. The Texas grid is an ongoing experiment, and yet even the Texas legislature had to step in to bail out[1] providers' massive losses from with very high energy spot prices - it turns out the demand for energy is pretty inelastic at below-freezing temperatures. 1. Via a surcharge on all future customers. That's not very free market of them.
- kortilla 2y ago
  What do you mean it’s not a free market? In the western grid I can absolutely contract for access to the grid without any kind of government intervention. So it’s definitely a free market in who can buy and the price is negotiated. In Texas it’s just a different pricing structure with instantaneous pricing. That’s not more or less free market.
  - sangnoir 2y ago
    > What do you mean it’s not a free market? The state government stepped in to socialize the losses incurred by private companies during the last snowstorm. Perhaps we can call it "Free markets with Texan characteristics"?
  - consteval 2y ago
    Like most US industries, it's a Free Market* * Except big players will never go under, and substantial losses are socialized
raxxorraxor 2y ago
In parts of Europe energy intensive industry doesn't get a guarantee on power delivery compared to households or hospitals. In exchange they get a much better price on energy with the respective risks attached.

sangnoir 2y ago

> The grid absolutely is a market and should be. ...but generally not a free market in most jurisdictions. The Texas grid is an ongoing experiment, and yet even the Texas legislature had to step in to bail out[1] providers' massive losses from with very high energy spot prices - it turns out the demand for energy is pretty inelastic at below-freezing temperatures. 1. Via a surcharge on all future customers. That's not very free market of them.

kortilla 2y ago
What do you mean it’s not a free market? In the western grid I can absolutely contract for access to the grid without any kind of government intervention. So it’s definitely a free market in who can buy and the price is negotiated. In Texas it’s just a different pricing structure with instantaneous pricing. That’s not more or less free market.
- sangnoir 2y ago
  > What do you mean it’s not a free market? The state government stepped in to socialize the losses incurred by private companies during the last snowstorm. Perhaps we can call it "Free markets with Texan characteristics"?
- consteval 2y ago
  Like most US industries, it's a Free Market* * Except big players will never go under, and substantial losses are socialized

raxxorraxor 2y ago

In parts of Europe energy intensive industry doesn't get a guarantee on power delivery compared to households or hospitals. In exchange they get a much better price on energy with the respective risks attached.