Comment on As electric bills rise, evidence mounts that data centers share blame. States feel pressure to act
AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 1 day agoIt’s essentially supply and demand. If the data center is willing to pay more, then everyone has to pay more.
BD89@lemmy.sdf.org 1 day ago
Places like data centers don’t pay the same rate that individuals do though. They get an industrial rate.
Basically they cut them a break so they can fuck you. The supply is more More than enough and the only demand that increased was from corporate interests.
Tja@programming.dev 17 hours ago
That is regional. In Europe commercial/industrial prices are usually higher, especially in times of crisis, because residential power has a price cap. Damn socialists and their regulations!!1!
BD89@lemmy.sdf.org 10 hours ago
Yes it is! And this article is written about States being in the United States and how its affecting that infrastructure.
Trust me, I know shit is better everywhere else. My comments are about the current state of USA electricity and how its being affected by the content in this article. Which takes place in the USA.
I’m sure in the land where they actually care about people its different.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
It’s more that they get a bulk discount, whereas Jamaica m individuals don’t, and apparently they can set the bulk discount below the generation cost.
It’s incredibly dumb and why I’d like there to be more choice. Instead of one company handling supply and service for industry and residents, there should be multiple companies handling supply and an independent org handling service. Basically, the suppliers would bring the electricity to the cities, and cities would handle it from there. Then they need to compete for the lowest cost energy, customers can pick which suppliers they’d like, and prices per KWh would be static regardless of customer (the only discount for large customers would be service).
BombOmOm@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Quite a few states actually have systems like this. In which individuals can choose their power generator at will. It is nice as it increases competition and lets you tailor energy use to your wants.
If you want 100% green, switch to a generator that does that. If your default utility gets too expensive, switch to a cheaper one, etc.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
The closest we have is buying green energy in blocks, which means you reserve that much generation capacity. In theory, they have to build more capacity if demand outstrips suooly, but if they produce more than is reserved, they just sell at the normal (lower) rate. If you use less than you reserve, you just pay more.
It’s a wonky system and I’d prefer to choose by provider instead. At least our electricity provider has to ask the state legislature for permission to raise prices, so that’s nice. Energy here isn’t all that expensive (around the nationwide median) and moving toward green energy, but I think I’d prefer a more competitive system.
arrow74@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
This isn’t a choice issue. It should be state owned and operated in a non-profit capacity, and everyone should pay their fair share.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 22 hours ago
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had a great experience with government run services. Government is better at owning and setting rules about things than actually operating them. If it’s possible to have competition, then the government playing referee seems to provide a better result.
If a monopoly is unavoidable, then yeah, the government should be that monopoly. But as long as it’s feasible to have at least three competitors, it should be privately run.
fosho@lemmy.ca 23 hours ago
you can leave the Jamaica M individuals the fuck out of this please.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 22 hours ago
Lol, struck it out.
danc4498@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Socialism for the rich. Capitalism for everybody else.