Comment on As electric bills rise, evidence mounts that data centers share blame. States feel pressure to act
LillyPip@lemmy.ca 2 days agoWould you prefer the police and fire department were privately run?
It would be the same service, with the same employees and facilities.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
No, because there’s not a reasonable way for them to compete. You can’t really have multiple police forces, and they’ll be motivated to generate profit instead of protect the people.
You can have multiple electrical suppliers. You can have a coal plant, solar and wind, and nuclear all competing for customers so they’re motivated to make their electricity more appealing. If you pair that with things like carbon taxes, people will choose the more efficient option, and you can mix and match large and small suppliers. You need a central authority to manage the infrastructure, but you can reasonably have diversity in generation.
Just think if the average person could sell their excess solar generation (possible in some areas), their EV as battery capacity at night, etc, more people would want to generate renewable power. If you have that type of check against larger players, they’ll have to keep their prices competitive.