Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"Texas’s deregulated electricity market, which was supposed to provide reliable power at a lower price, left millions in the dark last week. For two decades, its customers have paid more for electricity than state residents who are served by traditional utilities, a Wall Street Journal analysis has found."
Some would have us believe that deregulation is always the best answer. Here is absolute proof that is not the case, and in a big way. And this doesn't even cover the cost of this huge power outage in terms of humanity and the Texas economy.
Though, I do have to smile at how those Texas "Libertarians", completely screwed themselves.
Translation: Git back in line, Texans! How DARE you think that you can function without federal regulation!? Do you not KNOW that the feds are all powerful and all knowing? Let this be a lesson to you!!
Psst.......The greatest power outage in America history happened in northeast America during mild weather
"Texas’s deregulated electricity market, which was supposed to provide reliable power at a lower price, left millions in the dark last week. For two decades, its customers have paid more for electricity than state residents who are served by traditional utilities, a Wall Street Journal analysis has found."
Some would have us believe that deregulation is always the best answer. Here is absolute proof that is not the case, and in a big way. And this doesn't even cover the cost of this huge power outage in terms of humanity and the Texas economy.
Though, I do have to smile at how those Texas "Libertarians", completely screwed themselves.
They left the national grid because they didn't want to be subject to federal regulators. The state monopolies have much more clout over state regulators.
Some of the operators were caught gloating over the exorbitant charges they were able to pass on.
It comes down to vested financial interests who exploit people who tend to overthink everything in black-and-white political terms. There are people who present themselves on both sides of the political spectrum who are doing it only for personal gain.
Sorry, no, that's not true. Here in California we've had one blackout, that's it. The California blackout last August was a freak event, it affected less than 1% of the state's customers. The state is adding 1.2GW of new battery capacity this year that if it was online last August, it would have prevented the blackout.
The Texas blackout was far, far worse that anything we've had here.
and just when has LA every seen temps in the single digits for a week......
Translation: Git back in line, Texans! How DARE you think that you can function without federal regulation!? Do you not KNOW that the feds are all powerful and all knowing? Let this be a lesson to you!!
Psst.......The greatest power outage in America history happened in northeast America during mild weather
El Paso and Beaumont areas are not part of the TX grid and are subject to federal oversight. They learned the 2011 lesson and prepared well. Correspondingly as opposed to the rest of the state they did not fail.
Sorry you don't like the facts. You can go on now about slavery
They left the national grid because they didn't want to be subject to federal regulators. The state monopolies have much more clout over state regulators.
Some of the operators were caught gloating over the exorbitant charges they were able to pass on.
It comes down to vested financial interests who exploit people who tend to overthink everything in black-and-white political terms. There are people who present themselves on both sides of the political spectrum who are doing it only for personal gain.
This is what the libertarian free market looks like, do away with regulations and capitalism will fix it.
This is what the libertarian free market looks like, do away with regulations and capitalism will fix it.
Free Market Fundamentalism is a quasi-religious ideology.
There's a reason why Joseph Stiglitz has stated the "reason that the invisible hand often seems invisible is that it is often not there". He explains his position here:
Quote:
... Whenever there are "externalities"—where the actions of an individual have impacts on others for which they do not pay, or for which they are not compensated—markets will not work well. Some of the important instances have long understood environmental externalities.
Markets, by themselves, produce too much pollution. Markets, by themselves, also produce too little basic research. (The government was responsible for financing most of the important scientific breakthroughs, including the internet and the first telegraph line, and many bio-tech advances.)
But recent research has shown that these externalities are pervasive, whenever there is imperfect information or imperfect risk markets—that is always.
Government plays an important role in banking and securities regulation, and a host of other areas: some regulation is required to make markets work. Government is needed, almost all would agree, at a minimum to enforce contracts and property rights.
The real debate today is about finding the right balance between the market and government (and the third "sector" – governmental non-profit organizations). Both are needed. They can each complement each other. This balance differs from time to time and place to place
Deregulation created a system that requires no additional capacity, it's purely for profit.
The deregulation was about price control.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goodnight
What would be the point in a company winterizing for a remote event like last week, what would be the point in reducing profits for excess capacity that may not be used for years. They have 650 power plants owned by various companies and 5 utilities that provide distribution. The results of an event like this are very predictable.
It's about proper oversight
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goodnight
Deregulation also prevented access to interstate grids.
Again what proof do you have deregulation caused this? It's about proper oversight and government was involved in that. How do you not know government is involved with utilities? lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goodnight
Some consumers benefitted but many did not, I see a WSJ that studied from 2004 to 2019 where Texas paid $28B more under deregulation. Traditional utilities in Texas were 8% lower than the national average while these retail facilities were 13% higher. I would bet that many retail consumers couldn't even tell you their KWH rate.
Traditional utilities, lol Explain why Texas has a KWH cost below the national average slick?
"The most recent reports from the EIA show the average residential electricity rate in the U.S. is 13.35 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). According to the EIA, the average Texas electricity rate is 12.20 cents per kWh.3 days ago"
Many of these retailers make a massive profit, that is why Enron was so bent on deregulation.
The deregulation was about price control. It's about proper oversight
You rarely back up anything you post.
Lets see if you ignore this again. "We had a huge oil spill in the gulf a few years ago. We had regulations and they weren't enforced. You want to know what the answer was for that? More regulations lol
"
El Paso and Beaumont areas are not part of the TX grid and are subject to federal oversight. They learned the 2011 lesson and prepared well. Correspondingly as opposed to the rest of the state they did not fail.
Sorry you don't like the facts. You can go on now about slavery
Federal oversight had nothing to do with it.
"Gutierrez said the company learned a hard lesson and after a big freeze hit Texas in 2011. It invested millions in cold-weather upgrades."
Nice job by those in charge.
"But weatherization standards are voluntary in Texas, and state utility regulators said they have traditionally focused more on hot weather and hurricanes, not the bitter cold."
“There’s probably a need to take a look at what those standards are and see if they need to be adjusted,” said Andrew Barlow, spokesperson for the Texas Public Utility Commission.
Sorry you don't like the facts. You can go on now about Federal oversight [
Again, it was lack of oversight. Just like the huge Gulf oil spill where regulations were put in place but those in charge of oversight as well as the oil company in that case failed us.
No doubt the companies themselves are to blame by ignoring the lead time they had on this to prepare. We were not informed of the blackouts until they were almost ready to start and then the length of the blackout and other needed info was not provided. The lack of communication was a problem.
"Texas’s deregulated electricity market, which was supposed to provide reliable power at a lower price, left millions in the dark last week. For two decades, its customers have paid more for electricity than state residents who are served by traditional utilities, a Wall Street Journal analysis has found."
Some would have us believe that deregulation is always the best answer. Here is absolute proof that is not the case, and in a big way. And this doesn't even cover the cost of this huge power outage in terms of humanity and the Texas economy.
Though, I do have to smile at how those Texas "Libertarians", completely screwed themselves.
Most of the article is behind a paywall. I didn't see any effort to connect deregulation with what happened. What is the author's argument?
Texas power outages were horrible. I don’t understand how those in charge of the power grid aren’t prepared for such times. Are there even plans for dealing with natural disasters? Hard to tell.
Anyway the big surprise was: to offset the fact that so many people had no power for so long, the utilities company is charging them MORE! In no other place the American system works its magic so clearly like in Texas!
No one is ever going to pay those exorbitant prices, and everyone knows that. It makes a shocking headline though.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
