Higher utility bills? That's why... (Abbott: appointed, 2015, buy)

[elnina]

Texas grid avoids summer blackouts with $1 billion in extra spending.
The grid operator, has revamped its approach of raising the prices paid for power as demand nears the limit of available reserves. This year, it added 50% to what it keeps as a safety margin, increasing costs.
The state's Independent Market Monitor (IMM), which provides a check on the ERCOT's operations, recently estimated the higher level of safety reserves has cost $1 billion during the first seven months of 2022.
The higher fuel costs are ultimately paid by consumers with no ability on the part of either retail electric providers or large and sophisticated consumers to hedge the costs.

https://www.reuters.com/business/ene...ng-2022-08-25/

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tex...id-2022-05-17/

Also:

Texas is the nation’s top natural gas producer but the state has started exporting more of it to other countries, which contributes to rising utility costs for Texans.
Texas, the leading natural gas-producing state in the U.S., has not been able to keep offering its own residents cheap energy.
Congress lifted a longtime ban on exporting U.S. oil and gas in 2015, which opened world markets to Texas oil and gas producers.
Public Utility Commission chair Peter Lake, appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott after the winter storm to lead the agency in charge of ERCOT, has said the grid operator is no longer prioritizing providing Texans cheap power. Texans are paying for last year’s grid disaster — and will for years.

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07...al-gas-export/

More info and easy to understand explanation:

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/a...igh-right-now/

BTW:
“It’s important to remember that ERCOT does not make electricity. This is like when you buy tickets to a concert. ERCOT is not Bon Jovi. ERCOT is not the arena. ERCOT in this analogy is Ticketmaster.”

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by elnina

Congress lifted a longtime ban on exporting U.S. oil and gas in 2015, which opened world markets to Texas oil and gas producers.

Free market politics backfiring

[crone]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Free market politics backfiring

IDK. Seems like regulated monopolies had more oversight from the state. Instead of one company or town, now 3 or 4 get their cut off the top. Our yearly contract expired in June. That watchdog group that we have been paying $10 a month to for years said they had my back. Turns out if i had signed on with the provider at the 1st notice we'd be paying .14. But the ogre had my back and a month later put us with a what the going rate was, .20 a kwh.

Looks to me like those lucky enough to have gone with a 3 year contract are getting subsidized by those who had expiring contracts.

Why do I feel like I've been dealing with a car dealer every time the electricity contract needs renewing?

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by crone

Why do I feel like I've been dealing with a car dealer every time the electricity contract needs renewing?

You can thank this guy

https://www.bradytx.us/893/Deregulat...y%20to%20Texas.

On June 18, 1999 Gov. George W. Bush signed Senate Bill 7 to introduce retail competition in the electric utility industry to Texas. The new law is designed to give customers greater control and may lower the price of electricity over time, make new service products available, while assuring the same reliable service.

Customers will be able to "shop" for electricity just as they would shop for groceries, automobiles or apparel. Although Texas electric rates are average, annual electric bills are among the highest in the nation because of heavy air conditioning use in the long, hot, summer months. Senate Bill 7 allows municipal and cooperative electric systems the choice of if and when to join the new market.

[EDS_]

I love how this works.

We enjoyed a market that A. worked very well. B. supplied very inexpensive energy given the relatively clean mix of input fuel (FE Louisiana has very cheap power but burns wood products to get there) C. was moving fast towards clearer and cleaner mixes going forward.

Then a one in at best 100 yrs. cold snap hits at the same time our huge nuclear reactor was producing limited output due to a fire, at the same time several (like 9 IIRC) large gas driven power plants were down for overhaul + several smaller ones.

As production began to falter ERCOT's algorithm as to which power stations to cut proved to be almost criminally stupid shutting power to gas pumping stations and so on driving a feedback loop of less and less power. Any level of real blame belongs here.


Due to screaming and crying, nearly all political and nearly all from one side, ERCOT and others moved the working logic from a cheap, moderate risk path moving more and more green to less cheap, a little less risk and still moving to green.

And surprise, surprise the same people who were upset before got exactly what they demanded and they are still upset.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by EDS_

I love how this works.

We enjoyed a market that A. worked very well. B. supplied very inexpensive energy given the relatively clean mix of input fuel (FE Louisiana has very cheap power but burns wood products to get there) C. was moving fast towards clearer and cleaner mixes going forward.

Then a one in at best 100 yrs. cold snap hits at the same time our huge nuclear reactor was producing limited output due to a fire, at the same time several (like 9 IIRC) large gas driven power plants were down for overhaul + several smaller ones.

As production began to falter ERCOT's algorithm as to which power stations to cut proved to be almost criminally stupid shutting power to gas pumping stations and so on driving a feedback loop of less and less power. Any level of real blame belongs here.


Due to screaming and crying, nearly all political and nearly all from one side, ERCOT and others moved the working logic from a cheap, moderate risk path moving more and more green to less cheap, a little less risk and still moving to green.

And surprise, surprise the same people who were upset before got exactly what they demanded and they are still upset.

Yeah, thats pretty much how I read this too.

I personally would be happy for the increase of prices if that means I get a more reliable energy grid. That essentially means they are responding to the error and resolving it. Reliability isn't free, and joining the National Grid will still come out of our pockets to fix reliability concerns. They were focused on cheap energy before. That didn't work out so well. To fix it, we will need to pay more... ...we get what we pay for.

As for the natural gas prices, that was largely influenced by the Russia / Ukraine conflict as we became a major exporter to Europe due to their shortages. Don't like the global market? Well, lets stop importing Russian oil and Russia / Ukraine wheat and see how we like prices for our related goods thereafter. We already saw what happened to our fuel prices until we struck a deal with Saudi's.