Price increases and shortages

[Rhodie Ranch]

Funny this should come up. I just got a full month's bill from Clark Public Utilities (same as BobM). It was $64 and we have two refrig, one freezer and I turn on the AC every day at 5 p.m. Its got an elec water heater too.

I just got a full month's bill from Pacific Power for our Medford OR home. It was $76 and there is only one refrig, only turned on the AC when hubs goes down to work on the house (about 9 days in the last month) and the water heater is gas. Basically an empty home right now.

Both homes are 2x6" construction. Medford was built in 2001, while this 1974 home was remodeled down to the stud in 2016.

HUGE DIFFERENCE in electric rates due to the hydroelectric generation up here in the PNW.

 

[flowerbug]

Funny this should come up. I just got a full month's bill from Clark Public Utilities (same as BobM). It was $64 and we have two refrig, one freezer and I turn on the AC every day at 5 p.m. Its got an elec water heater too.

I just got a full month's bill from Pacific Power for our Medford OR home. It was $76 and there is only one refrig, only turned on the AC when hubs goes down to work on the house (about 9 days in the last month) and the water heater is gas. Basically an empty home right now.

Both homes are 2x6" construction. Medford was built in 2001, while this 1974 home was remodeled down to the stud in 2016.

HUGE DIFFERENCE in electric rates due to the hydroelectric generation up here in the PNW.

when i lived in TN the late 90s my electric bill in the summer was often less than $20 per month and even a few times under $10. a small fan burned less than 10 watts. didn't need AC and the electric rates were super low.

now where we're at the peak power rate here is $0.149255 per kwh and off peak rate is $0.100079, we've actually saved money this year by shifting our AC and other heavy uses to off-peak time. it's ok with me and not too hard to work around. Mom grumbles at times, but it's worth about $10 a month so hey, chocolate money as we call it.

on our current bill 82 out of 145 total is cost for the actual juice - the rest is distribution and other fees (50 for distribution and 8 for connection being the two biggest ones).

 

[seedcorn]

Easiest way to prove alternative energy sources aren’t viable-the government has to supplement them. Anything that is a slam dunk, needs no help. Huge $$$ in alternative sources for those selling, building them and politicians. Lawyers will get rich later suing for all kinds of things-health concerns, animals hurt, false promises, etc....

I’m for looking into alternatives, but keep government out of it!

 

[flowerbug]

Easiest way to prove alternative energy sources aren’t viable-the government has to supplement them. Anything that is a slam dunk, needs no help. Huge $$$ in alternative sources for those selling, building them and politicians. Lawyers will get rich later suing for all kinds of things-health concerns, animals hurt, false promises, etc....

I’m for looking into alternatives, but keep government out of it!

fossil fuels have had subsidies too. so i think you're biased against them. in a perfect market system there'd be no subsidies at all for anything. good luck with that. ain't going to happen here.

if you want to see what the market system in Texas has done take a look at their daily statistics for wind and solar energy. supposedly they're all gung ho for free market and don't tread on me sorts of things right? yet they're heading up in wind and solar installations. they're currently paying more for electricity than California which has installed even more solar (but not so much wind power). California is also installing more batteries along with what they already have. right now they can shift 1-2 Gigawatts from the middle of the day into the evening and are adding to that capacity as fast as they can.

personally i don't care how they do it as long as it gets done. burning coal and natural gas is more expensive than solar or wind. the market has spoken on that score (look at how many new power installations of all types are being proposed).

even in the stodgy midwest area where MISO takes care of power distribution here are the interconnect queue request stats:

Battery Storage 160
Coal 1
Diesel 1
Gas 9
Hybrid 79 (these are likely wind/solar and battery combined, some may be natural gas too)
Hyrdo 2
Solar 438
Waste Heat Rec 1
Wind 78

 

[seedcorn]

This is why I don’t discuss things with you. You jump to inaccurate conclusions & insults.

Have a good life.

 

[bobm]

When we still lived in Cal. , they built hundreds of huge windmills in the windy areas of the coast range. We lived more inland from there. My brother lives in the Napa Valley and we visited him and his wife on most holidays, so we passed many of them going and coming home. It was rare indeed to see even a few rotate very slowly. Doing so, just how much power do they produce??? Then they started to find dead eagles, hawks, migratory birds, and song birds that hit the windmill blades and dropped dead. Enter the animal rights groups, followed by lawyers to file law suits. So, just how do the owners of these windmills make money ? Think ... our tax dollars hard at work ! Also, on the national news today... Cal. just past a new law outlawing any new car with an internal combustion engine to be sold in Cal. , only electric cars after 2025.

 

[seedcorn]

Is it 2025 or 2035? In Cali traffic jams, what happens when batteries die? I get hybrids but pure electric is asinine. Of course we are talking politicians and people in Cali where common sense left the state decades ago. They are the golden children.

Are people just going to cross state lines to buy a gas car? This is beyond insanity. Kind of like Cali firms buying carbon credits from farmers and believing that justifies their pollution! Cali and LA are the 2020 version of ancient Rome. They’ve banned morality and won’t give ups their pleasures, instead rob from other states.

 

[flowerbug]

This is why I don’t discuss things with you. You jump to inaccurate conclusions & insults.

Have a good life.

posting facts is innacurate?

 

[digitS']

after 2025

2035

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I keep hearing on the TV that NY is planning something even more ambitious/ill advised, not only banning the sale of non electric cars, but their ownership as well (i.e. EVERYONE has to get an electric). AND requiring all houses to convert to electricity for heating (i.e. no more coal, oil, or gas.)

What makes this even dumber is that, according to the ads, not only were they planning on having the law take effect instantly upon passing (i.e. the moment the law is passed, it all becomes illegal, no grace period.) but they have NO plans to try and up the infrastructure/power grid, which is severely overtaxed even now.

To me, this seems to be a symptom of the rise of radical environmentalism, people who are SO determined to save the planet at any cost that they not only don't care if people are inconvenienced, but also don't care if they are totally ruined/killed in the process. It's the move from "Earth First" to "Earth Only". And what worries me is that it is only a matter of time before someone decides the whole process isn't moving fast enough through legal channels, and decides to cross the line into illegal ones. (It's the same way I worry that, someday, someone in the Human Extinction Movement will decide that the population isn't dropping as fast as they want it, and will rethink the part of the movements credo that the reduction be "voluntary."