Submitted via IRC for Bytram
Germany has spent $200 billion over the past two decades to promote cleaner sources of electricity. That enormous investment is now having an unexpected impact — consumers are now actually paid to use power on occasion, as was the case over the weekend.
Power prices plunged below zero for much of Sunday and the early hours of Christmas Day on the EPEX Spot, a large European power trading exchange, the result of low demand, unseasonably warm weather and strong breezes that provided an abundance of wind power on the grid.
Such "negative prices" are not the norm in Germany, but they are far from rare, thanks to the country's effort to encourage investment in greener forms of power generation. Prices for electricity in Germany have dipped below zero — meaning customers are being paid to consume power — more than 100 times this year alone, according to EPEX Spot.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 03 2018, @07:45AM (5 children)
Ditch the power regulation, and you create something like Enron and the rolling blackouts that California suffered.
The free market will very efficiently allocate resources for the average need. There will be little margin for failure. The free market doesn't want to pay for redundant power equipment. The free market just doesn't give a damn about reliability. Companies that attempt to be reliable are quickly put out of business due to high costs.
(Score: 5, Touché) by bob_super on Wednesday January 03 2018, @09:00AM
Natural last-mile monopolies supplying basic critical utilities (water, electricity, gas, landline internet) should not be for-profit nor private.
Whatever happened to actual Strategic Interest? Do we need another world war to remind people, or will people finally notice industries are getting priced out of some consumer markets by their utility bills compared to their foreign competitors?
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by khallow on Wednesday January 03 2018, @11:49PM (3 children)
Pennsylvania and Texas didn't have those problems when they deregulated their markets. California regulators created the problem: power generation heavily restricted in California so a massive amount of power needs to be supplied from neighboring states; the "spot" market (market for in day power needs) was mandated for most power consumption - the distribution utilities couldn't buy contracts to avoid using the market excessively (this created the fertile grounds for market manipulation that Enron exploited); and California regulators looked the other way for months until it got so bad (with two of the big three companies in bankruptcy) that the governor (who probably was bribed to look the other way) had to intervene.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @01:35AM
and enron was a cia front so wtf does it have to do with the "free market", as if we have one in the first place.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @07:43AM (1 child)
Shirley, you fuck-all idiot khallow, living where you live, you are familiar with the demise of Montana Power? The hated corporation that was the spawn of Rockefeller and Anaconda Mining Company? Are you a shill for 19th century Robber Barrons, as well as the more recent versions? Or just ignorant of history? Inquiring minds want to know, khallow!!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 04 2018, @12:44PM