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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 04 2018, @03:34AM (1 child)
its a cost. you pay a cost equal to the price of an item which you hope is less than or equal to its value
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday January 04 2018, @04:59AM
Not for the consumer of electricity on the other side of that transaction. They aren't doing that. Similarly, a positive price would be a cost for the consumer rather than the producer. Price is indeed used correctly when referring to negative prices. It is the monetary value of the transaction. Something with a price, which is traded, is always a cost to someone.