Hotter Than High School Love
It’s hot in Texas. When God made it that way, he was hoping to melt the fools but that didn’t work out too well. However, last summer was so hot that it melted a few diamonds.
After a decade of Rick Perry and his money grubbing buddies, Texas has very little infrastructure. After Hurricane Ike, my 86 year old Momma went without electricity for over two weeks. Her house was fine – a few limbs down but that’s all. But it took two weeks to get electricity to her. The power companies admitted their infrastructure was crap surrounded by poop with a load of crud on top.
Back in 1975, we were promised that we’d save enough money by supporting deregulation that we could buy a Cadillac for each day of the week. And like the promised insurance savings that would come with tort reform, that didn’t happen. We were lied to.
What we got instead was the promise of brown-outs during the height of Texas heat. Our power grid sucks.
In a recent report, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation projected that the Texas grid will have the lowest percentage of power reserves this summer of any region of the country.
The Texas Public Utility Commission thinks they might have a solution – stick it to the public.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas, which oversees the grid, has also been working on ERCOT’s power problem. One of its main moves so far has been to increase the maximum amount of money that power companies can get from selling their power. The idea is to give the companies a stronger incentive to build more power plants, though consumer advocates say this amounts to a giveaway to the companies at ratepayers’ expense — without any guarantees that the companies will build more plants.
Oh yeah, they will build more plants because corporations care more about people than profits, right?
The PUC has three commissioners who run it. They are all appointed by Rick Perry. You know where this is going, right? The same place it goes every damn time we raise electricity rates. No more power to the people, that’s for sure.
Democrats should call them what they are: Rick Perry Brownouts.
Sounds like a stronger incentive to start equipping your houses with solar panels.
1I thought South Dakota had the world’s cheapest electricity at around 11c per KWH (total bill divided by KWH used) but my son who lives in Round Rock tells me he is currently paying 8c KWH and has (I believe) three providers to choose from. This is an amazing thing, the choice that is. I have never lived anywhere that wasn’t a monopoly where they charge you whatever they want in the form of unregulated supplemental fuel surcharges which can more than double the actual cost per KWH
My friend in Hawaii has regulated rate of around 15c but her actual cost is close to 49c
2Spending money since 1975 to teach people how to conserve electricity rather than build more power plants would have been… just too un-conservative, I guess.
3I’m thankful for City Public Service in San Antonio. Keeps the ‘privates’ out.
4I’m with Corinne Sabo, and thankful for City Public Service in San Antonio, and I have friends in Los Angeles thankful for their Department of Water and Power.
@Lynne, people need to be careful about buying solar panels now. According to the newspaper today “defective solar panels come to light.” Apparently even the most reputable Chinese factories are substituting cheaper and untested materials. SolarBuyer, a company based in Mass., has discovered defect rates of 5.5 to 22% during audits of 50 Chinese factories over the last 18 months.
5Find a friend at your utility. Ask for a list of the PV suppliers. Call the suppliers for an estimate. Ask lots of questions. There is a big variation in who does what. A good company will see that you get good panels, just like some cf light bulbs are better than others. I’m not getting PV because we’d have to cut down trees to get enough full sunshine and trees are good energy conservation items. Before you even consider PV, get double pane windows, lots more insulation, more efficient appliances, and get used to sitting by the window to read instead of turning on the light. Sweat a little. That’s why we’re made that way. Use your solar box cooker (mine is a SUN OVEN, and yes, it cooks). Hang out the laundry to dry. Remember, electricity production is one of the biggest water users, unless it comes from solar PV or wind. And if you want gas appliances remember that leases have to be signed and land has to be dug up and natural gas piped across land in order to get it where you want it. We’re NOT made to sit in a pile of ice in the road. Yeah San Antonio re: electricity and water stuff. Austin used to be the top of the heap. Sigh.
6p.s. Maybe not always but generally the cheapest electricity uses the dirtiest power source. It used to be that way and I’m guessing it still is. Try hard to keep governance of your utility under citizens’ control instead of letting the state get hold of it.
7I’ve heard of many solar electricity system not working when the power goes out. Seems the installed solar system needs the commercial power to match to the alternating current and without that reference, it shuts down. The short-term solution is to buy a small Honda generator and let the system match to that alternating current when the power goes out.
8The whole idea of “competition” in electric power is hogwash, anyway. Utilities were allowed to be monopolies to streamline power distribution and garner economies of scale. But one of the requirements was the “reliability of Service” clause, which said utilities had to bust their butts to get power back to their customers if it’s lost. In the 1990s the utility engineers dreamed up this competition shell game and the very first thing to disappear was that pesky reliability of service clause. Prices have gone way up while service has almost disappeared.
My understanding of the reason solar power systems shut down when the main power goes is a bit different than WC Peterson’s: seems as though the solar power panels put the excess power back into the grid. Hence, your solar power panel either needs to shut down completely when there’s a power failure (the cheaper way), or automatically disconnect from the grid. Otherwise, when the guys come out to fix the grid’s wires, they’ll get hit with the power from your solar panels.
On a side note: California tried the “maximize the power company’s profits through regulation” path. It turns out that brownouts are more profitable than reliable power, as desperate people will pay lots more for power than comfortable people. (Economists call it “price inelasticity” – the best visual is of some guy in the middle of the desert deciding that the water at the only oasis for 100 miles in any direction is too expensive.)
9P.S.: “Brownout” does sound like the active ingredient in so very many Republican ideas…
10I thought Satan had sent some of his weather up here to Vermont, but not to worry – we have frost warnings again for tonight.
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