Energy market deregulation in Texas

[stui magpie]

yeah, down here the number of sunny days is minimal. Up in Tocumwal you get sunny days in winter and lots more than down here. It does mess with you when the air temperature is 2c but the sky is clear and blue

[ronrat]

My parents are pensioners who live north of Gympie in QLD. They were dudded 4 times.

Firstly they were required to pay money to get imparja tv so Dad could watch the footy. Simple satellite dish installation. After 4 months the contractor had done nothing but blamed ACMI for not approving it. ACMIs main office is in Melbourne CBD so when I was in Russell Street for a training course I took a stroll into the office to find out the hold up. Turns out the bludger had not submitted the paperwork for Dad and about 200 other people in the area and had the cash. I reported him on the spot and the next day he rang me and had a go at him. Said he would sue me for defamation. ACMI told me they would deregister him. They rang him again and said he had 2 days to put the paperwork in and 14 days to install. He did it.

Then Anna Bligh told pensioners they would get a subsidy if they put a grey water system in their houses of about 500 dollars. So they thought well we are on tank water but the garden would be better off. So many people took up the offer that the government said they couldnt afford it so bad luck. So a whole bunch of people had to fork out the full cost. Of course the plumbers jacked up the prices to get the 500 bucks.

Then they had a vote on council amalgamation. The rural shires voted nearly 90 percent to stay as was. The Qld government said well the vote is non binding and we will amalgamate you with Hervey Bay which is 70 kms away. Mum gets a bill for water rates . Rings up new council offices and says "We have tank water, we buy water if we run out, why have I got to pay for water that is you do not supply". "Oh it is for the gardens in the area" Well there is none but in your area but you can still use the ones in Hervey Bay and Maryborough.

Then they decided to get solar as all figures showed they would be feeding more into the grid and it would pay for itself in 2 years. Well they damaged to roof (and did not pay for repair) and 3 months after they got it Ergon said that the amount of electricity going into the grid from solar was so large that it was causing cash flow problems and they wouldn't be paying for it. Dad rang the electricity regulator and they said the company had signed a deal with the Govt and they were not obliged to pay for it BUT were going to put a surchage on power to those who were getting "free" electricity and also got a bill passed that stopped people from disconnecting from the grid.

And don't start me on the proposal to dam the Mary River to supply water to Brisbane 150 kms away. that cost the qld governemnt billions to acquire land that now has been snapped up by Chinese interests after Peter Garrett said 389 environmental issues were too many and stopped them doing it.

I would btrust no governernemt to get any energy policy right unless it benefits those in heavily populated state capitals or the ACT .

[Pies4shaw]

Irrespective of the technology used, the “market” cannot be allowed to price electricity for ordinary people in this way.

[Tannin]

Never mind the insane no-maximum price thing, Texas has bigger problems with its power system.

First, it is essentially disconnected from the rest of the nation, so when bad weather strikes Texas, there is no help to be had.

Secondly, it is the only power grid in the civilised world that has no mandated reserve capacity. Yes, you heard that right: Texas power companies do not have to have any meaningful standby capacity.

So when the cold snap came, freezing gas pipelines and switch gear, disabling measuring and control equipment, and icing up wind turbine blades, Texas was utterly rooted.

So what madman set up this abortion of a system? Funny you should ask ... it was, of course, the work of a Texas oil baron, entirely done to benefit the energy industry of that state (and screw the public interest). He was at that time the Governor of Texas and his name was George W Bush.

[stui magpie]

Bit more detail about how the system works.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/02/17/texas-power-winter-storm/

Bitten clearly in the arse