Electricity Price Increases

JRH02 · 2025-08-27T11:55:31-0400

If you want to see some REAL creativity in upcharges on a bill, look to Verizon.

Snobdds · 2025-08-27T12:01:54-0400

not2old said:
And it could be worse. Can you imagine what it would be like if the tariffs on Chinese electric cars should manically disappear?

Yeah we wouldn't collect so much in tariff revenue, revenue that also makes the dollar stronger to have more purchasing power to get us back to pre covid era prices.

Please, more manic purchasing power...

Lineman North Florida · 2025-08-27T12:15:05-0400

jyoutz said:
Well, the coal plants in my state converted to natural gas and we also have about 40% produced by renewables. But not customer owned solar: corporate owned wind and solar fields. The power companies say their operations costs have decreased by tens of millions annually. My monthly bill has been stable for at least the past 5 years.

Natural gas can be great, it's about the only thing that kept my ex-employer afloat when they saw that they could run the gas turbines drastically cheaper than a bio-mass plant, but still nowhere as cheap as coal. I'm sure that certain renewables in certain areas are reasonable such as Hydro at TVA, but in this area trying to save the world and please the do-gooders nearly bankrupted a once top utility in Florida, as someone else said being diversified is the way to go. If your light bill is as you say , then it sounds like your electricity provider is doing a good job at least regionally, but if the day comes and you hear them say that they are committing to do away with fossil fuels, natural gas etc 100% to generate electricity, hold on to your hat because you are in for an expensive ride.

jyoutz · 2025-08-27T13:15:53-0400

Lineman North Florida said:
Natural gas can be great, it's about the only thing that kept my ex-employer afloat when they saw that they could run the gas turbines drastically cheaper than a bio-mass plant, but still nowhere as cheap as coal. I'm sure that certain renewables in certain areas are reasonable such as Hydro at TVA, but in this area trying to save the world and please the do-gooders nearly bankrupted a once top utility in Florida, as someone else said being diversified is the way to go. If your light bill is as you say , then it sounds like your electricity provider is doing a good job at least regionally, but if the day comes and you hear them say that they are committing to do away with fossil fuels, natural gas etc 100% to generate electricity, hold on to your hat because you are in for an expensive ride.

They are now building the 2nd largest wind farm in the U.S. about 50 miles east of my place. Everyday I see lines of wind turbine towers and blades going down the interstate on trucks. It is going to produce far more than the state can use and the power will be exported to the grid. I don’t know why you say coal is cheaper than natural gas? The local plant ownership say that conversion from coal to gas will save approximately $10M annually in plant operations. Coal requires transport costs, gas comes in a pipeline. Coal requires more people to operate the plant, keep it clean and dispose of waste, gas turbines operate efficiently with little maintenance and personnel needed. And it is abundant and cheap. There will come a time when solar will be the greatest source of power in my area and I think within the next 10 years. As a forester, I’ve been hoping for biomass because it helps us to thin our forests and reduce high severity fires, but the hurdles have been cost as you stated. If we would look at costs to society, biomass would be a bargain when you consider the costs of wildfire management, rehabilitation, reforestation, and community infrastructure and lives lost to high severity fires that could be forgone by forest thinning to use as biomass. But of course the power isn’t as cheap as other options.

rontaki · 2025-08-27T13:31:14-0400

jyoutz said:
Think about all of the coal infrastructure costs: mining, rail transport, handling at power plant, cleaning and waste disposal. Those all require significant personnel and equipment costs.

Which translates in jobs

KennyG · 2025-08-27T13:34:28-0400

rontaki said:
Which translates in jobs

Which cost money. I'm always amused when I see something being promoted that will "save money and create a lot of jobs". It's possible but not likely.

jyoutz · 2025-08-27T13:34:55-0400

rontaki said:
Which translates in jobs

Of which they can’t find enough people to do those jobs. It also translates to the cost of power.

Snobdds · 2025-08-27T13:38:36-0400

jyoutz said:
They are now building the 2nd largest wind farm in the U.S. about 50 miles east of my place. Everyday I see lines of wind turbine towers and blades going down the interstate on trucks. It is going to produce far more than the state can use and the power will be exported to the grid. I don’t know why you say coal is cheaper than natural gas? The local plant ownership say that conversion from coal to gas will save approximately $10M annually in plant operations. Coal requires transport costs, gas comes in a pipeline. Coal requires more people to operate the plant, keep it clean and dispose of waste, gas turbines operate efficiently with little maintenance and personnel needed. And it is abundant and cheap. There will come a time when solar will be the greatest source of power in my area and I think within the next 10 years. As a forester, I’ve been hoping for biomass because it helps us to thin our forests and reduce high severity fires, but the hurdles have been cost as you stated. If we would look at costs to society, biomass would be a bargain when you consider the costs of wildfire management, rehabilitation, reforestation, and community infrastructure and lives lost to high severity fires that could be forgone by forest thinning to use as biomass. But of course the power isn’t as cheap as other options.

Coal was made expensive due to regulations...remove the regulations and... boom...cheap.

This coal will be allowing everyone to use Facebood, Amazon, and Microsoft stuff. Tech might seem to be green, but to make the stuff work takes massive amounts of power.