Electricity Price Increases

[rontaki]

I have retrofitted my 1971 ranch style as much as possible. When I bought, it didn't have insulation in big parts of the attic, single glazed aluminum frame windows and sliders, uninsulated duct work, and no subfloor insulation. It had a resistive electric furnace. Investing thousands in energy upgrades has a good payback, but it also greatly improved the livability of the house. It was 92 degrees yesterday, we forgot to turn the AC back on, and didn't notice.

'Round where I live, 92 feels like time to turn the heater on...

 

[California]

'Round where I live, 92 feels like time to turn the heater on...

Ha! I'm presently at home, down on the flatlands downhill from you. With an assignment just now to get little granddaughter out of the house, to the park. in 94 degree heat. She can run around all she wants but I'm going to sit and watch.

Wish I were back over at the ranch (orchard) that's inland from Bodega Bay. And 15 degrees cooler.

 

[lman]

'Round where I live, 92 feels like time to turn the heater on...

The warmest temperature we had this summer was 93, of course the humidity was about 60% at that time. I complain if it gets over 80. It's 62 right now and I love it.

 

[1Mech]

I opened my electric bill a few days ago and it was the highest I remember having! I used ~ 16 kwh more than last month, but the bill increased by ~ $15! My new place in Arkansas is off grid, so I won't care when there. It is prepaid electric. Paid a big chunk up front, hope it lasts long enough to pay for itself! I told the Mrs., now, the more we use, the cheaper it gets!

 

[DarkBlack]

Move there.

Why? They have an average electric rate. Plenty of states with lower rates

 

[jyoutz]

Stateline? Gardnerville?

He can buy a cheap place in Incline Village.

 

[ultrarunner]

Tahoe Nevada side too pricey I’m afraid…

Family built a small cabin Nevada side circa 1948…

Sold just before the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics and the world discovered Tahoe… not the best timing.

In 64 bought on the California side… hindsight, Nevada would have been the best beach head.

Grandmother had lots of friends in Genoa, Minden and Gardnerville… even had a family offer a modest place on a few acres for 6500-7000 in 1966 in the Carson valley…

Many California expats have made their way to Nevada for retirement and tax advantages…

 

[jyoutz]

Tahoe Nevada side too pricey I’m afraid…

Family built a small cabin Nevada side circa 1948…

Sold just before the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics and the world discovered Tahoe… not the best timing.

In 64 bought on the California side… hindsight, Nevada would have been the best beach head.

Grandmother had lots of friends in Genoa, Minden and Gardnerville… even had a family offer a modest place on a few acres for 6500-7000 in 1966 in the Carson valley…

Many California expats have made their way to Nevada for retirement and tax advantages…

It would take a lot more than lower taxes to get me to move to the desert. Lots of people love it, but it’s not for me.

 

[ultrarunner]

That’s the odd juxtaposition…

Genoa is minutes from Lake Tahoe without the snow… summer is warmer on the desert side but humidity much lower.

The irony is cattle graze in the Carson Valley in lush green pasture whereas much of California is burnt, dusty dry and brown this time of year…. I think the cattle around Genoa have it very good…

Now put me in the middle of no where and I’m sure I would think different.

In the SF East Bay so much retail gone… so many businesses never recovered from the lockdowns but the Carson Valley of Nevada appears to be the opposite… plus I can readily buy alcohol free gasoline… and overall many things are less expensive plus no State Income Tax.

The dry climate is fantastic for collector cars…

Lower cost electricity is just one of many and as mentioned it’s a desert it might seem thing would be more expensive…

It would take a lot more than lower taxes to get me to move to the desert. Lots of people love it, but it’s not for me

 

[ruffdog]

In a few years we will be wishing we could have bills this low. It is only going to get worse.

 

[ultrarunner]

I’m thinking both inflation/declining purchasing power plus the for profit structure of many but not all providers…

 

[KennyG]

There is a least a chance that we may start building nuclear plants again in quantity. They won't be cheap, so it won't reduce electric rates, but it should stabilize rates for a long time. New nuclear plants should operate for 80 years or more, so capital costs are less important.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

There is a least a chance that we may start building nuclear plants again in quantity. They won't be cheap, so it won't reduce electric rates, but it should stabilize rates for a long time. New nuclear plants should operate for 80 years or more, so capital costs are less important.

The Japanese are deploying 1 mw nuclear modules designed to provide electricity where stringing wires is not practical. The Chinese have a prototype molten salt thorium reactor in operation. I think the US has a couple new nuclear plants under construction, but I don't know of any others on the drafting board. I think the ones under construction are using the 75 year old pressurized water heat exchanger design.

https://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/rich-tehrani/green/japans-yoroi-reactor-ushers-in-a-new-era-of-micro-nuclear-power.html

 

[KennyG]

The newest operating plants in the US are the Westinghouse AP1000 units at Vogtle in Georgia. They were late on schedule and over budget but now the design is standardized and approved and Westinghouse claims they want to build at least 10 more units in the nest 5 to 10 years. There are several small modular reactors either in the permitting stage or under construction. There is a planned reprocessing plant in Tennessee that will reprocess used fuel into new fuel, greatly reducing the waste disposal volume.

There is a lot of information in the industry press but these companies tend to avoid the general media attention because of the small group of "protest anything" organizations. That's why you don't hear much about the projects.

 

[KennyG]

The Westinghouse AP1000 is, at it's basis, a conventional pressurized water reactor. However, it is passively safe. That means that, in the event of a design basis accident, no active components, power supplies, or other support is required.

 

[MossRoad]

Palisades plant in Michigan is going to restart the existing reactor that was shut down in 2022 by the end of 2025. That's the goal, at least. Then they are going to install two SMR-300 reactors and have them operational by 2030, again, that's the goal. It's the first nuclear plant in the US that will be restarted after being decommissioned.

 

[Carl_NH]

Three MIle Island will restart it's non damaged reactors (that were shut down in 2019) by 2028 as part of a deal with Microsoft to run one of their data centers, also, Bill Gates is behind a project in Wyoming to build a plant there.

 

[KennyG]

Restart is also being considered for the Duane Arnold plant in Iowa. There are other nuclear plants that were perfectly good units that were shut down for political reasons or because of competition from cheap natural gas. They include /Rancho Seco and San Onofre in California, Zion in Illinois and Indian Point in New York but they will be harder to restart.

 

[rontaki]

Three MIle Island will restart it's non damaged reactors (that were shut down in 2019) by 2028 as part of a deal with Microsoft to run one of their data centers, also, Bill Gates is behind a project in Wyoming to build a plant there.

Let's just hope the TMI reactors and the one in Wyoming will not be running on Windows OS.

 

[ponytug]

Let's just hope the TMI reactors and the one in Wyoming will not be running on Windows OS.

No, I think it is MS-DOS, the last certified OS.