Amid rising electric bills, states are under pressure to insulate regular household and business ratepayers from the costs of feeding Big Tech’s energy-hungry data centers.
The closest we have is buying green energy in blocks, which means you reserve that much generation capacity. In theory, they have to build more capacity if demand outstrips suooly, but if they produce more than is reserved, they just sell at the normal (lower) rate. If you use less than you reserve, you just pay more.
It’s a wonky system and I’d prefer to choose by provider instead. At least our electricity provider has to ask the state legislature for permission to raise prices, so that’s nice. Energy here isn’t all that expensive (around the nationwide median) and moving toward green energy, but I think I’d prefer a more competitive system.
Quite a few states actually have systems like this. In which individuals can choose their power generator at will. It is nice as it increases competition and lets you tailor energy use to your wants.
If you want 100% green, switch to a generator that does that. If your default utility gets too expensive, switch to a cheaper one, etc.
The closest we have is buying green energy in blocks, which means you reserve that much generation capacity. In theory, they have to build more capacity if demand outstrips suooly, but if they produce more than is reserved, they just sell at the normal (lower) rate. If you use less than you reserve, you just pay more.
It’s a wonky system and I’d prefer to choose by provider instead. At least our electricity provider has to ask the state legislature for permission to raise prices, so that’s nice. Energy here isn’t all that expensive (around the nationwide median) and moving toward green energy, but I think I’d prefer a more competitive system.