Very Cold Weather In South 2/10/21

[bae]

When I was a high school student at a boarding school on the range in Colorado, I wore my shorts year-round. I once was skateboarding down to the dining hall for breakfast, with snow on the ground, and the headmaster, walking the other way all huddled up in a parka, yelled at me to put on pants, because "Looking at you makes me cold!".

I've graduated to a kilt.

[jp1]

On the other hand, my first year in college in Miami I went to marching band practice one Saturday in October or November when the weather had finally cooled down to something reasonable like 70 degrees at 10am. It was still a bright sun day so I went to practice in shorts like always, except that I wasn’t sweating buckets. It quickly became apparent which of my fellow students and the instructors were Florida natives. They were all dressed like winter had arrived. The head instructor was wearing a big fluffy down parka.

[GeorgeParker]

Just reading about the electricity challenges https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/texas-...ages-1.5914371. I had no idea of the costs of electricity. Does a home electricity bill adjust to the cost under the Texas service or is it simply averaged over a period of time?

"Electricity prices spike more than 10,000% on the Texas power grid...

As I said in my previous reply to this post, most people in Texas are on a "fixed cost per kilowatt-hour" electric plan and thus insulated from wholesale price spikes, although those price spikes are eventually reflected in the price we all pay for electricity.

But it turns out some people are on variable-rate electricity plans that save them a lot of money when rates are low, and risk them receiving huge bills when the wholesale price has a crazy spike. So here is a follow-up filling in the information I wasn't aware of when I wrote my previous reply:

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02...lectric-bills/

Excerpt: "Lawmakers and Abbott have pledged to protect consumers from the big bills, and excoriated the Electric Reliability Council of Texas for the outages last week. The reliability council, which operates the power grid that covers most of the state, is overseen by a Public Utility Commission. Abbott’s office did not respond to a question about what options were on the table. Lawmakers have demanded that the utility commission roll back its decision to allow the huge rate increases, or suggested cobbling together some package of emergency waivers or relief money to buffer Texans’ from the high bills. “We cannot allow someone to exploit a market when they were the ones responsible for the dire consequences in the first place,” said state Rep. Brooks Landgraf, R-Odessa."

[catherine]

I read in the NYTimes (I think) that an example of this weird way of charging for electricity has resulted in one Texan on a fixed income having to wipe out his savings to pay a $16k electric bill incurred by the price spike. That is unconscionable.

[SteveinMN]

I read in the NYTimes (I think) that an example of this weird way of charging for electricity has resulted in one Texan on a fixed income having to wipe out his savings to pay a $16k electric bill incurred by the price spike. That is unconscionable.

Much as I don't want to see anyone's retirement savings wiped out by a huge expense, if it was that Texan's choice to use a variable-rate plan (I am assuming it's a choice the consumer makes, not designated to the house or locale), then he chose to live and die by the sword and this time he got cut badly. What about all the money he was saving when electricity prices were lower than his neighbors'?

Would the reaction be different if the discussion was about bailing out someone who lost big at the casino? Or a company that took PPP money last year because they happened to fit the profile, not because they needed the cash?

[Tradd]

I’m with Steve. You have to know you’re rolling the dice with a variable rate plan.

[GeorgeParker]

I’m with Steve. You have to know you’re rolling the dice with a variable rate plan.

Exactly! But these plans were sold to consumers on the basis that you'll be paying half as much or maybe even 1/3 as much as your neighbors for electricity, and consumers weren't warned that there was literally no limit to how high the price could go if things got crazy, or that it could jump that high instantly with no warning. And whatever warning exists is buried deep in the small print so that all the customer sees is a safe sounding line like "the price per kilowatt-hour on this plan will vary and may change frequently." IOW there was no effective warning that you're making a high-stakes bet. But in defense of the electric providers that sold these plans, it's pretty certain that nobody ever thought wholesale electricity costs had any chance of suddenly becoming $9/kilowatt or even $1/kilowatt.

[iris lilies]

On the other hand, my first year in college in Miami I went to marching band practice one Saturday in October or November when the weather had finally cooled down to something reasonable like 70 degrees at 10am. It was still a bright sun day so I went to practice in shorts like always, except that I wasn’t sweating buckets. It quickly became apparent which of my fellow students and the instructors were Florida natives. They were all dressed like winter had arrived. The head instructor was wearing a big fluffy down parka.

People they be weenies.

I haven’t worn a real winter coat here in years. I have a heavy hooded sweatshirt and wear it over a long t-shirt. My trunk simply doesn’t get cold.

my ears and hands are another matter. I wear two sets of gloves and have to walk half a mile before my circulation delivers warm blood to my fingers.

[Teacher Terry]

I never wore a winter coat here until I lost all that weight. I still don’t wear it often because it’s sunny almost everyday.

[JaneV2.0]

Exactly! But these plans were sold to consumers on the basis that you'll be paying half as much or maybe even 1/3 as much as your neighbors for electricity, and consumers weren't warned that there was literally no limit to how high the price could go if things got crazy, or that it could jump that high instantly with no warning. And whatever warning exists is buried deep in the small print so that all the customer sees is a safe sounding line like "the price per kilowatt-hour on this plan will vary and may change frequently." IOW there was no effective warning that you're making a high-stakes bet. But in defense of the electric providers that sold these plans, it's pretty certain that nobody ever thought wholesale electricity costs had any chance of suddenly becoming $9/kilowatt or even $1/kilowatt.

Texas oil and gas executives were truly giddy "We hit the jackpot!" they crowed, gleeful over fleecing the public. Reminds me of the despicable Enron execs literally yukking it up about their machinations bankrupting widows and orphans. Scum.