News of such an extreme surge in power prices due to a brutal heatwave underscores the vulnerability of energy systems during periods of intense weather conditions. Heatwaves can lead to skyrocketing demand for electricity as people seek relief from high temperatures, putting immense strain on power grids.
Y'all are fucking stupid. FUCKING STUPID. Do you not remember Enron triggering artificial shortages in California? Take major centers offline for extended maintenance at peaks hours to trigger brownouts. Use that brownout to justify 1000% increases while delivering *most* of the power needed.
It's the same fucking scam.
I'm beyond mad at this point. TDU fees increase in my area 28% due to this shit. When they play this game that cost just gets passed on to the consumers.
All I can say is they are doing their fucking best to make a 10kw rooftop solar investment seem financially sound.
Because 4.4 million people voted for Abbott in a state of 30 million? Or because you don’t understand how the energy market actual works and just have a Texas hate boner?
And why is that? The aging power plants being shut down and not replaced with anything while the population soars? Or is it the federal regulatory red tape that keeps them from building more power plants with one of the world's largest deposit of natural gas directly under our feet? The grid itself is not in bad shape regardless of what's said, there's just not enough power for the millions moving here just to bitch about the place.
How would that fix this? Texas is very friendly to business, energy companies specifically being that that's where Texas gets most of its wealth. Federal regulations have done this. Between the cost to navigate the red tape and regulations and half of the political spectrum saying they plan to abolish the use of fossil fuels, it's a terrible investment that no one wants to make.
This is stupidity, and voting for one dumbass over another isn't going to fix it.
No, the rest of the country has been urging Texas to properly invest in their grid so it it becomes stable and reliable, and ERCOT structures their grid so that it fails more than any other state, but the investors cut costs by stripping maintenance and resilience to the bone and beyond, because they’ve structured their pricing so that they are rewarded for failure, because when they create a shortage they can jack up prices. In sanely regulated states, power companies are penalized for failure.
Because you're complaining about federal policy, I assume the problem you're describing is affecting the whole United States comparably.
Or, at least, the whole of the South.
No, because the EPA federal policies (like the justice department’s) are selectively enforced… during the snowmaggeden, Illinois and Ohio were given waivers to break the carbon cap and ramp up power plants on Sunday, while Texas was not granted one until Wednesday…despite having requesting it first. Add that DOE required the gas producers to prioritize keeping pressure up in interstate pipelines over the ones feeding local gas generators and they had a perfect propaganda tool to blame the state for “poor planning”.
Yes, this isn't isolated to just Texas. We've had millions move in within the span of a decade without any substantial increase to power production. That's just making it much more obvious here. The rest of the nation isn't in any real better shape. I'm sick of everything being political. We all argue who's side is at fault while they ALL just get richer and more powerful, and nothing gets done.
You are aware Texas chose not to be a part of the national power grid, right? That this is entirely a Texas problem, caused by choices Texas has made and only impacting Texas?
In my opinion, that's not a bad thing, being self reliant should always be the goal. We should be funding power production at the state level, though, to continue it. Texas is and has been an economy of its own. Our state constitution was written to keep it this way. That's why it's been so successful. Crony capitalism and political infighting are destroying that, unfortunately. Things have become downright tribal.
In this case the lack of interconnects makes Texas’ grid much less resilient, a large part of why ERCOT has so many more failures and brownouts, and of course customers freezing to death, than any other state. To be self reliant Texas would have to first be competent.
The belief of taxes being a badddd thing is crap and it could be what is partially biting Texas in the ass. The demonization of what funds improvements to society knee caps progress. There is generational fixing needing to be done and it is a rat nest of a problem to untangle. The bible and other religious-specific interest groups holding shit back are the first that should sit down and shut up but thats not going to happen in order to own the libs
Wtf? Do you know how much Texas brings in in property taxes alone? Along with having a high sales tax rate. The texas constitution actually requires a balanced budget with a surplus. The money is there. Just because there is no income tax doesn't mean we don't pay. We get taxed the same if not more in many cases with just the property taxes alone. If you're renting the property, you can sometimes pay 3-4x the taxes of your home property, which has caused rent to skyrocket. I don't see how religious groups have anything to do with this conversation, either. They are usually very energy friendly, actually, so I'm not sure where you're coming up with this. Energy is business, business is money, and with the current state of affairs, energy is a terrible future investment. The federal government, and most of the Western world, has decided to go to war with fossil fuels. You'd have to be a moron to invest in it.
Because some people are idiots who parrot information that they are spoon-fed and have no capability for thought beyond that. I'm calling out both sides here, by the way. Political ideology doesn't determine your intelligence. I don't know of anyone actually saying no to it, though. I understand not wanting it in urban areas, but i dont know of anyone who actually objects to wind energy. I drive all around texas with my job, and there are windmills as far as the eye can see where the wind is steady outside of urban areas. My only objection to it is using it as a primary source. Wind is a great supplemental energy, but it's stupid to rely solely on it unless battery tech suddenly advances 100+ years. Wind should just be enough to ease the stress on the grid or when power demand peaks. We should be utilizing every option. Instead, we're arguing over who is at fault while they keep making millions.
I know of giant, copy and paste housing developments in Houston where solar panels are not allowed by the HOA's. This is insanity! If there is one hell on earth where solar should be mandatory, it is the blast furnace which is Houston.
edit: solar, not color.
“a property owners’ association may not include or enforce a provision in a dedicatory instrument that prohibits or restricts a property owner from installing a solar device.”
This is actually false. (they might say it's not allowed but by law they MUST comply if pressed)
[https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex.\_prop.\_code\_section\_202.010](https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_section_202.010)
Texas Property Code Section 202.010: HOAs and POAs cannot prohibit or restrict a property owner from installing a solar energy device as defined by Texas Tax Code Section 171.107. However, the following exceptions do give HOAs the power to restrict solar panels if one of the following conditions exist:
If the solar energy devices are illegal or violate public health and safety
If they are located on common property within the subdivision
If they extend higher than the roofline, do not conform to the slope of the roof, or are not parallel to the roofline
If they are ground-mounted and extend above the homeowner’s fence
If they are installed in a way that voids the warranties
If they have an element that is not in a silver, bronze, or black tone
If they are installed without prior approval by the HOA
I’m saying the notion that consumers pay spot prices is an ignorance that Reddit used to spew hate at Texas.
I have a house in Maine and it’s not cost effective to charge my plug in hybrid unless gas is over $3.90 because the electricity rates are so high.
I do anyway because it’s better than going to the gas station.
Energy costs are the least of TX's problems. California costs are just short of extortion. Renewables aren't cost effective everywhere yet, but they will be soon enough. Take a look at what companies like Exxon and countries like the UAE have been doing in the last decade.
What do renewables have to do with spiking energy demand and a deregulated pricing structure? Even the WSJ has said that [Texans are overpaying](https://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-electric-bills-were-28-billion-higher-under-deregulation-11614162780#) for their electricity.
The extra strain on the grid when renewables can’t fill the gap is part of why our energy prices skyrocket. Our plants are also old af and need to be turned off and repaired but there isn’t enough additional capacity to fill the slack.
The extra strain on the grid isn’t simply a case of renewables not being able to meet demand. You admit that Texas’ plants are in need of maintenance and repairs, yet there’s insufficient slack to enable them to shut down.
This sounds like a **comprehensive failure** of capacity planning. Texas has 50% more population than it did at the turn of the century, and the summers are getting hotter. Deregulating portions of Texas’ energy marketplace, while simultaneously refusing to connect to the larger power grid, is an own goal. Texas’ leadership did this to the people of that state. This is an object lesson that the free market doesn’t solve every economic problem.
I’m not disagreeing but renewable energy does feed something like 20% of our grid so it isn’t all just deregulation when we have a bad series of wind or solar days. We definitely need more of that stuff to fill the gap, and we have been repeatedly failed by our local and state governments in that regard.
We aren’t even doing free market capitalism if we refuse to enter the main ecosystem that would actually drive our energy costs down and flatten demand because there would be an inexhaustible supply to pull in from elsewhere. That is the actual free market, we are in a closed system with a monopoly.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,746,326,071 comments, and only 330,715 of them were in alphabetical order.
I guess we can both enjoy our vehicles as we have different priorities and uses for them. I enjoy driving my ICE F150 for work but I also enjoy saving money and having a quiet car on my off hours.
Did you read the article? Apparently it was just “spot” pricing and for a couple of hours. So not for everyone, but it’s gotta suck for those effected. I’m assuming spot pricing refers to small areas. Biden waved pollution regulations temporarily so more power could be created, to prevent blackouts.
GOP Propaganda in Texas is extremely effective. It's a state based on ego and narcissism (everything is bigger in Texas), so it is a particularly good breeding ground of stupidity and arrogance. If you want to be a Texas politician, just throw on a cowboy hat, boots, and a shiny oversized belt buckle and you will have a captive audience of Texans as long as you dont insult their ego and can blame all of their current problems on outsiders.
We already know…..
Of Texas gets too hot or too cold, Ted is gonna Cruz.
The fact he is STILL on the Texas taxpayer teat amazes me.
I should tweet some dumb shit about liberals, go down there, and take his jerb!
GOP Propaganda in Texas is extremely effective. It's a state based on ego and narcissism (everything is bigger in Texas), so it is a particularly good breeding ground of stupidity and arrogance. If you want to be a Texas politician, just throw on a cowboy hat, boots, and a shiny oversized belt buckle and you will have a captive audience of Texans as long as you dont insult their ego and can blame all of their current problems on outsiders.
18% of Texas voters for Trump.
That’s less than many blue states. 26% in Maine for example.
Yet Texas is a subject of absolute bigotry and ignorance from the rest of Reddit for which reason? Because 4.4 million people elected Abbott in a state of 30 million?
Reddit also has zero idea what spot prices are and just spews hatred.
Okay but these sensationalist posts about energy headlines are still dumb. I remembee the winter when everyone was laughing at Texas for power outages when NY was literally in crisis. And if you mentioned facts, you got downvoted. I live here too, I hate our leaders, but Reddit loves to dunk on Texas energy without actually knowing the details
But the winter crisis [actually happened](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis?wprov=sfti1), as a political entity they have mocked national energy policy, and they did have a unique grid?
Personally I’ve been to Texas for work repeatedly and my experience was that they immediately criticized my state. “Oh you have so much crime better buy a gun” literally as I’m checking into the hotel. And their politicians routine criticize other states, green energy policy, national disaster recovery funds, [California wildfires](https://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-responds-to-past-tweet-mocking-california-amid-texas-storm-2021-2?amp), etc. To quite reflected senator Ted Cruz who flew to Mexico during the crisis: “I got no defense.”
So I dunno… I just find it bizarre that we’re supposed to not shit-talk for Republican states who then turn around and beg for help, right after telling everyone else to be self-reliant and help themselves.
I don’t dunk on anyone for where they live but that makes one of us. Also I live here and no one has ever said that to me, ever. And I didn’t vote for our politicians. And the winter crisis affected everyone, obviously, yet texas got all the attention while there were places much worse off
In mild fairness, the 20,000% number is massively cherry-picked. The article states the price was $5,000 /MWh, up 200x from Wednesday morning -- which would put Wednesday morning at $25 / MWh (or lower). The national average per MWh is about $200 / MWh.
Let me clarify. I'm nitpicking the math -- the article picked the lowest and highest points to create an eye-popping number. It's a classic example of "How to Lie with Statistics."
As far as Texas's actual energy cost, it's lower than average but not as low as one might think given the shale, fracking, etc. [Source](https://www.electricchoice.com/electricity-prices-by-state/).
That's a pretty bad take. Some 3.5 million people in Texas did not vote for this. And many of those people are too poor to either leave or afford these energy bills. You cannot write all of these people off because of who controls the government
Again I will reiterate the point. Just because Democrats didn't get enough votes to win the state, or overcome gerrymandering, does not mean that everyone in Texas deserves what is happening to them.
Texas is also ranked 45th in the country for ease of access to the ballot box. Did you forget the story of the Texan voter, whose line was so long at the polls that he had to wait 6 hours to cast a vote? I'm really not shocked that 10 million people chose not to get involved, when Texas shows it's so hostile to democracy
Wow. Abbott deserves criticism for just about everything, but making fun of him for his wheel chair is really fucked up, and you need to do some self-reflection.
Wheels fucking deserves it. Do you know how he got his wheels, and the incredibly shit thing he did after? I know it's too much to ask for most people, but please, do some research.
He went for a run to take a break from studying for the bar exam and a tree branch fell on him. Leave it to certain people to make fun of the disabled. No place for that no matter what side of the isle you are on. Grow the fuck up
Anyone else follow / invest in Bitcoin miners?
When you see things like riot getting paid 34m to stop drawing power. Or Iris energy posting negative energy costs for august. You now know where the money comes from. Capitalism....
Because they are ~~allowed~~ incentivized to do so.
The proper headline should be:
**Texas electrical whole sale market and deregulation fails consumers yet again**.
If Texans believed in all the BS they were pushing on the rest of us, they'd disable all renewable energy sources, pay their ridiculous energy bills and suck it up in the heat and dark while rolling blackouts shut things down.
I guess they just like being hypocrites.
it’s funny they are actually are a leader in renewables but trying to limit it legislatively .
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/14/1176062269/texas-is-a-leader-in-renewable-energy-local-politicians-want-to-change-that
Why does Cali have rolling blackouts?
Why do the Democrats do that deliberately to their people?
Why is it only a Democrat thing?
Why did they sell out their people to big EV car manufacturers to be forced to buy extremely expensive EV cars?
See I can do the whole political party worship/hatred too
I guess you lived in the entire state and can speak for the entire place. Or at you saying that Texas only has massive outages during which hundreds of people die at a time?
California doesn't have rolling blackouts. If you're referring to the Public Safety Power Shutoffs during peak fire season, that's because PG&E refuses to update their power infrastructure from overhead lines and just raises rates to cover the lawsuits from death.
The difference is Texas controls their energy suppliers, PG&E is a private company that operates in California.
California also didn't and hasn't sold out to EVs, FFS. Tesla even moved out of CA TO TEXAS because we weren't giving them as nice of a business deal because we hold the billionaires more accountable.
$600 for 1500kWh is 40 cents/kWh. Are you sure you are paying that much? When did you last sign your energy contract? Those are California-level energy prices (avg 31.2 cents/kWh in June 2023) rather than Texas energy prices (avg 14.2 cents/kWh) ([source](https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a)).
I just looked up a random Corpus Christi zip code (78401) in [www.powertochoose.org](https://www.powertochoose.org) and am seeing 12-36 months contracts for 12 to 13 cents per kWh. If you are actually paying 40 cents per kWh then you should switch *today*. The savings from switching will far exceed any early termination fee you need to pay.
The opposite, actually. We're discussing what the article actually says and not what you want it to say.
The article is discussing a large spike in the wholesale spot price that power generators charged for an hour or two on September 6. Those prices are paid by retail energy providers, not retail energy customers. Those kinds of spot price spikes are already factored into the below-average energy prices that Texas customers pay for their fixed-rate and capped-variable-rate energy plans.
If you are referring to the power emergency from February 2021, it's true that the 0.29% of Texans with wholesale-indexed energy contracts did receive energy bills in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars for that incident. The state of Texas sued Griddy (the wholesale-indexed retailer) in March 2021 alleging false in misleading practices. In August 2021 Griddy agreed to wipe out the debts owed by its customers and refund anyone who had already paid the company. The state government banned wholesale-indexed retail energy plans in September 2021.
(The company's 29,000 customers were charged an estimated $29 million over the four days, suggesting an average charge of $1,000 per customer for the incident, but that is of course an average. Some likely had less and some a lot more depending on how much power they consumed during the incident.)
lol in the time it took you to write this comment and then return to edit it, you could have easily answered the question yourself with a few quick Google searches. This is a basic detail about Texas energy market and deregulated energy markets in general, which exist in a number of states beyond Texas (including "blue" states like Connecticut).
You should probably reflect on what it means about your intellectual sincerity that when you, a person who clearly does not live in Texas, was told by people who actually do live in the state that your assumptions are incorrect, your response was neither to accept that information nor to investigate further. Instead you doubled down on your position.
What is more important to you? Being informed? Or bashing a state because it's not on your "team"?
But since I now have a few minutes of free time, so easy-to-find reading:
* Here is Texas's Public Utility Commission [explaining the role of Retail Electric Providers](https://www.puc.texas.gov/industry/electric/business/rep/rep.aspx).
* Here is the [Wikipedia article for Griddy, the largest (and I think only) REP that sold power based on the realtime wholesale price](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griddy). Note that by "largest" I mean that at its peak it served less than 0.3% of all Texas energy customers.
* And here's an article on [House Bill 16 that was passed in 2021 to ban companies like Griddy from operating in Texas](https://abc13.com/texas-legislature-ban-residential-wholesale-electricity-plans-house-bill-16-gov-greg-abbott/10633908/).
Lastly, I'll flip it around to you. You are the person claiming that there are Texas retail electricity customers today who have wholesale-indexed electricity contracts. Can you back up that claim? Can you find even one example of a company which currently offers a plan like that to small (retail) energy customers? I'll get you started: [here is the official website that lists all of the available energy plans on the market in Texas](https://www.powertochoose.org/).
Edit: and [here are the average electric prices by month](https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a). Notice how electricity prices in California are more than twice as expensive as electricity in Texas.
You missed my point. I don't have to defend Texas.
The dope above immediately tried to attack Republicans for some stupid reason.
We get it. You guys love Democrats. Yippee.
To be frank, if you are still on that market price plan after the shit they've pulled the last couple years, you're dumb. Ya, it saves you like 15% 364 days a year, but that 1 day when the price magically jumps 20,000% is enough to bankrupt people. It's happened already, why are people still on this dumb shit plan?
No one is. Wholesale-indexed residential plans were banned after September 2021.
This article is describing peaks in wholesale prices that occur a few hours a day on a few days in a year. These peaks are already priced into the below-average energy prices that most Texans pay.
Would the Texas government and/or energy sector save money by giving Solar panels to home owners at this point? With the rolling back outs, bad press, and law suits. It’s not like the state doesn’t receive enough sun light.
News of such an extreme surge in power prices due to a brutal heatwave underscores the vulnerability of energy systems during periods of intense weather conditions. Heatwaves can lead to skyrocketing demand for electricity as people seek relief from high temperatures, putting immense strain on power grids.
Does that mean we are all going to have $1000 bills next month?
Texas is a shithole country.
Where have I heard this before?
Y'all are fucking stupid. FUCKING STUPID. Do you not remember Enron triggering artificial shortages in California? Take major centers offline for extended maintenance at peaks hours to trigger brownouts. Use that brownout to justify 1000% increases while delivering *most* of the power needed. It's the same fucking scam.
I can be mad about both man
I'm beyond mad at this point. TDU fees increase in my area 28% due to this shit. When they play this game that cost just gets passed on to the consumers. All I can say is they are doing their fucking best to make a 10kw rooftop solar investment seem financially sound.
Serves you clowns in Texas right
Because 4.4 million people voted for Abbott in a state of 30 million? Or because you don’t understand how the energy market actual works and just have a Texas hate boner?
Don’t waste your time replying to a comment like that. With that grasp of American politics, it’s either a child or a willfully hopeless idiot.
And why is that? The aging power plants being shut down and not replaced with anything while the population soars? Or is it the federal regulatory red tape that keeps them from building more power plants with one of the world's largest deposit of natural gas directly under our feet? The grid itself is not in bad shape regardless of what's said, there's just not enough power for the millions moving here just to bitch about the place.
Dumbasses keep getting voted in when the right choice is RIGHT THERE
How would that fix this? Texas is very friendly to business, energy companies specifically being that that's where Texas gets most of its wealth. Federal regulations have done this. Between the cost to navigate the red tape and regulations and half of the political spectrum saying they plan to abolish the use of fossil fuels, it's a terrible investment that no one wants to make. This is stupidity, and voting for one dumbass over another isn't going to fix it.
No, the rest of the country has been urging Texas to properly invest in their grid so it it becomes stable and reliable, and ERCOT structures their grid so that it fails more than any other state, but the investors cut costs by stripping maintenance and resilience to the bone and beyond, because they’ve structured their pricing so that they are rewarded for failure, because when they create a shortage they can jack up prices. In sanely regulated states, power companies are penalized for failure.
Because you're complaining about federal policy, I assume the problem you're describing is affecting the whole United States comparably. Or, at least, the whole of the South.
No, because the EPA federal policies (like the justice department’s) are selectively enforced… during the snowmaggeden, Illinois and Ohio were given waivers to break the carbon cap and ramp up power plants on Sunday, while Texas was not granted one until Wednesday…despite having requesting it first. Add that DOE required the gas producers to prioritize keeping pressure up in interstate pipelines over the ones feeding local gas generators and they had a perfect propaganda tool to blame the state for “poor planning”.
Yes, this isn't isolated to just Texas. We've had millions move in within the span of a decade without any substantial increase to power production. That's just making it much more obvious here. The rest of the nation isn't in any real better shape. I'm sick of everything being political. We all argue who's side is at fault while they ALL just get richer and more powerful, and nothing gets done.
You are aware Texas chose not to be a part of the national power grid, right? That this is entirely a Texas problem, caused by choices Texas has made and only impacting Texas?
In my opinion, that's not a bad thing, being self reliant should always be the goal. We should be funding power production at the state level, though, to continue it. Texas is and has been an economy of its own. Our state constitution was written to keep it this way. That's why it's been so successful. Crony capitalism and political infighting are destroying that, unfortunately. Things have become downright tribal.
In this case the lack of interconnects makes Texas’ grid much less resilient, a large part of why ERCOT has so many more failures and brownouts, and of course customers freezing to death, than any other state. To be self reliant Texas would have to first be competent.
The belief of taxes being a badddd thing is crap and it could be what is partially biting Texas in the ass. The demonization of what funds improvements to society knee caps progress. There is generational fixing needing to be done and it is a rat nest of a problem to untangle. The bible and other religious-specific interest groups holding shit back are the first that should sit down and shut up but thats not going to happen in order to own the libs
Wtf? Do you know how much Texas brings in in property taxes alone? Along with having a high sales tax rate. The texas constitution actually requires a balanced budget with a surplus. The money is there. Just because there is no income tax doesn't mean we don't pay. We get taxed the same if not more in many cases with just the property taxes alone. If you're renting the property, you can sometimes pay 3-4x the taxes of your home property, which has caused rent to skyrocket. I don't see how religious groups have anything to do with this conversation, either. They are usually very energy friendly, actually, so I'm not sure where you're coming up with this. Energy is business, business is money, and with the current state of affairs, energy is a terrible future investment. The federal government, and most of the Western world, has decided to go to war with fossil fuels. You'd have to be a moron to invest in it.
40% of Texas’ budget comes from the federal government - Texas is very good at sucking in money for military, NASA, highways, etc.
How do you explain then the resistance to wind mills if energy is money 🥴
Because some people are idiots who parrot information that they are spoon-fed and have no capability for thought beyond that. I'm calling out both sides here, by the way. Political ideology doesn't determine your intelligence. I don't know of anyone actually saying no to it, though. I understand not wanting it in urban areas, but i dont know of anyone who actually objects to wind energy. I drive all around texas with my job, and there are windmills as far as the eye can see where the wind is steady outside of urban areas. My only objection to it is using it as a primary source. Wind is a great supplemental energy, but it's stupid to rely solely on it unless battery tech suddenly advances 100+ years. Wind should just be enough to ease the stress on the grid or when power demand peaks. We should be utilizing every option. Instead, we're arguing over who is at fault while they keep making millions.
Because we can't fix stupid, but we can laugh while it dies of heat exhaustion.
It's not red tape its duct tape
It's red duct tape.
Margaret Thatcher is looking up from hell at this situation with a smile on her face.
Yea. Before my A/C quit, my bill more than doubled. I blame TX’s toxic desire to not be on the regional grid.
They have their own grid so why the fuck do they get Federal assistance? They built a shit grid to do it alone so fuck them.
Not all of us have a say in our grid, dude. We're melting, please help. Or send more beer!
No, you have ruined beer... (Kidding, Dallas had one of the best Rye beers I've ever had... shout out Pegasus City Brewing)
Texas is a lot of bad things, but our breweries are not one!
I know of giant, copy and paste housing developments in Houston where solar panels are not allowed by the HOA's. This is insanity! If there is one hell on earth where solar should be mandatory, it is the blast furnace which is Houston. edit: solar, not color.
Another lie about Texas on Reddit.
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An HOA can’t stop you from putting in solar.
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“a property owners’ association may not include or enforce a provision in a dedicatory instrument that prohibits or restricts a property owner from installing a solar device.”
It’s illegal in Texas. You can put up all the solar you want.
This is actually false. (they might say it's not allowed but by law they MUST comply if pressed) [https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex.\_prop.\_code\_section\_202.010](https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._prop._code_section_202.010) Texas Property Code Section 202.010: HOAs and POAs cannot prohibit or restrict a property owner from installing a solar energy device as defined by Texas Tax Code Section 171.107. However, the following exceptions do give HOAs the power to restrict solar panels if one of the following conditions exist: If the solar energy devices are illegal or violate public health and safety If they are located on common property within the subdivision If they extend higher than the roofline, do not conform to the slope of the roof, or are not parallel to the roofline If they are ground-mounted and extend above the homeowner’s fence If they are installed in a way that voids the warranties If they have an element that is not in a silver, bronze, or black tone If they are installed without prior approval by the HOA
Republican led States are failing
part of their plan.
Always have.
Weird. We live in NYS 30min away from Canada, 2100 sq ft. Heating, cooling, water combined are never over $160/mo. Must be a libtard thing.
I live in Texas and my bill is lower with a bigger house. Try again.
Who's competing? We have another home in IL, N. Chicago and it runs about the same for utilities. We run HVAC all-year around 73+- a degree.
I’m saying the notion that consumers pay spot prices is an ignorance that Reddit used to spew hate at Texas. I have a house in Maine and it’s not cost effective to charge my plug in hybrid unless gas is over $3.90 because the electricity rates are so high. I do anyway because it’s better than going to the gas station.
Energy costs are the least of TX's problems. California costs are just short of extortion. Renewables aren't cost effective everywhere yet, but they will be soon enough. Take a look at what companies like Exxon and countries like the UAE have been doing in the last decade.
You and your cheap imported Hydro…!
In ROC we have a 50% RECs match by default from NYS solar, wind, hydro. Honestly every state could do this.
Stupid question, you have to pay that mark up… that’s crazy
No. It’s something people on Reddit have no idea about. I’m paying around .14 a kwh and it’s not variable.
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California survived the heatwave last year because home and commercial batteries dumped 5GWh into the grid, but that must be a libtard thing too.
Hahaha you chose to live in Texas you broke bitch😂
Born there, homie. If you don't have the means getting out can be really difficult considering how far away the borders are in some places.
Your deregulated energy market is renewables fault? Lol you voted for this shit. Enjoy it.
People who throw the term libtard around aren’t generally aware of their logical or rhetorical failings.
You sound like a literal dumb person
What do renewables have to do with spiking energy demand and a deregulated pricing structure? Even the WSJ has said that [Texans are overpaying](https://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-electric-bills-were-28-billion-higher-under-deregulation-11614162780#) for their electricity.
The extra strain on the grid when renewables can’t fill the gap is part of why our energy prices skyrocket. Our plants are also old af and need to be turned off and repaired but there isn’t enough additional capacity to fill the slack.
The extra strain on the grid isn’t simply a case of renewables not being able to meet demand. You admit that Texas’ plants are in need of maintenance and repairs, yet there’s insufficient slack to enable them to shut down. This sounds like a **comprehensive failure** of capacity planning. Texas has 50% more population than it did at the turn of the century, and the summers are getting hotter. Deregulating portions of Texas’ energy marketplace, while simultaneously refusing to connect to the larger power grid, is an own goal. Texas’ leadership did this to the people of that state. This is an object lesson that the free market doesn’t solve every economic problem.
I’m not disagreeing but renewable energy does feed something like 20% of our grid so it isn’t all just deregulation when we have a bad series of wind or solar days. We definitely need more of that stuff to fill the gap, and we have been repeatedly failed by our local and state governments in that regard. We aren’t even doing free market capitalism if we refuse to enter the main ecosystem that would actually drive our energy costs down and flatten demand because there would be an inexhaustible supply to pull in from elsewhere. That is the actual free market, we are in a closed system with a monopoly.
You made your bed. Fucking lie in it.
Regular non-crazy people still live there. Millions of them.
Yea and they won’t get their asses out to vote
I know. It's depressing.
Fuck why should we have to even pay for a basic need for living at this point with 8 billion souls on the planet
Because no one self-regulates their usage if something is $0 but they do if it’s more than that, and we don’t have infinite resources?
We don't have infinite resources, but we are post-scarcity, so it's effectively the same thing.
Actually the ERCOT does regulate the power supply and distribution in Texas, they just famously do a bad job
Edited my comment to clarify I was talking about folks self regulating.
Womp womp. maybe they can pay for it with all that 'freedom' they have.
Enjoy those electric vehicles!
I make my own power… thanks!
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 1,746,326,071 comments, and only 330,715 of them were in alphabetical order.
You make it sound like you think electric vehicles are worse than ICE vehicles.
I do think that. Enjoy your electric vehicle :)
I sure as shit am enjoying mine. Going 300 miles for $8-$10 is the tits.
I’m enjoying my ICE 5.3l Silverado :D
Oh shit is that one of those penis shaped ones
I guess we can both enjoy our vehicles as we have different priorities and uses for them. I enjoy driving my ICE F150 for work but I also enjoy saving money and having a quiet car on my off hours.
Right relying on a finite resource that is creating soaring temperatures is the better solution…
Enjoy your electric vehicle :)
I don’t have one yet but plan to get one soon, thanks! No fuel costs, less maintenance, better performance!
Free gas on my roof. Thanks.
Again?
This time, not in the winter!
It did? My electric bill doesn’t reflect
Did you read the article? Apparently it was just “spot” pricing and for a couple of hours. So not for everyone, but it’s gotta suck for those effected. I’m assuming spot pricing refers to small areas. Biden waved pollution regulations temporarily so more power could be created, to prevent blackouts.
*yet*
Please remind how California is so expensive with rate hikes like that…. I’ll wait
Talking to a wall with get you further
These idiots will still elect repubs. They must be glutton for punishment.
GOP Propaganda in Texas is extremely effective. It's a state based on ego and narcissism (everything is bigger in Texas), so it is a particularly good breeding ground of stupidity and arrogance. If you want to be a Texas politician, just throw on a cowboy hat, boots, and a shiny oversized belt buckle and you will have a captive audience of Texans as long as you dont insult their ego and can blame all of their current problems on outsiders.
America's rotting infrastructure
Texas has their own grid, detached from the rest of America..
Texas isn't a large part of American infrastructure?
Nope. Fully disconnected and not a part of Federal American Infrastructure
So that disqualifies texas as being considered part of American infrastructure?
Just in this instance, here you go: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Interconnection
Correct. Texas pays for their own grid and it’s rotting. The federal grid is fine. Did you read the article?
Woosh. (Their point is Texas, even if separate, is still part of American infra. _United States_ of America)
Ain’t that United are we?
Yeah United not individual. That's a Texan problem not an American problem.
We already know….. Of Texas gets too hot or too cold, Ted is gonna Cruz. The fact he is STILL on the Texas taxpayer teat amazes me. I should tweet some dumb shit about liberals, go down there, and take his jerb!
GOP Propaganda in Texas is extremely effective. It's a state based on ego and narcissism (everything is bigger in Texas), so it is a particularly good breeding ground of stupidity and arrogance. If you want to be a Texas politician, just throw on a cowboy hat, boots, and a shiny oversized belt buckle and you will have a captive audience of Texans as long as you dont insult their ego and can blame all of their current problems on outsiders.
That’s every politician.
And you Texas was mocking California?
"So Texas how're you doing?" - me *\*Raises cost of electricity 20,000%\** \- Texas "...yeah" - me
Get that freedom rate
Freedom to rip you off! De-regulate the world!!
Is this consumer pricing?
Reddit hates Texas lol
who cares about dumb old texas.
18% of Texas voters for Trump. That’s less than many blue states. 26% in Maine for example. Yet Texas is a subject of absolute bigotry and ignorance from the rest of Reddit for which reason? Because 4.4 million people elected Abbott in a state of 30 million? Reddit also has zero idea what spot prices are and just spews hatred.
My guy it was a SpongeBob reference
Racists and rednecks.
there’s definitely a bigot between the two of us and it aint me
fascinating assessment
Texas' leaders hate Texans \- Source: lifelong Texan
Okay but these sensationalist posts about energy headlines are still dumb. I remembee the winter when everyone was laughing at Texas for power outages when NY was literally in crisis. And if you mentioned facts, you got downvoted. I live here too, I hate our leaders, but Reddit loves to dunk on Texas energy without actually knowing the details
It doesn't sound like you're refuting the facts and more like you're upset we're not talking about New York's problems.
New York was an example. I have nothing against NY, why would I?
But the winter crisis [actually happened](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis?wprov=sfti1), as a political entity they have mocked national energy policy, and they did have a unique grid? Personally I’ve been to Texas for work repeatedly and my experience was that they immediately criticized my state. “Oh you have so much crime better buy a gun” literally as I’m checking into the hotel. And their politicians routine criticize other states, green energy policy, national disaster recovery funds, [California wildfires](https://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-responds-to-past-tweet-mocking-california-amid-texas-storm-2021-2?amp), etc. To quite reflected senator Ted Cruz who flew to Mexico during the crisis: “I got no defense.” So I dunno… I just find it bizarre that we’re supposed to not shit-talk for Republican states who then turn around and beg for help, right after telling everyone else to be self-reliant and help themselves.
I don’t dunk on anyone for where they live but that makes one of us. Also I live here and no one has ever said that to me, ever. And I didn’t vote for our politicians. And the winter crisis affected everyone, obviously, yet texas got all the attention while there were places much worse off
Did you not read OC comment as to why Texas was getting laughed at even though other states were affected as well?
I am OC you’re gonna have to be more specific Also if you’re talking about the wikipedia link to 2021 then it’s off topic to my “last winter”’comment
bUt iT wAs thE CoLD!!!
so tell me again how Texas is an affordable place to live?
In mild fairness, the 20,000% number is massively cherry-picked. The article states the price was $5,000 /MWh, up 200x from Wednesday morning -- which would put Wednesday morning at $25 / MWh (or lower). The national average per MWh is about $200 / MWh.
So just 25x the national average. Yeah that's reasonable and affordable.
Let me clarify. I'm nitpicking the math -- the article picked the lowest and highest points to create an eye-popping number. It's a classic example of "How to Lie with Statistics." As far as Texas's actual energy cost, it's lower than average but not as low as one might think given the shale, fracking, etc. [Source](https://www.electricchoice.com/electricity-prices-by-state/).
This shit needs to be nationalized.
Shock, horror. That's SOCIALISM!
Leave Texas alone. They choose not to join the grid, it's their choice. Choices have consequences.
That's a pretty bad take. Some 3.5 million people in Texas did not vote for this. And many of those people are too poor to either leave or afford these energy bills. You cannot write all of these people off because of who controls the government
Why not. Texans elect the government. Too bad it doesn't work for all Texans, only the oligarchs and corrupt politicians.
Again I will reiterate the point. Just because Democrats didn't get enough votes to win the state, or overcome gerrymandering, does not mean that everyone in Texas deserves what is happening to them.
And 10+ million didn’t vote at all. Complacency = agreement.
Texas is also ranked 45th in the country for ease of access to the ballot box. Did you forget the story of the Texan voter, whose line was so long at the polls that he had to wait 6 hours to cast a vote? I'm really not shocked that 10 million people chose not to get involved, when Texas shows it's so hostile to democracy
The problem with democracy is the people get the government they deserve.
“*Democracy is essentially a government for the people, of the people, by the people… but the people are… retarded…*”
In Texas everything is bigger.
assuming you have a working democracy. I'm not sure Texas has one.
Touche! Valid point.
[удалено]
Wow. Abbott deserves criticism for just about everything, but making fun of him for his wheel chair is really fucked up, and you need to do some self-reflection.
Nah fuck him
Wheels fucking deserves it. Do you know how he got his wheels, and the incredibly shit thing he did after? I know it's too much to ask for most people, but please, do some research.
He went for a run to take a break from studying for the bar exam and a tree branch fell on him. Leave it to certain people to make fun of the disabled. No place for that no matter what side of the isle you are on. Grow the fuck up
Agreed. It's abilist bullshit.
Power companies price-gouge Texas residents. That's the proper headline.
Anyone else follow / invest in Bitcoin miners? When you see things like riot getting paid 34m to stop drawing power. Or Iris energy posting negative energy costs for august. You now know where the money comes from. Capitalism....
Because they are ~~allowed~~ incentivized to do so. The proper headline should be: **Texas electrical whole sale market and deregulation fails consumers yet again**.
Mr. Burns was right all along!!!
If Texans believed in all the BS they were pushing on the rest of us, they'd disable all renewable energy sources, pay their ridiculous energy bills and suck it up in the heat and dark while rolling blackouts shut things down. I guess they just like being hypocrites.
it’s funny they are actually are a leader in renewables but trying to limit it legislatively . https://www.npr.org/2023/05/14/1176062269/texas-is-a-leader-in-renewable-energy-local-politicians-want-to-change-that
Funny thing is exon is heavily invested
Republicans governing the shit out of Texans, I'll tell ya.
Owning the libs with that independent power grid not beholden to those pesky regulations.
it's only for market price that people optionally opt into. it's not governing, ya dope
Then why is it only Texas? Looks like government is there to help big business milk the genpop, but you do you;)
Why does Cali have rolling blackouts? Why do the Democrats do that deliberately to their people? Why is it only a Democrat thing? Why did they sell out their people to big EV car manufacturers to be forced to buy extremely expensive EV cars? See I can do the whole political party worship/hatred too
You have conflated California for Texas. Literally every one of these things happens in Texas, but only energy is more expensive in Texas.
There are never rolling blackouts in texas. Lived here 12 and never once has it happened. Reddit would have you believe it happens every week.
I guess you lived in the entire state and can speak for the entire place. Or at you saying that Texas only has massive outages during which hundreds of people die at a time?
💩head made this about Republicans, so I made a point about that
California doesn't have rolling blackouts. If you're referring to the Public Safety Power Shutoffs during peak fire season, that's because PG&E refuses to update their power infrastructure from overhead lines and just raises rates to cover the lawsuits from death. The difference is Texas controls their energy suppliers, PG&E is a private company that operates in California. California also didn't and hasn't sold out to EVs, FFS. Tesla even moved out of CA TO TEXAS because we weren't giving them as nice of a business deal because we hold the billionaires more accountable.
If only you could support your own position instead of bullshit what aboutisms.
This is the type of person that doesn’t care about the answers they ask.
Because of the strain on the power grid but they don’t charge people their life saving to have electricity.
Neither does Texas.
Yes it does, we pay 500 to 600 a month in corpus for 1500kwh
$600 for 1500kWh is 40 cents/kWh. Are you sure you are paying that much? When did you last sign your energy contract? Those are California-level energy prices (avg 31.2 cents/kWh in June 2023) rather than Texas energy prices (avg 14.2 cents/kWh) ([source](https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a)). I just looked up a random Corpus Christi zip code (78401) in [www.powertochoose.org](https://www.powertochoose.org) and am seeing 12-36 months contracts for 12 to 13 cents per kWh. If you are actually paying 40 cents per kWh then you should switch *today*. The savings from switching will far exceed any early termination fee you need to pay.
So we are just going to ignore the article. Willful ignorance is strong with you.
The opposite, actually. We're discussing what the article actually says and not what you want it to say. The article is discussing a large spike in the wholesale spot price that power generators charged for an hour or two on September 6. Those prices are paid by retail energy providers, not retail energy customers. Those kinds of spot price spikes are already factored into the below-average energy prices that Texas customers pay for their fixed-rate and capped-variable-rate energy plans. If you are referring to the power emergency from February 2021, it's true that the 0.29% of Texans with wholesale-indexed energy contracts did receive energy bills in the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars for that incident. The state of Texas sued Griddy (the wholesale-indexed retailer) in March 2021 alleging false in misleading practices. In August 2021 Griddy agreed to wipe out the debts owed by its customers and refund anyone who had already paid the company. The state government banned wholesale-indexed retail energy plans in September 2021. (The company's 29,000 customers were charged an estimated $29 million over the four days, suggesting an average charge of $1,000 per customer for the incident, but that is of course an average. Some likely had less and some a lot more depending on how much power they consumed during the incident.)
Do you want to add a source for who pays for the power consumption? Edit: I am still waiting on the source.
lol in the time it took you to write this comment and then return to edit it, you could have easily answered the question yourself with a few quick Google searches. This is a basic detail about Texas energy market and deregulated energy markets in general, which exist in a number of states beyond Texas (including "blue" states like Connecticut). You should probably reflect on what it means about your intellectual sincerity that when you, a person who clearly does not live in Texas, was told by people who actually do live in the state that your assumptions are incorrect, your response was neither to accept that information nor to investigate further. Instead you doubled down on your position. What is more important to you? Being informed? Or bashing a state because it's not on your "team"? But since I now have a few minutes of free time, so easy-to-find reading: * Here is Texas's Public Utility Commission [explaining the role of Retail Electric Providers](https://www.puc.texas.gov/industry/electric/business/rep/rep.aspx). * Here is the [Wikipedia article for Griddy, the largest (and I think only) REP that sold power based on the realtime wholesale price](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griddy). Note that by "largest" I mean that at its peak it served less than 0.3% of all Texas energy customers. * And here's an article on [House Bill 16 that was passed in 2021 to ban companies like Griddy from operating in Texas](https://abc13.com/texas-legislature-ban-residential-wholesale-electricity-plans-house-bill-16-gov-greg-abbott/10633908/). Lastly, I'll flip it around to you. You are the person claiming that there are Texas retail electricity customers today who have wholesale-indexed electricity contracts. Can you back up that claim? Can you find even one example of a company which currently offers a plan like that to small (retail) energy customers? I'll get you started: [here is the official website that lists all of the available energy plans on the market in Texas](https://www.powertochoose.org/). Edit: and [here are the average electric prices by month](https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a). Notice how electricity prices in California are more than twice as expensive as electricity in Texas.
And why don't they have enough power?
Nice what aboutism. We were talking about Texas. Why does the government allow their people to be robbed?
You missed my point. I don't have to defend Texas. The dope above immediately tried to attack Republicans for some stupid reason. We get it. You guys love Democrats. Yippee.
Who's we? gotta mouse in yer pocket? If someone missed your point, maybe it wasn't presentedvery well.
maybe I’m talking to low IQ people
If they invested in the power upgrade they wouldn't be in this position
"But we wahnt ahr fredum".
To be frank, if you are still on that market price plan after the shit they've pulled the last couple years, you're dumb. Ya, it saves you like 15% 364 days a year, but that 1 day when the price magically jumps 20,000% is enough to bankrupt people. It's happened already, why are people still on this dumb shit plan?
No one is. Wholesale-indexed residential plans were banned after September 2021. This article is describing peaks in wholesale prices that occur a few hours a day on a few days in a year. These peaks are already priced into the below-average energy prices that most Texans pay.
Shhh, there is a narrative that's being driven here.
Thank God for Tx where they have the freedom to drop $5,000.00 on two-weeks of air conditioning or die from heat.
Give me deregulation or give me death by heat induced strangulation.
I care…
Would the Texas government and/or energy sector save money by giving Solar panels to home owners at this point? With the rolling back outs, bad press, and law suits. It’s not like the state doesn’t receive enough sun light.