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Comment by jeffbee | Hacker News Reader

Why, just because it's 110F every day and the electricity costs $50/kWh on weekdays from 6pm-8pm?

SF paper had a longer treatment of the report 2 days ago https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/california-transplants-... and it links to the original, paywalled report.

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>it's 110F every day

This is just ridiculous (unless intentional hyperbole that I misunderstood, in which case sorry!).

Wiki Austin climate reality check: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin,_Texas#Climate

it was over 100f 30 days this August

https://www.wunderground.com/history/monthly/us/tx/austin/KA...

I barely handle over 90f for few days

The person I'm replying to said "every day", which is a far cry from "one day of the year". I'm not saying Austin isn't hot! I'm sure it's awful.

It was 110F august 27th in Austin. Average historical climate isn’t the metric it used to be considering the climate now.

1991-2020 normals are great if you intend to move to Austin in 1991, which I fully recommend because it was dirt cheap and quirky and the lines at the restaurants were much shorter.

If you have to move to 2023 Austin then you have to be ready for highs over 100 for 36 of the last 37 days, and the remaining day it was 99.

It's 86F there right now. At midnight. Most coastal Californians think 86 is a fatal atmospheric condition.

You're citing old data. The summer of 2023 has been recorded, and 110F is not much of an exaggeration:

https://weatherspark.com/h/y/8004/2023/Historical-Weather-du...

I moved away from Austin in the late 80s partly to get away from the heat, and it's gotten steadily worse since: The heat island is more profound now that Austin is so much bigger, climate change is happening, and El Nino made the summer of 2023 in Texas unbearable. Keep in mind these temperatures are accompanied by very high humidity.

And if you think the heat is uncomfortable in Austin, in Houston it's moreso.

People are afraid of Houston.

If they can't even handle Austin, I don't blame them.

Can you point me to a source for your $50/kWh number? My gut instinct is that it's orders of magnitude off. That's $50,000 / MWh.

ERCOT wholesale prices in the Day Ahead market average around $30 / MWh, peaking at $5000/MWh in June for 1 hr.

They can't because it's not true. You're absolutely right, it legally can't go above $5,000/MWh meaning $5/kWh. It was lowered to that value after the winter storm where it hit is previous max of $9,000/MWh.

No consumer pays $50/kWh in Texas.

Yet. You can't expect the electricity resellers to absorb wholesale market shocks forever without passing it on to consumers. The ERCOT spot market has hit the ceiling of $5000/MWh every single day all summer long.

Is that the spot price or price for all electricity consumed in the state? Depending on how the market is structured it's very possible that there's different prices paid depending on the type of contract. For instance the utility might be paying one generator a fixed price for base load, and gets the remainder on the spot market. On hot days the spot market might be $5000, but that's not the price the utility pays for all electricity at that moment, because it also has electricity supplied from lower priced contracts.

It balances out for all those hours in the year where prices go negative and all those hours where it's not $50/kWh.

Plus, youre talking spot markets, not day ahead. Most electricity is sold in the day ahead markets, which isn't anywhere near those prices.

But hey, continue suggesting people are actually paying $50/kWh without sharing any additional context. Being truly genuine, I see.

I did the math based on my usage last month. I pay $0.06/kWh for electricity cost (not including delivery, just energy). Most of my usage is after those peak hours, as my car charges and pool pumps run and we do our laundry and dishwasher and what not over the evening or early morning. Even at that rate my REP probably made money off me, as they would have still been ahead assuming they were properly buying in the day ahead markets. And in the fall when rates often go negative they'll make a lot of my usage getting paid both ways on the transaction. What do you pay for electricity?

Oh yeah, and my plan is 100% renewable purchase. What mix is yours?

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