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Switching electric providers


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Yeah, I'm new to it, but I can deal with the volatility if it overall balances out.  I've had good fixed rate plans that ran out, and because I was distracted with other shit at the time, probably gave back any savings in the next month on whatever shit plan they defaulted me to (Or like when Breeze went under, and TXU tried to annex me like the Sudetenland for over 20c/kwh). 

Like Vegas, the guys who put those plans together aren't in the business of giving away money, and I simply don't have the time or desire to try to beat the house.

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You make a good point, and I salute you for it.

But I have to admit I am much more amused by goofing off at work playing with my smart home shit than I am by opening 19 tabs of inscrutable electric plans, setting up accounts, and other stuff that's not as fun as turning the AC off on my lazy teenager.  And this is the first week I've had to pay much attention to it, otherwise I've just set it and forget it.

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8 hours ago, Damor said:

You make a good point, and I salute you for it.

But I have to admit I am much more amused by goofing off at work playing with my smart home shit than I am by opening 19 tabs of inscrutable electric plans, setting up accounts, and other stuff that's not as fun as turning the AC off on my lazy teenager.  And this is the first week I've had to pay much attention to it, otherwise I've just set it and forget it.

Dude it takes 1 tab and 1 shopping website to shop, and 10 minutes. 

Also, I’m at home today with a sick kid, so the a/c gonna be running. Thoughts and Prayers. 

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4 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Dude it takes 1 tab and 1 shopping website to shop, and 10 minutes. 

Also, I’m at home today with a sick kid, so the a/c gonna be running. Thoughts and Prayers. 

Crank the temp down as low as possible this morning. Then turn it off from 2-6p.  

 if the kid is well enough, go see a movie this afternoon. 

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Just now, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Crank the temp down as low as possible this morning. Then turn it off from 2-6p.  

 if the kid is well enough, go see a movie this afternoon. 

Haha, he is not. He’s a year and a half and doesn’t feel good. Lots of melting down, and arguably/probably too young for a movie anyway. Pour some out for me. 

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1 hour ago, Damor said:

Yep, been that way for at least an hour.

Sydney, you still home with the sick kid?  I don't know what your copay is, but it might have been cheaper for you turn off the AC and take him to the ER.

Lol. Yeah, we are just eating it this afternoon. I’ll remember that plan for tomorrow though. 

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1 hour ago, HouTex said:

I'm locked in at 8.5 cents and my provider must be losing its ass during these high demand/high price days.  I keep getting emails asking me to reduce power consumption from 2-6.

Not necessarily. I'm sure many are, but if they hedged appropriately months ago, they're probably fine. ERCOT was telling folks 6-8 months ago that demand this summer was going to be really high. The people who didn't prepare for this properly are Griddy. 

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Do you think the problem is all these Smart thermostats are pre-cooling everyone's home before they arrive home from work, and it's adding a huge load to the grid from 3-6pm? Because it doesn't make a whole lot of sense that the power spike would happen at 3-6 when most people are commuting home. 

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27 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

Do you think the problem is all these Smart thermostats are pre-cooling everyone's home before they arrive home from work, and it's adding a huge load to the grid from 3-6pm? Because it doesn't make a whole lot of sense that the power spike would happen at 3-6 when most people are commuting home. 

No man. The problem is coming from a state that's adding millions of people every year. Smart Devices have helped mitigate things.

It's population and temperature related, plain and simple, smart thermostats are a dent. It's people who don't have thermostats that can be adjusted as much or more than anything, it just so happens that 3-6 is the hottest part of the day, and even if things are static it takes more energy to keep homes the same temperature. Just like it takes less energy to keep your home at 72 at 2 am as it does at 2 pm. 

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Smart thermostats won’t make a dent when you are trying to cool a 5000 sq ft house to 72F (fucking cold in the summer) when it’s 102F and 60% humidity.  

Also, it is much harder to run an plant at full load when combustion air and cooling water temps are up.  Efficiency losses everywhere.  Add in a sudden loss of wind compared to forecast, and shit gets tight.

Edited by Kringelbert Fishtybuns
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5 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

No man. The problem is coming from a state that's adding millions of people every year. Smart Devices have helped mitigate things.

It's population and temperature related, plain and simple, smart thermostats are a dent. It's people who don't have thermostats that can be adjusted as much or more than anything, it just so happens that 3-6 is the hottest part of the day, and even if things are static it takes more energy to keep homes the same temperature. Just like it takes less energy to keep your home at 72 at 2 am as it does at 2 pm. 

Is power generation keeping up with Texas population growth?

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9 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Is power generation keeping up with Texas population growth?

This is actually kind of a hard question to answer. Honestly, I'd say no. Pundits have been predicting demand will exceed supply for literally a decade now, and generators complain that there isn't enough return to invest in new generation. Yet somehow we've managed to eek along with like an extra 3-4000 Megawats that have come online in the last few years. Somehow we always seem to have enough when we need it. And generators don't want an overabundance of supply because, when that happens, they don't get to make money on price spikes like these...

The short answer is, people complain about this ALL the time and like to talk about how we won't have enough, but somehow, magically, we always have JUST enough...like magic. Not that I'm cynical. 

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And yesterday. Usage is down to nearly nothing and it's still multiple dollars an hour. That said I'm still projecting at only $20 more than last August. This pattern keeps up it'll be way over that, though.

 

bc565a4b03b628af9d8ff81de0f27920.jpgf76ebc34654b466701516cd34b2d7e9f.jpg

 

 

 

 

Edited by elfenix
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Just now, elfenix said:

And yesterday. Usage is down to nearly nothing and it's still multiple dollars an hour. That said I'm still projecting at only $20 more than last August. This pattern keeps up it'll be way over that, though.bc565a4b03b628af9d8ff81de0f27920.jpgf76ebc34654b466701516cd34b2d7e9f.jpg

Looks like I officially got off their books yesterday, and my all-in rate for exactly 15 days of August is 30.7 cents. Hilariously, even though my meter was off their service first thing yesterday morning, they still hit my credit card again yesterday afternoon. Of course they don't have a chat operator to tell me when I can expect my balance back. 

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1 minute ago, SydneyCarton said:

Looks like I officially got off their books yesterday, and my all-in rate for exactly 15 days of August is 30.7 cents. Hilariously, even though my meter was off their service first thing yesterday morning, they still hit my credit card again yesterday afternoon. Of course they don't have a chat operator to tell me when I can expect my balance back. 

at least you'll probably get it back vs the provider conveniently not sending the notice and getting charged $153 for 2 weeks of usage in february.  yes i probably should have  calendared the end date myself instead of trying to remember it a year later.

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1 hour ago, SydneyCarton said:

seems like the hottest part of the summer wasn't a good time to switch to anything, and wtf are you doing that you got charged $350 in 8 days?  most of those days didn't even have huge prices

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Just now, elfenix said:

seems like the hottest part of the summer wasn't a good time to switch to anything, and wtf are you doing that you got charged $350 in 8 days?  most of those days didn't even have huge prices

My account status is still being figured out, but dude, I altered nothing and I was charged twice a day on both the 14th and the 15th, for $196. I' not sure how much of that was their billing system being lumpy, and whatnot, but I'm guessing most guys have the same or worse situations than that guy. 

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Texas is the summer. I don't have that big of a house, I work from home and usually run the A/C around 76-78 and I'm using around 2000 kwh a month in the summer. I also think he has 3 units in his house. 

Edited by mdmost
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