Texas freezes over (while Ted Cruz flies to Cancún)

[The Larch]

A/C consumption in Texas during the summer must be through several roofs, I imagine.

[Valmy]

A/C consumption in Texas during the summer must be through several roofs, I imagine.

Oh yeah.

[Monoriu]

The way it works in HK is that the power companies are guaranteed a return, say 10%, on capital investments.  They can charge whatever price until they reach that cap.

So they are incentivized to maximise investments in capacity.  They always invest more than enough to meet any conceivable demand.  There are entire power plants sitting idle just in case, even during peak demand. 

We just turn on the air-conditioning as much as we want, and we almost never have any issues with stoppages.  If there are, the power companies will simply invest in more spare capacity to ensure the power supply is 200% safe. 

[Valmy]

The way it works in HK is that the power companies are guaranteed a return, say 10%, on capital investments.  They can charge whatever price until they reach that cap.

So they are incentivized to maximise investments in capacity.  They always invest more than enough to meet any conceivable demand.  There are entire power plants sitting idle just in case, even during peak demand. 

We just turn on the air-conditioning as much as we want, and we almost never have any issues with stoppages.  If there are, the power companies will simply invest in more spare capacity to ensure the power supply is 200% safe. 

That is exactly how it works in most places in the US except for a few US States, like Texas and California, who are trying to use this free market framework to get a more efficient grid. We were happy to brag about it when it resulted in lower energy rates. Though El Paso still works exactly as you describe, they kind of do their own thing out west.

Though we don't really have power companies anymore in ERCOT. Generators, transmission, and distribution are all different companies now.

[Josquius]

One way, perhaps the main way, would be for a Brit to move to a foreign country and not inform the NHS. So, for example, I could retire to Florida and skimp on my medical insurance; then, if a costly illness occurred, fly straight back to the UK and claim that I had never left. Yes, i can see that working.

Happens all the time with the infamous section of Spanish expats et al. It's the main fraud the nhs gets.

Certainly when I moved abroad I never told them and remained in the system.

[Valmy]

Anyway to defend our grid I will point out that this was the highest load in the history of ERCOT. Thanks to COVID ending it is increasing much faster than usual expected.

And despite that is was just a conservation warning which as I said happens several times a summer anyway, no some load shed emergency.