If large consumers of power are able to sell back prepaid energy at a premium, passing the buck to the average consumer, is this a new form of legal corporate welfare to help some businesses cover their losses?

2 comments

1. We need more demand response, not less. Bitcoin miners are the ultimate price responsive demand – they should just drop off the grid when power prices get unprofitable for them. They should not be eligible for separate payments for that IMO because it should just be in their economic interest.

   When it comes to other large loads, payments can make a lot of sense, if they are cheaper/more reliable than building new supply to meet peak demand. It’s not just large customers that can offer grid services – this more recent article highlights one offering in the Texas market for residential customers to benefit from the same “subsidies” – [https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nrg-renew-home-google-cloud-213200958.html](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nrg-renew-home-google-cloud-213200958.html)

2. No, this is just simple hedging and trading. Any decently sized business does this.

Comments are closed.