Every Texan I know has a generator to deal with the unreliability of the grid, and there’s never been an article about someone in Iowa getting a surprise $100k electric bill…and the average wage in Texas is substantially lower than in “left wing” states like California or Washington…so not sure you’re making an apples-to-apples comparison, but time will be the judge, we can all check-in in a year and see how this plays out. Does Lemmy have a remind me! bot?
Wanting to add that Washington, particularly Tacoma and other nearby counties are some of the only major cities whose power comes 100% from renewables.
Texan here. I don’t have a generator. Blackouts basically haven’t been a thing in my area since like 15 years ago, so it really depends on location. Also my electric bill works the same way as it would in any other state; the problem is when people buy electricity at what you might call “market price”: most of the time it’s cheaper, but you get fucked over sooner or later. It’s kind of like that story about people’s AC being controlled by the power company. They signed up for a program that explicitly set your AC higher during high-demand periods and then surprise Pikachu faced when the company did what they said they would do.
That said, our grid is still definitely trash (as are many other things here) and I’m desperately trying to move. Basically the only thing we’ve got going for us is the food is amazing.
They signed up for a program that explicitly set your AC higher during high-demand periods and then surprise Pikachu faced when the company did what they said they would do.
If the price swing between peak and off-peak is dramatic enough, I guess one could probably cool water during off-peak hours and then use a heat exchanger or something to use it to sink heat during peak hours.
Chilled water systems - In a chilled-water system, the entire air conditioner is installed on the roof or behind the building. It cools water to between 40 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 and 7.2 degrees Celsius). The chilled water is then piped throughout the building and connected to air handlers. This can be a versatile system where the water pipes work like the evaporator coils in a standard air conditioner. If it’s well-insulated, there’s no practical distance limitation to the length of a chilled-water pipe.
That’s not intended to store energy, just transport it, but I’d imagine that all one would really need is that plus a sufficiently-large, insulated tank of water.
I lived in TX while I was stationed there for like 3 years. Exactly 0 people I’ve met there had a generator.
I think that it’s a good idea to have a generator in places that get serious storms, and coastal Texas can get hurricanes. I don’t think that this is something specific to Texas’ power generation, which is what I think the parent commenter is complaining about. Florida, which really gets whacked with hurricanes, is somewhere I’d really want to have a generator.
Texas is big. You have tornados in the north, hurricanes in the south, and a lot of nothin’ in the west. Some areas it makes sense to have a generator, but in many parts, it really doesn’t.
I don’t think that this is something specific to Texas’ power generation, which is what I think the parent commenter is complaining about.
I’d rather take their statement for what it literally was. Since that’s what they went out of their way to explain. And since you’re not them…
Very few Texans I knew (with the number being literally 0)… for years of living there. And myself during that time. Did not have a generator. That’s it. Short of them providing any actual evidence of their claim. It’s been dispelled. That’s it.
Should they have one? I don’t really care to comment deeply on that. I didn’t see a point to having one while I lived there. So I would assume most people would also come to the same conclusion.
California pays 19 dollars per kilowatt hour. Texas grid is better. Not only does Texas consume the most electricity, they do it at lower prices, comparable to poor states like New Mexico. Bidenomics subsidizes green energy at loss in the Texas grid.
Washing State has a ton of hydro, because they get a ton of rain in the mountains, thus near-constant hydro power supply. That really won’t work in Texas.
I live in Utah and we have pretty average prices (about $0.12-0.13/kWh), which is pretty decent considering we have a competitive amount of renewables and a similar lack of hydro options.
I grew up in WA and we had a lot of cool classes about the geography of the region, especially things like the Grand Coulee Dam. I even took my kids there to show how hydro works. We have dams here in UT, but they’re mostly to preserve water for the summer when we get almost no precipitation.
Washington has hydroelectric sources. 67 percent of its power is from hydro sources. Wind and solar are a tiny portion of its energy mix. Even nuclear power exceeds its wind and solar energy sources. Texas has proven it can scale energy sources the fastest. Texas has the most renewable energy in the US. It has the most solar and wind energy of any state. Washington isn’t a top manufacturing state. It can’t handle the demand load and Texas has the highest energy demand because it is a top manufacturing state. When you are dealing with energy intensive manufacturing, costs add up, go ask the Germans. The Texas grid is just better.
As a Texan who has lost power, for weeks at a time, 4 times in the last 10 years, I disagree. I live near a major city and we lose power almost every time there’s strong wind, rain, or sub-freezing temps. Maybe you’re just lucky to live where you live? I’ve lived all over my city, and it’s surrounding suburbs, and it’s been pretty much the same everywhere.
Exactly. I have family in CA, WA, and I live in Utah, which is quite the gamut when it comes to electrical generation. CA is by far the most expensive, followed by UT (we’re pretty average), followed by WA (cheap due to tons of hydro). CA is expensive because their electricity policies are stupid IMO, UT is cheap because we’re somewhat reasonable (too much fossil fuels, but competitive renewables), and WA is cheap because they have more water than they know what to do with (ironically though, their water prices are higher than ours).
I don’t know much about Texas, but I imagine it’s similar to how things are here in UT, it just scales better since they have ~10x the population.
Every Texan I know has a generator to deal with the unreliability of the grid, and there’s never been an article about someone in Iowa getting a surprise $100k electric bill…and the average wage in Texas is substantially lower than in “left wing” states like California or Washington…so not sure you’re making an apples-to-apples comparison, but time will be the judge, we can all check-in in a year and see how this plays out. Does Lemmy have a remind me! bot?
Wanting to add that Washington, particularly Tacoma and other nearby counties are some of the only major cities whose power comes 100% from renewables.
Texan here. I don’t have a generator. Blackouts basically haven’t been a thing in my area since like 15 years ago, so it really depends on location. Also my electric bill works the same way as it would in any other state; the problem is when people buy electricity at what you might call “market price”: most of the time it’s cheaper, but you get fucked over sooner or later. It’s kind of like that story about people’s AC being controlled by the power company. They signed up for a program that explicitly set your AC higher during high-demand periods and then surprise Pikachu faced when the company did what they said they would do.
That said, our grid is still definitely trash (as are many other things here) and I’m desperately trying to move. Basically the only thing we’ve got going for us is the food is amazing.
If the price swing between peak and off-peak is dramatic enough, I guess one could probably cool water during off-peak hours and then use a heat exchanger or something to use it to sink heat during peak hours.
https://home.howstuffworks.com/ac4.htm
That’s not intended to store energy, just transport it, but I’d imagine that all one would really need is that plus a sufficiently-large, insulated tank of water.
So none?
I lived in TX while I was stationed there for like 3 years. Exactly 0 people I’ve met there had a generator.
The cost of living is also significantly less.
Where it’s double my mortgage payment to have a 2 be apartment?
I think that it’s a good idea to have a generator in places that get serious storms, and coastal Texas can get hurricanes. I don’t think that this is something specific to Texas’ power generation, which is what I think the parent commenter is complaining about. Florida, which really gets whacked with hurricanes, is somewhere I’d really want to have a generator.
Texas is big. You have tornados in the north, hurricanes in the south, and a lot of nothin’ in the west. Some areas it makes sense to have a generator, but in many parts, it really doesn’t.
I’d rather take their statement for what it literally was. Since that’s what they went out of their way to explain. And since you’re not them…
Very few Texans I knew (with the number being literally 0)… for years of living there. And myself during that time. Did not have a generator. That’s it. Short of them providing any actual evidence of their claim. It’s been dispelled. That’s it.
Should they have one? I don’t really care to comment deeply on that. I didn’t see a point to having one while I lived there. So I would assume most people would also come to the same conclusion.
California pays 19 dollars per kilowatt hour. Texas grid is better. Not only does Texas consume the most electricity, they do it at lower prices, comparable to poor states like New Mexico. Bidenomics subsidizes green energy at loss in the Texas grid.
not even close lol, having systemic blackouts randomly is not an indication of a good grid.
No dummy, you’re missing a decimal point. California only pays 19 CENTS per kwh.
And if conservative Texas is so great how come they pay 20% more per kwh for electricity than deep blue Washington State?
Everything’s bigger in Texas, especially the idiots & excuses.
Washing State has a ton of hydro, because they get a ton of rain in the mountains, thus near-constant hydro power supply. That really won’t work in Texas.
I live in Utah and we have pretty average prices (about $0.12-0.13/kWh), which is pretty decent considering we have a competitive amount of renewables and a similar lack of hydro options.
I grew up in WA and we had a lot of cool classes about the geography of the region, especially things like the Grand Coulee Dam. I even took my kids there to show how hydro works. We have dams here in UT, but they’re mostly to preserve water for the summer when we get almost no precipitation.
Deep blue Washington state has the advantage of giant amounts of hydroelectric generation combined with a relatively small population to consume it.
Washington has hydroelectric sources. 67 percent of its power is from hydro sources. Wind and solar are a tiny portion of its energy mix. Even nuclear power exceeds its wind and solar energy sources. Texas has proven it can scale energy sources the fastest. Texas has the most renewable energy in the US. It has the most solar and wind energy of any state. Washington isn’t a top manufacturing state. It can’t handle the demand load and Texas has the highest energy demand because it is a top manufacturing state. When you are dealing with energy intensive manufacturing, costs add up, go ask the Germans. The Texas grid is just better.
As a Texan who has lost power, for weeks at a time, 4 times in the last 10 years, I disagree. I live near a major city and we lose power almost every time there’s strong wind, rain, or sub-freezing temps. Maybe you’re just lucky to live where you live? I’ve lived all over my city, and it’s surrounding suburbs, and it’s been pretty much the same everywhere.
I think that you might be thinking cents, not dollars.
Typical residential electricity prices in the US are two digits number of cents per kWh.
Also, I’m pretty sure that California’s residential average price in 2025 is above $0.19/kWh. Maybe that’s the cost of generation alone or something.
EDIT: This has PG&E’s residential pricing at about twice that, unless someone’s getting low-income assistance.
https://www.pge.com/assets/pge/docs/account/alternate-energy-providers/pce-sm_rateclasscomparison.pdf
They list their cost of generation there as being about $0.14/kWh.
Exactly. I have family in CA, WA, and I live in Utah, which is quite the gamut when it comes to electrical generation. CA is by far the most expensive, followed by UT (we’re pretty average), followed by WA (cheap due to tons of hydro). CA is expensive because their electricity policies are stupid IMO, UT is cheap because we’re somewhat reasonable (too much fossil fuels, but competitive renewables), and WA is cheap because they have more water than they know what to do with (ironically though, their water prices are higher than ours).
I don’t know much about Texas, but I imagine it’s similar to how things are here in UT, it just scales better since they have ~10x the population.