Comment on If you save, we will charge you more

• Rivalarrival@lemmy.today ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Simplified scenario.

  • The cost for the grid provider to maintain a transformer is $1000.

  • A transformer can serve 20 low-use households, or 2 high-use households.

  • Both the low-use and the high-use households have the same, 200A service to their homes. The only difference is in how much they actually use.

  • A neighborhood has 20 low-use households (1 transformer).

  • That same neighborhood as 10 high-use households (5 transformers).

  • This neighborhood of 30 houses has $6000 in maintenance costs.

  Here are the two options we are talking about:

  1. Fixed rate. Each household in this neighborhood pays a fixed, $200 “connection fee” to cover these costs.

  2. Consumption-based. Each of the 20 low-use household pays $50 ($1000 total, for the 1 transformer they share) and each high-use household pays $500 ($5000 total, for the 5 transformers they share).

  Fixed fees only make sense for covering administrative costs, which scale per user. Grid maintenance costs scale based (primarily) on total consumption. Fixing maintenance fees forces low-use households to subsidize high-use households.

  I feel like I’m in the fucking twilight zone here. The community does not seem to comprehend what they are demanding.

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