cloud_herder

@cloud_herder@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How do Texas residents afford electricity?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve done lots of tech projects within the retail energy industry in Texas - this is the right answer.

  To expand a little bit:

  Retail energy providers (REPs), like NRG, ClearSky, Just Energy, etc. make their money by forecasting the amount of energy that will be needed as far in advance as possible and purchasing that amount from power generators like CenterPoint and marking it up a few cents. The farther out, the cheaper they can get it. I’ve helped build forecasting engines for a few that ingest historical usage data from meters (all meters in Texas are smart meters), weather data, and others to use machine learning to forecast how much individuals will need and aggregate it together to help the energy traders make better informed trade decisions farther out.

  If they mess up or an unforeseen event happens and they don’t have enough energy bought for that time segment (forgot the term for a window of time they use), they have to go to the spot market which is where the prices fluctuate and can be many many multitudes higher than the rate the customers are contracted to pay.

  In a storm scenario or a freeze, it can be thousands of times more expensive because demand is so high and supply is so limited. This is when REPs go bankrupt if they don’t have the cash on hand.

  There are also insurance plans that the REPs pay for that cover very specific conditions for different types of events or outages that can kick in to cover the huge costs they would otherwise incur on their own buying electricity at that spot rate. I’ve known a few that were only able to stay operating because someone a few years prior had bought an insurance policy that covered said weather event.

  Griddy died because of the ice storm in Texas a few years ago and the huge costs people incurred. I actually met with their CIO the year prior as part of a technology assessment of their stack. Nice guy.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Anon watches a work site⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m sure it’s annoying but if it’s people like me, they’re fascinated by watching construction happen. Probably even things you think are simple to do seem interesting from the outside. 😬

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI is out of control lately⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Just a head’s up this was generated with AI. The real pic is him still pale, no beard, and his eyes are different.

  He’s still an alien looking pos.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Chrome thinks Firefox is unsafe!⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It doesn’t actually. It’s just an asshole.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When the pizza party is too expensive, you go with the EncourageMint⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m here for u bro 🫂

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When the pizza party is too expensive, you go with the EncourageMint⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It looks like the locker room of their job, looking downward.