Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by stevenleeg 2028 days ago
In certain parts of the US with retail choice this is already a reality, check out Griddy[0] in Texas. They'll give you wholesale electricity prices which is all sweet and dandy until there's a shortage of supply (generally on the hottest days of the summer) and the price shoots up to $9000 per MWh. Honestly it's a great deal if you're willing to accept the risk associated with it (or work from home and can quickly race to your circuit breaker and shut off the power when the price spikes).

[0] https://www.griddy.com

2 comments

In the UK, Octopus Energy[0] have a tariff like this. They have a 35p / kWh price cap to limit that risk. With the average price of electricity around 15p / kWh here, it means the risk isn't too great as long as the shortages don't go on too long.

[0] https://octopus.energy/agile/

Sounds like something easily automated. If the electricity price goes above x, cut off power to a, b, c, leaving on d.
and switch d to battery