[travisb]

That vicious cycle is a problem ever more expensive electrical grids will need to contend with over the next couple of decades.

The variable per Kwh costs are historically generally pretty low relative to the fixed capex and opex (eg. maintenance, idle runtime) costs.

Mostly this has been made palatable for residential use by hiding these fixed costs in a higher per-Kwh rate. This works great as long as consumption is high and growing. If consumption trends reverse, then self-generation becomes a real possibility for the heavy consumers leaving fewer total Kwh to spread the fixed costs over.

Left unimpeded this leaves the poorest with very high energy bills when everybody else has shifted to a private, cheaper, micro-grid.