Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by oceanplexian 697 days ago
Electricity in California is the most expensive in the country. When I lived there I spent between 20-35c/kWh. I moved to Utah and now pay approx 9c/kWh, cheaper by a factor of about 3. I live in the Southwest part of the state where the temperatures regularly hit 46c and my electric bill comes out to about $100.
1 comments
dbetteridge 697 days ago
9c per hour is insanely cheap :o

For comparison I'm paying 31.6c/kwh and 113c/per day supply charge. (prices in AUD cents)

Think that's about 21c USD

link
kragen 697 days ago
9¢ per kilowatt hour is insanely expensive

typical wholesale prices are 2½¢ per kilowatt hour

solar panels are 8¢/peak watt https://www.solarserver.de/photovoltaik-preis-pv-modul-preis... which works out to 40¢ per average watt assuming a 20% capacity factor. at 7% yearly interest, that's 2.8 cents per watt, and since a year has 8.766 kilohours, it's 0.3¢ per kilowatt hour. for ac inverter systems, balance of system costs typically triple this, and in the us, import tariffs double it again to 1.8¢ per kilowatt hour

the future is already here; it just isn't widely distributed. and that's why you're getting scammed

link
dbetteridge 696 days ago
I mean I can get solar on my roof for about $4000Aud and then I pay nothing unless it's particularly cloudy.

But for grid electricity even if the generation is dirt cheap the power company in WA is responsible for covering an area the size of a chunk of Europe with a total population of under 3million.

There are significant distribution costs involved and I suspect even at the prices we pay its subsidised by the government.

link
kragen 696 days ago
$4000 is also pretty expensive; at my 7% yearly interest that's $23 a month. at my number of 0.9¢ per kilowatt hour that's 2600 kilowatt hours per month, an average of 3600 watts. i will be very surprised if you are using 3600 watts round-the-clock average unless you have a machine shop in your garage

so i think you are dramatically overestimating the cost of rooftop solar

link
defrost 696 days ago
> responsible for covering an area the size of a chunk of Europe

3x bigger than Texas for the North Americans, with the majority of that population about one extended urban area.

link
dbetteridge 696 days ago
Correct! And about 120km end to end (depending on what you choose to define as "urban")

Driving from the southern tip of WA to the northern most point takes over 36hrs of continuous driving (~3600km)

All this is to say its pretty fucking big

link