Guest essay by Larry Hamlin
The Energy Information Administration released electricity price data on October 6 for the first 6 months of 2016 showing lower residential prices compared with the same period in 2015 largely driven by lower cost natural gas availability.
Also on October 6 Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull slammed renewable energy obsession for causing South Australia’s energy price spikes and state wide blackout.
Turnbull told the countries energy ministers that excessive reliance on wind turbines are wrecking Australia’s power grid stability which is undermining the country’s energy security. (http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/07/wind-farms-destroyed-our-energy-security-says-australian-prime-minister/)
Household electricity prices in Australia have risen 40 percent between 2007 and 2012 with Australian states pushing heavily subsidized wind energy reliance having rates nearly double those of other states.
In addition to the recent wind energy caused state wide blackout in South Australia electricity price spikes there have occurred pushing rates to 8 times higher than the average in Australia.
Europe lead by Germany’s headlong push into costly and unreliable renewable energy experienced nine month high spot power prices (http://www.reuters.com/article/europe-power-spot-idUSL5N1CC1QI) on October 6 based on a sharp fall in renewable power output coupled with French nuclear power lowered projected base load production during the coming cold months. The German base load power price jumped form 5.75 Euro’s to 38.25 Euro’s.
Europe’s political rush into renewables have caused electricity prices there to climb dramatically while U.S. average residential electricity rates are far below Europe’s at about 12 cents/kWh with lower cost natural gas from fracking driving these results. (https://judithcurry.com/2015/08/10/will-the-presidents-clear-power-plan-save-consumers-money/)
California Governor Brown’s push for excessive reliance on unreliable and costly renewable energy in the state has lead to higher electricity costs and exposed the state to increased electric system stability concerns because of the need for significant out of state power to maintain system reliability.
So while other states in the U.S. see the benefit of increased use of natural gas without heavy handed renewable energy mandates California’s energy course remains mired in globally irrelevant purely politically driven climate alarmist baloney.
US natural gas prices due to fracking are the base of US lower electricity costs…
This is not replicable outside the US (the US market not be allowed to export till recently effectively dumped large amounts of gas on a closed market).
German wholesale electricity prices are declining year on year… while domestic electricity rates are high, Germans use less electricity and may have solar or shares in renewables to offset cost.
I am paying $0.08/KWH for coal generated power.
A kilowatt hour was traded on 09.10.2016 at the electricity exchange with 3.49 € ct / kWh. (About 0.04 USD) which means electricity costs almost nothing. The high price for consumers comes from the vendors and the taxes!
Absolutely correct. There are so many levies, apportionments, additional charges, allocations and fees that the pricing of electrical energy becomes some sort of science of its own. Have a look here:
http://www.kwh-preis.de/wp-content/uploads/images/infografiken/Strompreise-Zusammensetzung.jpg
The average price is ~ 0.04 €/kwh (supply and demand). The price a consumer has to pay when the energy runs through his meter is approx. seven times higher. It’s a rip-off.
Germany’s high electricity prices are slightly misleading, as they subsidise industrial usage at the expense of the domestic user. Not sure how they do that, considering the EU’s anti-subsidy regulations, but they do. France and Germany have always worked the EU to their advantage, while sticking two fingers up at the letter of the law. This was one reason why the UK left the EU – they got fed up with the double-standards. We played cricket, while the French and Germans were playing poker….
How comparable are all these numbers from place to place and country to country and decade to decade as they play games with how the numbers are presented? My bill says my electricity costs 10.3c/kWh up to 600kWh and 12.1c/kWh above that. Until the spring of 2015 the point at which the rate jumped was 1,000kWh and a few months before that they canned the “smart meter” program in this area which also had three different rates based on time of day. Then there is the whole list of “charges” which are not regulated like the actual cost of the electricity, like transmission, debt retirement, administration, etc which in any other business are simply included as part of the cost of your product or service.
Simple is good. I divide the total monthly charges by the total number of kWh of electricity which they say I have consumed (how would I know if it was wrong?) my cost varies from 20 to 36 cents/kWh depending on total electricity used each month. That is the number which I would like to see printed boldly on the front of every bill. That is the actual cost I pay.
Oh yes, please note that although the presumed electricity charge/kWh increases with usage the actual rate I pay is inversely proportional to my consumption. So who gets hit the hardest per kWh? Those on low and fixed incomes living in modest accommodations using the least power. So much for encouraging energy conservation.