WA “Solves” the Solar Energy Duck Curve by Raising Evening Electricity Prices

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

h/t Alan; In a desperate attempt to contain the damage government subsidised rooftop solar energy has done to the grid, West Australia is trialling a pricing scheme which offers cheap electricity around midday, when nobody wants it, then slams on high prices when solar energy begins to fade in the early evening.

WA electricity prices would be slashed during the day, doubled during peak under new Government trial

By Daniel Mercer

Electricity prices would be slashed by more than two thirds during the middle of the day under a trial aimed at encouraging households to soak up excess solar power flooding into Western Australia’s biggest grid.

But customers would face paying almost twice as much for their power at peak times in the evening, as the State Government tries to shore up supplies and reduce costs in the system.

…

Amid forecasts the number of installations could almost double by 2030, the Government will run a trial that provides incentives for customers to shift more of their use to the middle of the day.

Under the trial 400 customers of State-owned electricity provider Synergy will pay just eight cents for every unit of power they draw from the grid between 9:00am to 3:00pm, compared with a flat rate of 28.8 cents per kilowatt hour (c/kWh).

…

Opposition energy spokesman David Honey labelled the changes bad policy, arguing time-of-use tariffs tended to disadvantage poorer households while benefiting wealthier ones.

“What WA Labor doesn’t understand is that there are many West Australian families that simply cannot change the times that they use energy,” Mr Honey said.

“The working poor who don’t have swimming pools and lots of freezers simply do not have large energy consumption that can be shifted to other times of the day.

“Likewise, West Australians that cannot afford batteries and solar panels miss out.”

…

Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-16/wa-government-power-market-trial-to-protect-grid/12986348

If only West Australia had invested in nuclear power plants, which produce reliable zero carbon power 24×7, instead of trying to coerce people with higher costs, demanding people change how they live, to fit their lives around their useless green energy system.