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Texas power prices soared 20,000% Wednesday evening amid another brutal heat wave.
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Spot electricity prices topped $5,000 per megawatt-hour, up more than 200 times from Wednesday morning.
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The state’s grid operator issued its second-highest energy emergency, then later said conditions returned to normal.
Aaahhh, the free market economy at work without limits, without government planning, regulations, or interference.
Government regulations bad! It means we can’t squeeze our customers, we can’t fuck up on an hourly basis, we can’t be dicks!
And in before the commies start… No. Bad dog! Get out with your “we need to become Communist hippie communes!” comments, please
We need to put reasonable rules and limits to a capitalist system. Regulate big companies, regulate infrastructure, tax the rich, use the money for social platforms
I’m with the commies on this one. We need to nationalize utilities like energy distribution. No reason to have a profit seeking entity in charge of necessities like electricity.
In sane parts of the US, utility companies are technically private entities, but they’re related so much they pretty much operate like government agencies.
Take a look at how the Georgia Public Service Commission is regulating the finances of the new nuclear reactors (Plant Vogtle 3 and 4) and then try to keep a straight face and tell me it’s working.
In all fairness, Texas has an incredibly weird, idealistic, view of the value of market forces and their government utterly fails in its job as a result.
It’s not just power lines. It’s everything. They distort their market on ideological lines and then assume that’s the best case.
Too be fair, it is the best case if you’re one of the rich assholes who owns everything and just wants to squeeze the poors.
No communist would respond like that to big companies taking advantage of laborers. They’d respond with disgust.