At the start of the month, our new electricity contract began. Prior to this, we were on spot market prices, which meant that there was a lot of variability in the hourly rates, especially when the largest nuclear reactor which came online this year, failed, as it did the other day.
If you are wondering what that does to spot prices, I took a screenshot from the tracking app I use.
The 96 is euro cents per kWh, which is $1.05 USD. This is eleven times more than we are currently paying on the contract per hour. And throughout that day using the the average, the difference is 4x over the day. It is the average that matters for us, as while washing and doing the dishes at non-peak times helps, the largest energy usage is our heating, which is pretty much a constant 24 hours a day in the winter. The colder it gets, the more we use.
However, while this day was exceptional, overall, the average price has been about 15% under what we have been paying, which means the "peace of mind" is costing us.
That amazing negative drop was on Friday, where a an error in some energy bidding system in Norway made an error and for about 8 hours, they were giving energy away at -50 cents. It supposedly cost them tens of millions of euros.
I don't feel sorry for them.
It is more than the certainty of a ceiling price on electricity though, as while we have the year contract to test it, the main reason is that I think that throughout the winter, there are going to be lots of days where the prices increase significantly, even if the average is low. And, I have been watching over the last year or so, and often the more expensive days seem to coincide with the times when people are at home, and the factories are shut - which makes no sense.
When we were on the spot prices, we were careful with when we used the electricity, trying to only use it when it was low, or at its lowest. However, with the largest cost being heating now, there is only so much we can save by doing that. The contract means that it doesn't matter when we perform various tasks and in the periods where the electricity might be significantly higher ,we don't have to adjust our lifestyle to keep costs down.
However, if we were in an apartment building with district heating instead of what we have, it would likely be better to stay on the spot price, as costs are much lower, as are the risks. A few of my friends with houses are still on spot prices and on those high days, they are under a little bit more stress, as the difference might be €20-30 (21-32 USD) a day difference, just for home electricity. If they have hybrids and EVs, that adds some more on top of that of course.
At the moment, there are so many things going on in the lives of my family, that I am looking for ways to simplify a little here and there and reduce the risk and the stress. The last ten months we have been on the spot prices has impacted us significantly, but all of the careful planning, didn't save us much, but if we weren't careful, the cost would have been much higher. And, throughout the summer that wasn't too bad, because we didn't have the near constant heating costs to contend with.
This annoys me.
So many things happening at the same time, with pretty much all of them tied to the global mismanagement of the economy, by those in control who never have to suffer the slings and arrows of their decisions. It is us who suffer, the people who don't have the power to impact at the global level, at least as individuals. It really is no wonder that people look for any which way they can to kick the can down the road to avoid actually having to deal with this shit for as long as possible.
But, at least we have electricity for now and that is one thing that a lot of people in the world might not have steady access to, no matter how much they pay. So, we can stay warm and keep turning profits for those energy companies, dreaming about all the things we would rather spend the money on.
Oh, that is what credit cards are for....
So we can turn some profits for the corporations and the banks as well.
The trick is to leave us with enough to pay our bills, but not enough to invest and share in the profits. And then give us a line of credit to buy the things that help us forget how much life sucks without enough.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
