I have to say this is really shitty reporting by Tom's and OPB. Sure its a big rate increase, but they left out the part where datacenters are still paying 30% to 50% less than residential customers per kWh.
I was thinking that this sounds good at face value, but it could easily just be a throwaway publicity stunt.
Let's just make up a scenario, purely for illustrative purposes. Say our baseline is in 2022, customers paid ~100 a month in electricity. Then over the years, data centres came along, they struck deals, and individual consumers electricity bills went up to 200, which we are at today.
Then, NicePowerCompanyLLC decides to hike the prices for the datacentres by 30%, and reduce the prices by 1.3% for the residentials. That's still 98.7% higher than the baseline before the datacentres. That's to say, they data centres are still having their costs subsidized by regular people.
Ergo, if the prices already got hiked because of the datacentres, this tiny concession is a piss in the ocean. It's just a publicity stunt to make themselves look better while people are still buckling under the exploitation of having to carry billion dollar industries on their backs, with no real benefit to themselves.
There are dozens that have their new energy infrastructure costs and even their power usage shared among all the residents of that utility district. They're hard to find out about because the contracts are often secretive -- can't imagine why -- but this was going on for a while before people started to put up a stink about data centers.
I'm not even against data centers per se. I'm against the reckless unlimited building of dozens of these megastructures all at once with virtually no regulation or accountability. This is an excellent way to push the brakes and not screw the little guy in the process.
20 Comments
Bitswap@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 152 pts · 53d
I have to say this is really shitty reporting by Tom's and OPB. Sure its a big rate increase, but they left out the part where datacenters are still paying 30% to 50% less than residential customers per kWh.
Dojan@pawb.social · 28 pts · 53d
I was thinking that this sounds good at face value, but it could easily just be a throwaway publicity stunt.
Let's just make up a scenario, purely for illustrative purposes. Say our baseline is in 2022, customers paid ~100 a month in electricity. Then over the years, data centres came along, they struck deals, and individual consumers electricity bills went up to 200, which we are at today.
Then, NicePowerCompanyLLC decides to hike the prices for the datacentres by 30%, and reduce the prices by 1.3% for the residentials. That's still 98.7% higher than the baseline before the datacentres. That's to say, they data centres are still having their costs subsidized by regular people.
Ergo, if the prices already got hiked because of the datacentres, this tiny concession is a piss in the ocean. It's just a publicity stunt to make themselves look better while people are still buckling under the exploitation of having to carry billion dollar industries on their backs, with no real benefit to themselves.
pdxfed@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 53d
This exactly covers the main issue. Much damage has already been done that the average person is just supposed to eat? Bullshit.
krisevol@lemmus.org · 11 pts · 52d
Most business do
TronBronson@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 52d
Round here you get a break on industrial scale power but not really commercial scale.
cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de · 92 pts · 53d
Good, that's the way it should be.
assa123@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 52d
is the right direction but still far from the way it should be
BigMacHole@thelemmy.club · 71 pts · 53d
This is TERRIBLE! If we FORCE Billionaires to PAY their Bills they Might LEAVE and DROP my Bills in the Process!
-Republican Voters LITERALLY!
Botzo@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 53d
Won't someone think of the shareholders?!
Crackhappy@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 53d
How can you selectively all caps some words like that and not have your eye twitch?
chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world · 52 pts · 53d
Data Center: "Time to fire up the jet turbines"
This is a great first step. Next thing they need is environmental regulation with teeth.
zebidiah@lemmy.ca · 13 pts · 53d
I hear the waitlist on jet turbines is 2+ years....
douglasg14b@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 51d
The environmental regulation already exists. It's just not enforced.
Because federal agencies are captured by special interests and gutted.
chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 51d
Yeah that's what I mean. Right now they have no teeth.
adhdsergio@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 53d
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
ryannathans@aussie.zone · 21 pts · 53d
I wonder how many data centres have contracts for fixed or predictable pricing agreements
kylian0087@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 12 pts · 53d
Most do. Some even trade sort of electricity contracts to earn money. It is a wierd buisness.
ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 53d
There are dozens that have their new energy infrastructure costs and even their power usage shared among all the residents of that utility district. They're hard to find out about because the contracts are often secretive -- can't imagine why -- but this was going on for a while before people started to put up a stink about data centers.
This is a good article from about a year ago, and Benn Jordan has also talked about it on his channel, among others.
buddascrayon@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 51d
This is the way
caboose2006@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 52d
I'm not even against data centers per se. I'm against the reckless unlimited building of dozens of these megastructures all at once with virtually no regulation or accountability. This is an excellent way to push the brakes and not screw the little guy in the process.