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Home electricity bills are skyrocketing. For data centers, not so much.
(yaleclimateconnections.org)
this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026
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But why is it this way? Why wouldn’t they want to charge both groups more for a higher profit margin?
Wouldn't want to upset corporate overlords.
Partly because doing so risks that they might decide to invest in their own production instead, and therefore not buy any electricity from you at all which would result in loss of demand, and a reduction in overall electricity cost.
Like how rising a bus ticket fare by 10% means you will lose some customers because they decide to walk instead, so your profit increase will be lower than that 10%. Raise it too much, and almost everyone walks, and you sell no tickets.
And it's a lot harder to build your own solar or wind farm if you are a person living in an apartment building.
@JohnEdwa @Nikelui that make sense...
I don't get it either. Electricity providers have a monopoly based on location. It's not like I get to choose whose wires I want to hook up to, there's one choice. So why would the power company choose to give anyone a deal? I get that during the planning stage they could be courting various locations but still I don't really get it.
The company that maintains the lines is typically not the same company that generates the power. That's why you can shop for electricity providers.
Who can ship for electricity?
I have literally never heard of this anywhere.
It's like Internet. You get one provider who puts wires up to your home. That's it. Don't like it? Good luck physically moving your home elsewhere.
Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas all have deregulated markets which allow for it.
California, Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, and Virginia have partially deregulated markets.
It's easier to screw over consumers than businesses.
Busunesses like to complain. They have long-term contracts. They have a lot of purchase power. They're more likely tp swotch to a competitor. When they threaten, they're more likely to go through with the threats since they have both money to burn and employees to blackmail with pay cuts.
Among other things.
There's a lot of consumers, so those that do jump ship usually don't cause a big dent in profits when they do. Consumers are also less likely to jump ship in the furst place since they have only their extended family and their family lawyer to look out for them (if). They usually have "bigger" problems than the electricity bill: car payments, mortgages, school bills, you name it.
Again, among other things.