this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2025
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[–] blarghly@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago (5 children)

This is really a huge oversimplification of a complex and nuanced topic. But the main thing worth mentioning is that your utility bills, in all likelihood, are already insanely cheap if you compare what you get to any other time in history. Like, keeping your home temperature at a perfectly pleasant temperature 24 hours per day probably costs you only a couple hours of labor each month. Compare this to gathering sticks in the forest and lighting a fire inside a mud hut - which, btw, also gives you lung cancer faster than cigarettes.

Should the government invest more in renewables? Yes, obviously. They should also fund the infrastructure necessary to make renewables work at scale, and research to improve renewable generation, transmission, and storage tech in order to close the gap between what is practical now and what we need to achieve. And while they are at it, they should introduce improved pricing schemes to head off increased wasteful usage. But will any of this actually have a direct impact on consumer pricing....? Probably not, since almost all utilities are already state owned or else heavily regulated. The cost of electricity is determined more by committee and political maneuvering than the actual price of, say, coal or solar on a day to day basis. The actual mechanism of paying for power to be generated and delivered to your house on demand is a combination of the price you pay per kwh, property taxes, government revenue in general, debt taken on by the government or utility, investments made in the past, etc. If you actually want a cheaper price per kwh, the solution is simply petitioning whatever regulatory body is in charge to lower it.

Of course, the problem with lower prices is that they encourage wasteful usage. If electricity becomes free, then aunt Ethel will start blasting the AC while leaving the windows open, because she likes to be comfortable while listening to the birds chirp. Without appropriate pricing schemes, people and companies will use up as much additional renewable capacity as is built as soon as you finish building it.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (4 children)

My heating bills runs close to $800 a month in the Winter. That is more than a few hours of labor.

[–] RamRabbit@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

heating bills runs close to $800 a month

You are spending WAY too much per month on heat. Upgrade the insulation in your home and seal air leaks.

Also, do not use resistive heat. It is the most expensive heating solution by a wide margin.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Trust me, I have been eyeing a heat pump for awhile now.

The house is close to 4k square feet, but I do have 10 people living there so it is being well utilized. I also live in Alaska so we get entire months of sub 20 temperatures.

It is still hard to deal with when you get that fuel bill.

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