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Post by riddick on Oct 10, 2014 9:40:57 GMT 11
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Post by Jim Hare on Oct 10, 2014 9:59:22 GMT 11
Hmmm. We're with Origin and have the Green option as well as sell back excess from our solar. According to the report their efforts appear to just be PR, but imagine there is no such thing as a major electricity provider that truly wants to change the status quo.
Click Energy appears to be pretty good, but mainly because they don't own any plants themselves.
Can someone explain to me how it actually works? I'm guessing the grid is still the grid and by changing retailers doesn't change my actual connection. How do all the retailers combine to create the grid?
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Post by gabzimiev on Oct 10, 2014 10:45:06 GMT 11
Can someone explain to me how it actually works? I'm guessing the grid is still the grid and by changing retailers doesn't change my actual connection. How do all the retailers combine to create the grid? ok so if you think of it like your internet connection telstra own the copper or nbn co own the fibre. same way ausgrid owns the cable to your house. your ISP is your electricity retailer they have goverment mandated access to ausgrids wholesale product ie your connection then purchase the electricity you use or bandwidth from the whole salers 3 groups retailers network owners generators
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Post by riddick on Oct 10, 2014 14:22:22 GMT 11
Your retailer does make a big difference. The electricity you consume, they will have to source it from somewhere. That somewhere is the important bit as well as their general behaviour.
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Post by Jim Hare on Oct 10, 2014 17:57:01 GMT 11
So if I choose a "green supplier" does it mean the actual electricity I use is the same as everyone else, but I'm supporting a company that produces "their share" to the grid in a ethical way?
In other words, if everyone dumped dirty suppliers and went to green ones the dirty ones would go out of business, shut down their plants and only green providers would be left, therefor changing the balance? I'm guessing we'd also run out of power while they were scrambling for more green infrastructure.
Just trying to get my head around it.
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Post by jacky on Oct 10, 2014 18:26:40 GMT 11
I assumes "supplier" means the retailer who send us electricity bills. Generators are just pushing their electricity to the grid.
The electricity you actually use are the same as everyone. However, if you go for 100% green power, you retailer has to buy the same amount of electricity from renewable generators.
Moving from 100% green power from dirty retailers to 100% green power from green retailers will not make any differences in term of the how much CO2 is generated for the electricity.
I would focus on the attitude of the retailers. For example, dirty retailers tend to cause more damages to the environment in the process of running their business. If we can ever made the dirties go out of business, there will be less investment and support on dirty generators and more investment on renewable generations.
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Post by gabzimiev on Oct 10, 2014 20:31:51 GMT 11
the dirty retailers are generally companies that are generators as well, in nsw we have privatised retailers and generators and after next state election most likely networks. so AGL/orgin/ EA are a retailer that also own generation capacity. some of it green some dirty agl the ratio is like 1 green to 12 dirty. now all the generators get paid the same amount. and the price depends on demand, higher demand higher cost. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxMvrKsVwzo video explains really well. now the RET means that more green energy has to come online (or the retailers have to pay more because it's also a market mechanism) meaning that there is more capacity and more capacity means wholesale prices stay lower. So what does a retailer do well it pays the fixed cost to the networks to provide you a connection then it buys electricity at wholesale price, which varies a lot www.aemo.com.au/Electricity/Data/Price-and-Demand/Price-and-Demand-Graphs/Current-Trading-Interval-Price-and-Demand-Graph-NSW so they have to work out the single price for 12 months when the actual price is completely unrelated.
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Post by riddick on Oct 11, 2014 11:44:38 GMT 11
That is a great video on the RET! I can see why they are fighting so hard to axe the RET. Selling dirty brown coal power at $500 instead of $40 is a fabulous business for them.
And yet Abbott tries to make everyone believe that prices were expensive due to Carbon tax. What a lot of smoke and mirrors!
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Post by Jim Hare on Oct 11, 2014 11:59:36 GMT 11
Excellent info, pretty much backs up my impression of the way it worked. Thanks!
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Post by gabzimiev on Oct 11, 2014 12:59:15 GMT 11
That is a great video on the RET! I can see why they are fighting so hard to axe the RET. Selling dirty brown coal power at $500 instead of $40 is a fabulous business for them. my of my work collages use to work at the black coal plants he said there was one week the price was so high they ran the generator until the lights melted off the ceiling. next year we'll hopefully be looking at state waters hydro assets to release water during peak price time to capitalise on price. state water do generate at zero cost because they have to release the water for irrigation and environmental anyway.
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