• 👍Maximum Derek👍@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    88
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    Our grid desperately needs it, but I have to wonder how much of this is ultimately tax payers paying for the stuff power companies should have been doing for decades. If this is another example of privatizing profits and socializing losses.

    • 0110010001100010@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      41
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      8 months ago

      Not only that, the power companies are double dipping. Look at your bill sometime, my bill specifically has a rider for grid enhancements. It’s buried in there, but I bet yours does too.

      The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in Case number 23-169-EL-RDR on August 9, 2023 approved an adjustment to Ohio Power Company’s Enhanced Service Reliability Rider rate effective with this bill. A residential customer using 1,000 kWh of electricity will see an increase of $0.28 per month.

    • ZeroCool@feddit.ch
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      30
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 months ago

      but I have to wonder how much of this is ultimately tax payers paying for the stuff power companies should have been doing for decades.

      The answer is $3.5 billion.

    • agitatedpotato@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      Have a family member in renewable installation and if the local power company around me is any indication, they’re gonna take the money, then charge the consumers to do what the money was supposed to be for.

    • Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      8 months ago

      Should have been doing? Why? By the way its actually profitable when your power goes out. Only the state can hold them accountable, aaaaand finally the state is doing what they should have been doing for decades. Why? By the way its actually politically advantageous to kick the can down the road rather than give voters what they asked for. Biden just has nothing left to lose except his legacy, and I suppose the next election. But people will remember this dude.

    • Zippy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      8 months ago

      They could have but only if you were willing to have higher bills. These companies are not showing profits and real higher than average. Ultimately we need to pay for it.

      BTW, using tax dollars is now free money either. That comes from somewhere so either our tax rates increase or some services are cut.

      Where do you think the money comes from?

  • krayj@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    26
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    8 months ago

    This is a step in the right direction.

    China is investing 13.7 trillion in their power sector to achieve net-zero emissions. 3.5 billion is rookie numbers if we want to keep up and remain competitive. At least it’s a start.

    • fleabomber@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 months ago

      China says they’re going to do that. Meanwhile, they’re still going apeshit for coal.

    • Skua@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      8 months ago

      China’s state grid corporation said investment in power may reach 13.7 trillion dollars (100 trillion yuan) by 2060. This number is not a real thing currently happening, and even if it was it’d be spread out over almost four entire decades. It’s also just investment in power generally, not in reaching net zero.

  • SuiXi3D@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    8 months ago

    I wonder how much of this will go towards Texas? And would our governor do anything but pocket the money?

  • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    8 months ago

    3.5 billion … for the US?

    Are they going to pull like a single wire to the entire country or something?

    • mrpants@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      8 months ago

      Just like read the article it says what it’ll do and that it’s part of more spending bills to come.

    • Drusas@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      26
      arrow-down
      7
      ·
      8 months ago

      You understand the concept that more than one thing can happen at a time, yes?

      • Ranvier@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        8 months ago

        Not to mention these projects are just a small part of a $550 billion dollar infrastructure investment bill.

        But for the poster above you, the idea of that law is instead of passing smaller bills regularly, this will make sure there’s enough funds available until the end of the Ukraine war so it doesn’t get used as a bargaining chip by Republicans in domestic squabbles, and so the Russians know they can’t win by just waiting for America to get bored and stop supporting Ukraine. Attaching a small amount of Israel support and other things to it are a way to help ensure it gets bipartisan support to pass (since even though republicans no longer really want to vote to help Ukraine, they do want to be seen to help Israel, and republican support is needed to get it through the house of representatives which they control).

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 months ago

      A minuscule fraction of what we spend on our own military. Strange that bothers you less than this war we don’t have to fight but still benefits us immensely.

    • Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      8 months ago

      Like 1% of our military budget and in return our military industry is putting highly skilled engineers back to work replacing our stockpiles and supply the countries that feel a need to up their defensive security capabilities in the wake of a return of war in europe.

      • Krono@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        8 months ago

        There are children buried under the rubble of a former apartment complex in Gaza City right now.

        It was destroyed by a “defensive”, American-made JDAM missile.

        How many more “defensive” weapons should we give them? $3.5 billion is enough to kill lots of children.

        • Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          8 months ago

          https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/10/07/tower-collapse-gaza-city-orig.cnn

          This story? I’m having trouble looking for sources because Israel bombed an apartment literally next to it in 2021 🤠 (and by the way Hamas was known to be using that building, and they warned people to evacuate multiple times - according to whatever news article I read)

          yeah clearly JDAMs aren’t defensive, we’re supposed to be supplying Israel to defend itself… This is a more than fair complaint.