• AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I live in NJ, USA. I thought I had missed a payment when my last electric bill came. Nope, just a huge rate hike. about the same amount of electricity as the prior year, double the bill.

    • Final Remix@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Were you recently told your bill is gonna go up again when they put in that massive data center in a year or so? We were told. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ no option to say “fuck you, make them pay their bills.” Nope. PSE&g was like “brace for it bitch.” And that was it.

      • AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I probably was. But I also just delete all their emails. They’re the only energy distributer in my area. Even if I contracted with someone else I’d have to pay their increased distribution rates.

        • Final Remix@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Yeah same here. Just bullshit that they’re like “this is happening. Pay us more”

      • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        PSE&G told some coworkers of mine their bill would go up by “as much as 20%” shortly before they went up by 150%. One of them got a bill for $800 for their two bedroom apartment

    • Damage@feddit.it
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      9 months ago

      Europeans: “first time?”

      My electricity costs must have tripled since the Ukraine war, not like they were low before…

  • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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    9 months ago

    how can they get away with this? Are data centers not paying their bills?

    • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
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      9 months ago

      The way utility rates are set allows them to spread costs onto residential ratepayers instead of bearing it directly.

    • 🍉 DrRedOctopus 🐙🍉@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      even under the assumption that they do pay the exact same prices as normal citizens (they don’t). electricity prices will go up the more usage there is, as they mostly rely on limited factors.

    • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Are data centers not paying their bills?

      They are. The state has failed to ensure there is adequate supply to keep prices flat.

    • Optional@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Look up your local “Public Service Commission”

      Then note that everyone on it is a republiQan.

    • Amoxtli@thelemmy.club
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      9 months ago

      It is like Obamacare. You have a person who smokes, gets drunk, eats a lot of sugar, don’t exercise, you pay for their bill through hiked premiums, and overutilization. Hopefully, that sinks in.

      • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        isn’t that the reverse argument? Typically only <20% of people take the healthcare system for granted whilst everyone else pays their dues. Here, it’s everyone pays their electricity bills but 1 absolute behemoth of a customer hordes the resources, and instead of being cut off or denied service as would be typical in other services, they pay hand over fist to get first dibs on all resources, whilst passing off the cost to everyone else

      • 🍉 DrRedOctopus 🐙🍉@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        it’s my life choices that rise my electricity prices, i should have built a giant data centre to consume the equivalent of a whole town do the taxpayer’s would subsidise my bills.

  • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    My electric utility just arbitrarily added 170 (~50% of the total) bucks to my bill this month, despite me using 11% less electricity.

    The whole point of being a utility is to allow the “efficiency” of a monopoly without the ability to gouge the customers. Frankly, I’m looking to see if there is a lawsuit against the utility at this point so I can join on to it.

    Also looking into residential solar. Ideally I can just give my electric utility the finger and disconnect my service. Between them and gas, I’m paying about 400 bucks a month, which could get me a nice loan for a solar array, battery backup, and all electric appliances.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    “States feel pressure to act”

    First of all, did they interview all the States? Secondly did the states say they “felt” “pressure” “to act”? And lastly, Bull.Shit.

    • pfizer_dose@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I’ve been thinking this for some time. It just seems completely implausible that companies like OpenAI will continue letting the people of the world use their product for free, what with the ruthless material requirements involved in it’s distribution and upkeep.

      To me it seems clear that the right to intellectual property and the right to work or contribute meaningfully to a workplace (as if that were actually a right) are currently being blitzscaled. I.e. these guys are running their companies at a loss to allow their product to become a necessity. Once that’s achieved you will no longer have the option not to use it and they will be able to charge whatever they like.

      We really need to begin pressuring states and governance to protect us from the predatory business models of these venture capitalists.