That massive spike of 50c/kWh at the left looks tiny compared to today even though that’s already insanely expensive

130 points

RIP to those running a 4090 on their rig.

permalink
report
reply
73 points

I get the joke, but in contrast to heating, you can easily just… not run demanding games while the electricity is insanely expensive for a day.

permalink
report
parent
reply
61 points
*

It would literally not matter since it all ends up as heat in the end which is what you’re looking for anyway

Minus 5 watts on the three fans or something

permalink
report
parent
reply
43 points

My Pc is a good 500W heater with an attached entertainment generator.

permalink
report
parent
reply
25 points

The electricity from the fans also ends up as heat.

permalink
report
parent
reply
19 points
*

Even if it’s 97% efficient, a heat pump can still easily beat it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

But running the 4090 would keep your cottage warm.

permalink
report
parent
reply
43 points
*

What do you mean? I can run my 4090 to heat the house instead of my furnace

permalink
report
parent
reply
15 points

I got an RX 6800 yesterday, can’t wait to test out its heating capabilities lol

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points
*

I was slightly joking but not completely, my office is above my garage so it get much colder during winter if I leave the door shut, so I just fire up Cyberpunk for an hour and my whole room is superheated. It’s pretty wild

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

Nah, it’ll keep the house warm!

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

I kept the main room of my condo warm for a winter by having two rigs running 24/7 while I didn’t have a baseboard because I was doing renovations!

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Imagine the OC potential at those low room temps!

permalink
report
parent
reply
84 points

50 Euros a day is insane. That’s a good portion of what I pay for a whole month.

permalink
report
reply
66 points

Part of it was faulty pricing from a Norwegian electricity exporter. Also, they have almost finished the new infrastructure, so they do not have to import as much in crisis situations. I think a new nuclear power plant goes online and lots of renewable stuff. The problem OP is maybe talking about seems to be very well handled by the state and already solved. https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/24708-electricity-prices-in-finland-return-to-normal-levels-in-2023-down-64-from-previous-year.html

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points
*

Lucky you. 175 square meters, 25cm styrofoam on walls and 30cm rock wool on ceiling and I pay 200€ per month in winter for gas heating in Poland. Solar panels are not economical in current regulations and billing rules have changed so those with heat pumps pay at least twice us much in coldest months.

We are fucked from every angle.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points
*

wow! i paid 220euros for gas heating and warm water in 78m2 flat in poland for all last year.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Yeah I lived in flats before, it’s a totally different story, unless your flat is on the last floor or on the corner there is not much heat loss assuming your neighbors also use the heating.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

hey, whats the price for gas per cubic meter in Poland?

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points
*

Invoice from yesterday for December 2023. I used 201 m3 of gas, calculated by provider as being equal to 2224kWh of power for which I paid 682.81 PLN (157 € to be exact) in total including taxes and surcharges. So 3.397 PLN or around 0.78 EUR per m3.

December was one of the coldest months this season. Last year I used maximum of 250 m3 per month which happened to be January/February. This then exceeded 200€

This includes both warm water and heating using low-temperature floor heating. Current thermostat settings give me 22C on the base floor and 20C on the first floor (where most heat escapes, obviously). I also have mechanical ventilation with recuperation.

Shit’s expensive.

With current prices of electricity, the same heating power with perfect constant COP of 3 (not possible with December temps for air heat pump) would cost me 666 PLN. (Nice). How can I offset the cost of installing it in the first place LOL.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-10 points
*

Get a space heater.

Mine was $15 at Walmart, heats my room like it’s Spring, and only adds $5 per month to my electricity bill.

Come Summer, I’m going to get a dehumidifier and see if I can use it in place of my A/C.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-5 points

Bruh, a space heater is the least efficient way to heat a space, unless electricity somehow costs less per MWh than gas (that is insanely cheap and only true in a few key places in the world).

Also dehumidifiers… don’t do what you think they do? They are basically an A/C unit, that dump the hot air in the room they sit in. Literally worse than nothing.
*Re-*humidifiers have marginal benefits in (very) dry weather as evaporation is endothermic. As soon as the air is even somewhat humid though, they’re literally worse than nothing again.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Many are going to pay 200€ today

permalink
report
parent
reply
61 points

Tomorrow is back to normal. Even the 37c/kWh spike hardly registers on the graph compared to today even though that’s still pretty expensive.

permalink
report
reply
2 points

Are you actually paying the daily spot price? Not a flat amount with the utility provider taking the hit? That’s how I know it from any other country, unless you have a specific contract where the user made an informed decision to opt for market rates.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Mainly the reason is that many countries do not have hourly capable meters, so calculating the price for each hour is not possible. Flat rate is needed when you just have the cumulative read once a month.

In Finland the meters communicate automatically once a day, and send the 24h values to grid company. The next generation meters which are now installed can communicate once a hour.

30% of Finns are on spot.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Oh interesting, never knew that’s a thing. Sounds mostly like a good development to make people more conscious about their consumption.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Spot is quite normal in the Nordics. Over all it’s the cheapest, but some days suck obviously.

This summer we had days with negative prices. My bill for July was 78 NOK (about $8). Might have been August when I think about it…

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Yeah about 30% of Finns have a plan lile that. It’s bit of an gamble, but on average it’ll be cheaper on the long run.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-1 points

40c/kWh is a pretty normal price here in Germany…

Ironically, prices are high, because of too much extremely cheap renewables.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points
*
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Do you really think, that’s what anyone pays? Because that’s not how consumer contracts work. You’re paying whatever you agreed upon when signing the contract.

Source: https://www.stromauskunft.de/strompreise/

This was literally 10s of google. Is that so hard?

permalink
report
parent
reply
57 points

Do most Finnish people pay spot prices for electricity?

permalink
report
reply
41 points

About 30% do

permalink
report
parent
reply
12 points
*

Interesting.

At these temperatures, I can’t imagine air source heat pumps being very efficient.

I would probably have a spare gas, oil or wood based heater and use that for days like this, or for if the power goes off on days like this.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

Older houses definitely have them… but there was this trend at some point to renavate older houses and remove the oil heaters and fireplaces and wood heated saunas, and replace everything with electric ones. Why? No idea, trends are weird.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points
*

What about a solar + electric heating?

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Newer models are actually.
We had negative 30 C the last two days and our air-to-air kept the whole upper floor comfortable. 90 m².

Granted it’s a brand new and very well insulated house, but -30 bites well on those too!

Most houses up here have other electric alternatives or a fireplace.
Gas and oil are beyond abnormal to have and I think oil is even illegal in Norway now…
Don’t quote me on that though

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Heat pumps only work to about -4c.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I’m surprised that those 30% don’t have batteries to shift load times

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Those batteries would never pay themselves back.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points
*

Is that actually a widespread practice anywhere? I’m in Switzerland and I don’t think I’ve seen that anywhere (other than in one farm near me which is entirely covered in solar panels)

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

It’s the first time I hear about final consumers paying spot prices. What’s the reason for it? Ecological activism?

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

Because at its cheapest it can be even free. For a long time last summer it was only like cents, sometimes even cheaper and at best negative. And the fixed contracts have been expensive for a while now in finland. I’m paying 8cents/kwh with the conract I got last fall. I got it because I was skeptical about prices at winter and I’m so glad I took that contract

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points
*

Plans like that started gaining popularity in the recent years as in general they were cheaper than ones with fixed prices. Then because of the Russian invasion the prices skyrocketed with daily averages of even 30 and 40 cents and people were in deep trouble with their electric bills and many of them scrambled to get 20 - 30c/kWh, 1 to 2 year long plans to save their asses. However the spot prices then dropped back to 3 to 4 cents for the spring and summer and now those people were stuck with their fixed price plans and are paying 10x the spot prices. Personally I just decided to gamble with the spot priced plan as my 6c/kWh plan had just ended and the 8 to 12 cent plans are all 1 to 2 years long. Despite freak days like this, on average, I’m still probably paying less than I would have with a fixed price plan.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

Fixed rates on renewal went crazy after the war started. Now it’s possible to choose low-load times for running dishwasher etc. On average the spot price is lower than available fixed rates, although some lucky people locked in long cheap contracts before February 2022. Most of those will expire this or next month at latest. It’s certainly easier to have a fixed price contract.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Anti-ecological maybe.

Consumers have chosen the spot deals because of the lowest possible prices with disregard to the high points and consumption.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Time to install a wood stove.

permalink
report
parent
reply
42 points

Is there a specific reason the price spiked that much? That’s a 950% price hike within four hours.

permalink
report
reply
48 points

We’ve had negative 20 temperatures for over a week which happens about once every 10 years so the demand is extremely high and on top of that few of our powerplants are out of service for maintenance so that electricity has to be bought from abroad too.

Few cold days in a row is not an issue as buildings still have heat stored up in the structures but when it lasts for a long time the demand for more heating goes up drastically.

permalink
report
parent
reply
33 points

Scheduling power plant maintenance during winter in a country where it gets that cold seems a tad, uhm, insane?

permalink
report
parent
reply
37 points

I don’t think it was scheduled maintenance. Something broke

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

Sometimes circumstances leave you little choice…

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points
*

Wait til you find out about the Enron scandal

permalink
report
parent
reply
-13 points
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points

That happened because winterproofing windmills and power plants is expensive and no one was forcing the companies running them to do it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points
*

I’m don’t know how energy contracts work in Finland, but in Germany you usually have a fixed price per kw/h. That price may change frequently, but it has to be announced and you have the right to cancel the contract each time.

The graph OP showed looks like the price development on the spot market, that’s where energy providers buy energy short-term, apart from their long-term contracts. Spot-market-energy is naturally more expensive than the long-term one. That price may also be very unstable, as for example an unexpectedly cood winter week among several regions/contries can let it hike up pretty drastically.

AFAIK, this short-term price is an option for the private consumer as well. It has the advantage of being much cheaper most of the time when demand is low/normal but the disavantage OP shows here.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Mildly Infuriating

!mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world

Create post

Home to all things “Mildly Infuriating” Not infuriating, not enraging. Mildly Infuriating. All posts should reflect that.

I want my day mildly ruined, not completely ruined. Please remember to refrain from reposting old content. If you post a post from reddit it is good practice to include a link and credit the OP. I’m not about stealing content!

It’s just good to get something in this website for casual viewing whilst refreshing original content is added overtime.


Rules:

1. Be Respectful

Refrain from using harmful language pertaining to a protected characteristic: e.g. race, gender, sexuality, disability or religion.

Refrain from being argumentative when responding or commenting to posts/replies. Personal attacks are not welcome here.


2. No Illegal Content

Content that violates the law. Any post/comment found to be in breach of common law will be removed and given to the authorities if required.

That means: -No promoting violence/threats against any individuals

-No CSA content or Revenge Porn

-No sharing private/personal information (Doxxing)


3. No Spam

Posting the same post, no matter the intent is against the rules.

-If you have posted content, please refrain from re-posting said content within this community.

-Do not spam posts with intent to harass, annoy, bully, advertise, scam or harm this community.

-No posting Scams/Advertisements/Phishing Links/IP Grabbers

-No Bots, Bots will be banned from the community.


4. No Porn/Explicit

Content


-Do not post explicit content. Lemmy.World is not the instance for NSFW content.

-Do not post Gore or Shock Content.


5. No Enciting Harassment,

Brigading, Doxxing or Witch Hunts


-Do not Brigade other Communities

-No calls to action against other communities/users within Lemmy or outside of Lemmy.

-No Witch Hunts against users/communities.

-No content that harasses members within or outside of the community.


6. NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.

-Content that is NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.

-Content that might be distressing should be kept behind NSFW tags.


7. Content should match the theme of this community.

-Content should be Mildly infuriating.

-At this time we permit content that is infuriating until an infuriating community is made available.


8. Reposting of Reddit content is permitted, try to credit the OC.

-Please consider crediting the OC when reposting content. A name of the user or a link to the original post is sufficient.


Also check out:

Partnered Communities:

1.Lemmy Review

2.Lemmy Be Wholesome

3.Lemmy Shitpost

4.No Stupid Questions

5.You Should Know

6.Credible Defense


Reach out to LillianVS for inclusion on the sidebar.

All communities included on the sidebar are to be made in compliance with the instance rules.

Community stats

  • 6.1K

    Monthly active users

  • 981

    Posts

  • 62K

    Comments