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Change is highly needed!
Change is highly needed!
A recurring phenomenon in many countries is the inability to meet the demand for electricity in extreme situations such as those that occur in the summer, when an important part of homes activates their air conditioning equipment.
In my opinion, this fact occurs for a very simple reason. The residential sector, and other low voltage connected sectors in general, represent a substantial part of the demand,
So what?
At low voltage, there is no charge on demand. Just for energy consumption. And so, in practice, the resulting demand is a "little box of surprises", without control!
The proposed change is to establish a demand charge, in $/kW of low voltage consumers.
If the consumer wants to contract a "high" demand, he/she will have to pay for the value chain to invest in the associated availability of the capacity. If demand is "low", the current capacity will likely be able to meet the load without difficulty.
Two good news: 1st) Meters capable of recording demand are quite cheap with existing digital alternatives and 2nd) This type of pricing will be a powerful signal in the direction of a "thrift!" energy usage.
It's high time to evolve! The proposed way allocates costs in the right proportion for each one and not as currently, it is an "average" in which "others" pay.
Everyone wins! The supply side will thus be able to predict and meet the market's demand. End users will have energy as per contracted!
And just to illustrate. A house that consumes 400 kWh/month and uses electric central (tank) heaters of 3 kW would pay much less than another house that consumes the same 400 kWh/month but that simultaneously turns on 2 instantaneous electric showers of 5 kW each.
Rafael Herzberg
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Thank Rafael for the Post!
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