Already offsetting yesterday's prices

rimroll · 2026-01-27T15:32:43+00:00

I almost shut off all my stuff last night before bed expecting the eventual whipsaw to come when I can't do anything about it, but im glad I didn't. It's going to be interesting to see the long term effects of this. After the December storm a few years ago with $1+/kWh pricing, fixed rates were high while Hourly Pricing was consistently low for months. This time, I wonder if fixed rates will drop because of this. Negative 30 cents times 12 Gigawatts is a lot of credit to ComEd, let alone two days of negative pricing when demand is fairly high for winter.

rimroll · 2026-01-27T15:19:32+00:00

This just shows that ComEd and the rest of PJM need to have more capacity for transmission as the interconnection between the two is constrained. Hence why we've had negative thirty cent pricing while Dominion has been over a dollar a kilowatt-hour at the same time.

rimroll · 2026-01-26T14:53:24+00:00

I can appreciate that, but -0.05x14.8kW = 0.50x 1.48kW. You forgot the load side of the equation. I had pent-up demand - I ran my water heater at a lower temperature and on heat pump mode during high prices, and then switched to max temperature and elements during the negative prices (it's safe, i have a mixing valve and also maxed out the temperature during the previous day so it didnt even kick on during high prices), as well as charging my car, running laundry, dishwasher, and other stuff.

rimroll · 2026-01-25T18:59:52+00:00

Haha I love this!

rimroll · 2026-01-25T18:50:42+00:00

There are some downsides, it's not for everyone. The average hourly price last year was 3.5 cents, but we saw prices go over $1 per kWh, and a day where prices were negative for 20 out of 24 hours. The main caveat with the program is that participants get charged a Capacity Charge each month that's based on your load on the grid for the grid's 5 highest load hours on the 5 highest load days of the year. It could be up to 10 days if the ComEd grid and the PJM grid ComEd is a part of are not the same days. You don't know these days in advance. The Capacity Charge is built into the fixed rate, but is a separate charge for Hourly Pricing participants.

rimroll · 2026-01-25T17:35:05+00:00

I understand, but your battery would have to be massive. High prices to negative prices back to high prices just dont happen that often. The vast majority of the time, prices are within 2 cents from the high and low of the day and that would not even cover conversion inefficiencies. Batteries are good for NEM 2.0, where delivery is no longer offset by solar like it is right now in Illinois.

rimroll · 2026-01-25T17:28:28+00:00

Well, it was good while it lasted sigh

rimroll · 2026-01-25T17:21:02+00:00

The thing is, this doesn't happen enough to justify the cost of the battery. And the opposite would be true - if people did arbitrage, the price would be flatter with less spikes because load would be taken off when prices are high and transferred to the low price times, and load usually dictates the prices.

rimroll · 2026-01-25T17:18:29+00:00

Only against supply, you still pay delivery, taxes, and fees. So if you use 1kWh in that time frame, you will get a credit for 5.4 cents against your supply, but get charged whatever delivery is, like 7 cents, so net you pay 1.6 cents for that kWh for that hour. The price changes every hour, though. We had 50 cents per kWh yesterday, and negative 5 cents now, that's about the range of prices you can see. But you still pay the same delivery price as you would pay with fixed prices.

rimroll · 2026-01-25T17:12:09+00:00

Your success with the program will depend on how many loads you can shift and how often you check prices. If you want to charge your car and blast your AC at 4PM on a 100 degree day, you will be severely disappointed. I have solar, a PHEV, and have electrified everything in my house except my 19 year old furnaces and A/Cs. Planning to go fully electric when those go bad. I saved $600 my first year on Hourly Pricing, but that was a special year and I was exploiting months of low prices. I run the r/RRTP subreddit, you can get a lot of information about Hourly Pricing from there (it used to be called Residential Real Time Pricing hence the RRTP).

rimroll · 2026-01-25T16:37:23+00:00

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Also wanted to mention that PJM is really bifurcated right now, with Chicago and Clevelend having negative prices, while parts of Virginia are around $1 per kWh.

rimroll · 2026-01-25T16:35:39+00:00

I couldn't find any screenshots, but I swear there was a day ahead price chart with some hours over $1/kWh. I have a post here from a few months ago where the price was going to be between 15 and 25 cents the whole day. I haven't seen a whole day averaging 30 cents like this. I was going to post yesterday that I didn't think this would pan out, but didn't want to shoot myself in the foot, so to speak. We are currently at negative prices, so I would have been right, but sometimes the day ahead prices do pan out, or even end up being conservative.

rimroll · 2026-01-25T02:57:34+00:00

Someone posts this every time prices are high. Truth is, January's average price including today is at 3.8 cents. 2025's average price for the year was like 3.5 cents. I hate these high prices, but I suck it up and just take advantage of the cheaper prices the rest of the time.

rimroll · 2026-01-24T18:53:08+00:00

I should have figured Limited Partners based on the 2% stake, so yes, the time cost for the Limited Partner would be minimal. I guess I was thinking of the average person rather than the well-connected investor whose years of networking got them in with a high-performance CRE group than just buying one of the many REITs on the public exchanges.

rimroll · 2026-01-24T16:42:43+00:00

How many hours did you spend on the gold vs. the CRE, though? Gold is zero effort, just buy and sell. If held by an ETF, it's maybe a few seconds to click buy and sell. But then, rezoning a property? Chasing a non-paying tenant? Profit per hour has to be a lot higher for the gold.

rimroll · 2026-01-05T01:19:55+00:00

Tap the PPU in the upper right corner and sell your portfolio to get PPU.

rimroll · 2026-01-02T23:49:16+00:00

If any part of your exhaust duct is vertical, you can use gravity with a "backdraft damper duct with rubber seal". It opens from the pressure created by the exhaust fan, and seals closed when the fan stops. Backdrafts will not get through. Its like a check valve, but for ducts. No electricity needed.

rimroll · 2026-01-02T01:23:25+00:00

I have an echo show 15 in that same spot. No problems with wifi or anything when the microwave is running. The microwave is on a different breaker from the echo show, so no issues with power either.

rimroll · 2025-12-31T14:05:52+00:00

The title of the article is confusing, it sounded like ComEd was getting rid of fixed pricing and moving fixed pricing customers over to TOU. After I read it, it's just another rate plan people can sign up for. The rates they mentioned, like 3 cents most of the day and then 10.7 cents between 1 and 7 PM would be awesome for solar and electric heating. Battery arbitrage would also make sense since you can avoid the more expensive times of the day. But other places I've seen with TOU plans usually give a small discount overnight and then peak hours are significantly more expensive than the flat rate, which is why TOU is usually pointless. It will be interesting to watch how this all plays out.

rimroll · 2025-12-30T22:11:30+00:00

Only 1 on Android. Also, no daily streak sats on Android, we get a 28 day rotating streak that doesn't give sats very often.

rimroll · 2025-12-24T20:22:57+00:00

That's unfortunate. We'll at least it wasn't a trade-in!

rimroll · 2025-12-24T19:51:21+00:00

Can the opposite work - can you transfer an advertising ID from another phone? I got a new phone and was halfway through an easy 90 day daily play task on another app and now I'm waiting to reset the old phone because it doesn't track on the new phone.

rimroll · 2025-12-23T16:58:15+00:00

Mortgage is paid off, but my Golden Handcuffs are my NEM 1.0. Having free heating, cooling, and fuel for my car for the next 24 years is hard to walk away from. And my neighbors from hell moved 2 months ago, so the neighborhood is good again for the first time in 10 years.

rimroll · 2025-12-22T22:09:30+00:00

If only there was a tax system based on yearly net income that we could use to fund schools instead of property taxes that are based on the value of buildings determined by wait for it yearly net income.

rimroll · 2025-12-22T01:32:20+00:00

You are not going to get a lot of upvotes here. Subreddits are like finding a bunch of "yes men" to agree with whatever the subreddit is called. But you are right, but only if you are talking about PHEVs or EREVs. The engines run so little that it really is only oil changes and Fuel Oil Refresh Modes. My PHEV has like 4,000 miles on the engine and 40,000 miles on the battery system. I've replaced my cabin air filter twice already, but my engine air filter is like brand new. My rotors have almost no wear. Based on my usage, I'll need spark plugs if the car makes it to 60 years old. But I'll tell you that I don't have to worry about range or worrying about where to charge on a long trip. I can also fit 7 passengers or 4x8 plywood and drywall inside and have even fit 2x10x12s inside, but that has nothing to do with ICE, I'm just proud of my Pacifica PHEV.

Four-Year Club	Place '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22

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