Hi Ian
On (10 Nov 96) Ian Smith wrote to Alec Cameron...
 JM> residential users are subsidised, as a class, buy the industrial
 JM> and commercial rate classes.
 IS> I'm not sure I'd quite put it that way.  Bulk users get discounts,
 IS> incentives to consume, the largest here being the aluminium smelting 
ob,
 IS> who reportedly pay as little as 3 or 4c (Aus) per Kwh, though many of
 IS> these deals are secret, paid out by state govts as sweets to attract
 IS> industries to their areas.
I don't think that secrecy is a matter of concern. These matters leak! but of
course not to an extent that you can hang a perceived villain.
It is very proper for smelters to get a good deal. They are a most attractive
load, wholly disconnectable at the whim of the supply authority and are auto
disconnected at time of system stress. This allows the utility to optimise
efficiency [most kwH delivered for least possible waste in generation and
transmission] and can be a market for [say] 500MW generation without the need
to buy one more generator at a cost of [maybe] $500 million capital and staff
to suit.
Generating bodies maintain what is called "spinning reserve" which means in
your state, that there must always be 660MW of surplus generator capacity
connected, just in case one of the generators at Vales Pt, Eraring, Bayswater
or Mt Piper trips off line. If instead of buying one more 660MW set, they can
attract a smelter requiring 660MW then they make a large capital saving,
sweetened further by the revenue due to smelter load, which may be negotiated
at low rates approaching the incremental cost, not the average cost of
generation.                  ^^^^^^^^^^^               ^^^^^^^
When I tried to get info on tariff design, as an employee of ECNSW in about
1970 I was told that the Chairman alone, made the calculations and that there
was no access to the design parameters.
                                       
 IS> And of course these figures don't include, at all, the environmental 
costs
 IS> of producing this power in the first place.
For many good reasons, like! how do you establish the environmental cost!
Whole huge valleys have gone
 IS> under for the aluminium industry, and Australia's CO2 emissions from 
oal
 IS> are among the world's worst, esp. per capita
CO2 per capita is a measure of "standard of living". You and I are better off
than 3rd world. If we would accept a very frugal lifestyle then we could
suppress the CO2 discharge per capita. Our gr children can be motivated to do
just that, but for us guys close to 3 score and ten, it would be a painful
and cruel revolution.
 IS> Sounds fairly typical for NSW.  For last year's Oct-Dec 2 months (no
 IS> heating needed! :) the first 195Kwh cost me 16.04c plus another 363 at
 IS> 12.06c.  Total 558Kwh for $75.06 = 13.45c/Kwh (~10.6c US).  It was only 

 IS> bit cheaper on the NSW central coast, not far at all from the big
 IS> coal-fired power stations, where I lived for a few years not so long 
o.
Anywhere in NSW that has 330 or 500kV lines in the region, costs the utility
about the same for energy. So actual retail rates vary very little in the
populated regions. It is not justified to sell cheapest next to the Power
Station.
 IS> :)  Kali believes there are some breakthroughs brewing on cheap 
morphous
 IS> cell solar panel production .. have to see if we can get her to talk 
about
 IS> that ..
Once the charge drops to 20% of what PV panels cost now, there will be a
strong support. Today's crummy batteries are a terrible dis- incentive.
And the sun works best [summer] when we need it least!!     Cheers....ALEC
... ........Good and quickly seldom meet
--- PPoint 1.92
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