I love Jeff Van Gundy, this is from the Lakers/Miami game last night:
“So many people in need. Like all states, we have some great leaders in Texas and we have some leaders who are self-absorbed and only care about themselves and accumulating power but the people of Texas, they’re awesome. They are there to help each other. So many restaurants donating meals, like James Harden today — his restaurant ‘Thirteen’ is donating 3,000 meals — and then you got workhorse plumbers trying to get people back into their houses. I had one guy, ?Juan ____?, he’s an American hero. We had no water for 5 days and this guy — he, his dad and his son — working like 18 hour days just trying to help people and not rip people off. I’m so impressed with how people care deeply about others in Texas and try to help each other in unspeakable tragedies — Hurricane Harvey and now this. People don’t equate how much misery is going on in the State of Texas because the pictures aren’t there like they are during the hurricane.”
Breen: The human spirit shines so brightly in these difficult times.
JVG: It’s not one or two. The people of Texas, the empathy they have for their neighbors and their communities, I couldn’t be more impressed and I couldn’t be more proud to live in the great City of Houston.
(Shout out to his plumber) I just can’t tell you…he’s in my house last night at 11:30 trying to fix all the broken pipes and he’s been working since 6:00 in the morning. That’s the American work ethic and heroes we never speak to but without it, we have nothing as a community.
The other shoe to drop is the wholesalers - who offered fixed-rate plans - going out of business because they can’t cover the gulf between their cost and their revenue. Not sure what happens then, but I bet if you’re forced to find a new deal, it’s going to be more expensive.
Or if your provider goes out of business because they can’t cover their losses. If you don’t get on another plan, you get defaulted to a “provider of last resort”, which is paying the spot price.
This is part of the problem with the system. You’re contract with your provider is really paying for electricity insurance. They’re counting on rates staying down, you’re hedging against them going up. Which is fine until they go up so much, so fast that the provider is overwhelmed and simply has to fold. It’s like life insurance…you’re betting you’re going to die, the insurance company is betting you’re not. You just hope that not everyone dies at once.
60? I’ve always lived in Texas and during my 20s lived cold in winter and hot in summer, but I’d really need to toughen up now to live at 63 all winter. For those that live up north, is it pretty common for homes to be in the low or mid 60s during the winter?
To be fair here, the life insurance company knows you’re going to die; they’re betting that you won’t until you’ve paid enough premium - and they’ve earned enough investment income on that premium over time - such that they come out ahead when you do. Like a casino, they operate on the laws of very large numbers so they can balance those who go early against those who go late. Plus, many people cancel the policy once they’re retired, so they never pay out at all.
Electricity wholesalers are operating on a very different model. Basically, they put everything on black, and hope it doesn’t come up red. They do this over and over, and it always comes up black…until it doesn’t.
I grew up in Florida, without any air conditioning, and it was always hot in summer. Most winters weren’t too bad, but it did occasionally freeze. We had a kerosene heater in the middle of the house, but we rarely had any fuel, so the nights it did get cold, we were just cold. I was used to the extremes too, but I prefer a more reasonable 65-80 inside the house. My wife has to have it like a walk in freezer all the time.
Opened up the main valve, went and listened around the house, so far so good. Sat and watched the water meter for a few minutes, and it didn’t move, so I think we survived.
If you’re on a fixed-rate deal, and the cost of juice spikes 10,000%, someone in the supply chain is going to be eating the delta.
It’s not the producers because, while they’ve suffered increased costs because of the weather, those costs didn’t go up 10,000%. So it’s the wholesalers and retailers who gamble on the market rates - and those unfortunate customers who aren’t on a fixed rate - who are drowning in red ink.
SNL is still mostly meh, but this week’s cold open was very good. Britney Spears hosts “Oops I Did It Again” with guests Andrew Cuomo, Gina Carano and, of course, Ted Cruz - played pitch-perfectly by Aidy Bryant.
Also, breaking news, the Zodiac Killer has finally come forward to the FBI in order to prove, once and for all, that he’s not Ted Cruz.
There’s already talk about using disaster funds to bail out consumers directly meaning that no one up the chain takes a hit either, but the US taxpayers. Not bailing out consumers also seems politically untenable, at least for Texas politicians since they, not the Feds are the responsible party. Should be interesting.
