Plattsburgh has an allotment of 104 megawatt-hours of electricity per month. When the city goes over this amount, it has to buy electricity on the open market for far higher prices - cost can be seven times higher. When this happens, the residents must share the expense.
This is a strange setup. I can see why Bitcoin mining is causing problems in that town.
I am not sure if the above is accurate, but it quotes an average output of about 30GWh per year, much higher than the allotted 104 MWh per month.
Even getting that data took me some digging, and I wasn’t able to find what other townships the facility supports. but it is possible that everyone in a certain area gets a slice and when the total amount reaches a threshold then they need to get power elsewhere.
This is a strange setup. I can see why Bitcoin mining is causing problems in that town.
The facility that serves Plattsburgh is Lower Saranac Hydroelectric. Some output data can be found here: http://globalenergyobservatory.org/geoid/1042
I am not sure if the above is accurate, but it quotes an average output of about 30GWh per year, much higher than the allotted 104 MWh per month.
Even getting that data took me some digging, and I wasn’t able to find what other townships the facility supports. but it is possible that everyone in a certain area gets a slice and when the total amount reaches a threshold then they need to get power elsewhere.
EDIT – more clicking and I found this nice output chart with more recent data: https://www.quandl.com/data/EIA/ELEC_PLANT_GEN_10214_WAT_ALL_M-Net-generation-Lower-Saranac-Hydroelectric-Facility-10214-conventional-hydroelectric-all-primemovers-monthly