• adhdsergio@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Technically it’s socialism - the population is subsidising the datacenters. It’s only capitalism when it comes to getting paid

      • lefaucet@slrpnk.net
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        6 days ago

        They are raising prices because there is new demand in the market. That’s not socialism at all, it’s market forces.

        I’m betting the datacenters and power companies are funded by capital from investors that demand to receive the maximum capital return that can be extracted from that municipality. That’s capitalism

      • nanometer1625@thelemmy.club
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        6 days ago

        It is not socialism. It is literally capitalism. Socialism is a form of government. It is true that the costs of higher energy are being spread across society and therefore socialized, but that is not the same as socialism.

      • MrEff@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        If you are looking for the truest -ism that this would be, it would be the original Mussolini definition of fascism as the merger of state and government, that is now closer to what we would call corporatism.

  • TheBrideWoreCrimson@sopuli.xyz
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    7 days ago

    You’re paying thrice:
    1: With your spare time in which you give advice on forums and maintain Wikipedia pages. This information is getting slurped up by AI crawlers.
    2: Implicitly with your money, to get some new AI doodad on your laptop or your phone, trained on 1.
    3: See meme.

    And that’s why billionaires exists.

  • lonefighter@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    They’re putting data centers in near me (they have been heavily protested, but of course that doesn’t do shit, the local government holds lots of meetings that are crowded with people saying they don’t want them, and then they shrug and approve them anyway. The last meeting I heard about they just flat out cancelled because too many people were planning on coming and speaking against it). I got a letter from my power company that they’re raising electric rates, and would I like to contribute to a fund to help pay other people’s bill?

      • lonefighter@sh.itjust.works
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        7 days ago

        Oh I know exactly how I’m voting next election, but the problem is that I live in a conservative area and these dumb fuckers wouldn’t vote for their own self interest if you held a gun to their heads, because if they vote for things that benefit them then a brown person or someone on disability might also benefit.

        • PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          This conundrum is why America has been continuously turning into a shit hole for the lower classes. It goes all the way back to right after the civil rights movement. By the early 70s, most public pools were filled with concrete (supplemented via private country club pools of course) and white private schools were opened up all over the South to exclude blacks. These examples are just a small part of what has been going on over the last 50+ years.

          • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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            6 days ago

            the bigger issue is that education is mostly underfunded, or defunded. defunded is where gop do it to rural areas. even in places that are blue can be underfunded. as i see them still using the same version of books like 10+years ago without much updates, plus if you looking at how they are shuffling students around to make sure the funding for the budget, if the student is struggling.

            • PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world
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              6 days ago

              Guess what? It was defunded because the money got poured into private schools and it doesn’t help public schools in America rely on local property taxes, so low income schools get less money due to the property taxes netting less money.

              • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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                5 days ago

                we got a nearby public/private school that is a christian prep school, they get all the new funding and are under construction for new buildings. the public schools dont ahve those resources. i dont think this is those that take private vouchers since we are in a blue area, but the difference is staggering, if they get more funding they have better chances of prepping thier students for college. while the hs i went to only had a small handfull of students that were truly “successful”, they had classes where they shunt underperforming students as a “babysat” class, usually its a class about random subjects.

        • DMCMNFIBFFF@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          MAGAts want all to suffer, including themselves, if it also means that POCs, women, LGBTQ+, foreigners, leftists, liberals, and other never-Trumpers suffer.

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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        6 days ago

        most of them been bought off, even if they arnt seeking re-election, they ram through the approval after getting a hefty fee for themselves.

  • mursejoy@lemmy.zip
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    6 days ago

    Socialize the expenses, privatize the profits. Everything is working as designed.

  • Wren@lemmy.today
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    7 days ago

    Data centers have lobbying force the citizens lack, they can negotiate for better prices.

    Data centers also force power grid upgrades, the cost of which gets unfairly distributed to consumers.

    And, data centers have the technology to take advantage of peak pricing, running on low power when electricity costs more and amping up when the price is more favorable.

    People need to fight back in force, write their representatives, their energy companies, show up to town halls and increase public pressure to make sure data centers are paying their fair share.

  • ForeverComical@lemmy.ca
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    7 days ago

    Don’t you have something like an energy board to protect your citizens against price hikes by power companies.

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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      7 days ago

      If we did, it would be populated by MAGAs who would take bribes to let the power company put ALL the costs on the residential consumers. Except for the wealthy neighborhood. They deserve a break, because they’re better.

  • socsa@piefed.social
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    6 days ago

    I participate in the “residential smart thermostat rewards” program where they can adjust my temps during high demand periods. In the past it has been like if it’s 100F out they will bump my settings from 77 to 79 which is not a big deal and gets me like two weeks of free electricity.

    This year those mother fuckers have been bumping the thermostat up to like 86 when it’s 87 outside. Gee I wonder what the fucking difference is now? I can reject their temp settings in the app, but I can only do it like three times before they cancel my rewards. I’m half tempted to go wire up a little Arduino in series with the thermostat so I can control the AC without touching the smart thermostat if needed.

    • nanometer1625@thelemmy.club
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      6 days ago

      I had a similar deal (I actually got a free Nest thermostat out of it), but eventually I disabled that feature. Instead, I now use a fixed temperature upper bound that is at the edge of my comfortable range. Of course, this is because I can afford to run the air conditioning when it gets that hot.

      • socsa@piefed.social
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        6 days ago

        This is honestly the first year I’ve even noticed the events. Previously I’d notice the email like a few days later and check the logs to see what they did. This was the first time where I was just at home and felt noticeably uncomfortable and checked the thermostat to see they’d set it to 86F which is outrageous. Its pissing me off enough that I want to cheat the system instead of just opt out, because like… The fucking audacity.

  • rounding_error@lemmy.today
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    6 days ago

    There was an article I read a while ago that kind of explained it. Basically, the increased datacenter demand forces the grid operator to build more capacity, which requires money. I think there are meetings where they decide how it is distributed across all their corporate and resident ratepayers. Basically the lobbyists argue that the since this new capacity technically benefits rate payers in the form of more capacity, they should take a share of it. Even though none of us are actually going to be using that capacity…

    And it doesn’t help at all that the grid companies are monopolies

    • Hueristic_Autistic@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      But correct me if I’m wrong if the data centers are the cause of the electrical increase then shouldn’t they be offering to relieve the city of the cost because they’re the source? Like if I wanted to run 3kw of electricity on a 220v outlet with a laboratory grade vacuum pump for an hour, I would need to pay more for my electrical bill for my house only, right? My neighbors wouldn’t see a spike, I would see a spike.

      My neighbors using their central air have a higher bill than me because they use more, that’s always how it’s been.

      If they’re the cause they should have to pay more than the rest of us. If they’re using more energy, they should have to pay more, if they can’t pay to do upfront costs with the energy companies maybe they shouldn’t be building them. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 It makes you wonder who the hell is selling these people predatory contracts.

      • rounding_error@lemmy.today
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        5 days ago

        They’re paying for every kilowatt-hour they use, same as us. They are just a different ‘class’ of ratepayer (i.e. a bigger customer). The reason prices go up is not entirely just because of demand, but because there’s not enough supply, and the prices go up to cover for the cost to build it. The way I understand it is that some board has to decide how to distribute the increase in rates across their customers in order to meet the extra revenue, and the higher classes of ratepayers know that if their rate went up, that would be millions lost. So they hire lobbyists to convince the grid company to shift the cost to residential tax payers, and since neither you are me is going to march to the electric company and demand a fairer distribution, they end up shifting ‘some’ of it to us.

    • SalmonTractor@discuss.tchncs.de
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      6 days ago

      Depends on the market too, some US states have a requirement that if the power company has to increase capacity, it’s on the power company’s dime.