Washington’s Chelan County Public Utility District
(PUD) has proposed a new electricity pricing structure for
cryptocurrency miners meant to pass down the cost of increased
electricity demand, Central Washington radio station KPQ reported Nov. 14.
The article cites Lindsey Mohns, the Customer Utilities Rate
Adviser, explaining the difference between the current and proposed
electricity pricing systems, noting that the rate structure is
“built the same was as the existing rate structure that
cryptocurrency miners are paying right now”:
“What this new rate structure (Schedule 36) does is brings into
it a market consideration on the energy price because we will have
to purchase power on the market to serve the variable load
associated with cryptocurrency.”
The Public Information Officer of Chelan PUD, Kimberlee Craig,
explained that the district “is addressing (the rate structure) in
a way that captures the cost and protects the investment for the
customers that are already here and invested greatly in our
system.”
According to KPQ, by “investments” Craig was referring to PUD’s
fixed expenses, including covering the “the accelerated cost of
infrastructure investment in our system.”
On Nov. 7, when the Chelan DUP unveiled the proposed new pricing
system, “many members of the cryptocurrency community expressed
their displeasure at the proposed increased costs,” according to
KQP.
In April, the Chelan PUD reported that it had caught
unauthorized cryptocurrency miners and ordered the staff to enforce a
moratorium on cryptocurrency mining. Chelan county’s ban on crypto
mining isn’t the only such development in Washington, as the city of Ephrata has also
recently imposed a one year ban on new
cryptocurrency operations.
There have been similar moratoriums internationally, with the
Quebec government lifting its temporary ban on
electricity sale to miners at the end of May.