Utilities in Washington state have gone on high alert in anticipation of increased miner activity and associated increases in energy consumption.
Columbia Basin utilities are wondering if they will see a repeat of the 2017-2018 power consumption boom from miners, according to the Seattle Times.
So far, power plants in Chelan, Douglas and Grant counties in Washington state have not noticed a spike in requests from commercial miners who can use the region’s electricity to mine BTC. This may be due to the fact that a few years ago, Washington utilities raised tariffs for bitcoin miners due to the increased demand for electricity.
Grant County in Washington state increased the electricity tariff for miners by 50% back in September 2018, an initiative followed by many of the state’s utilities. Electricity suppliers are now awaiting the return of small miners who previously consumed electricity illegally and placed mining equipment in basements, sheds and periodically overloaded residential power lines.
John Stoll, Managing Director of Customer Service for the Chelan County utility, noted that so far “we have not noticed any such activity, but we continue to monitor the situation.”
Miners are attracted to the placement of devices in Washington state because of the low prices for electricity, which the five large hydroelectric power plants in the basin generate in excess of local demand. Residential consumers pay about $ 0.023 per kilowatt-hour, compared with about $ 0.12 in Seattle and $ 0.13 on the national average.
Electricity providers have benefited from the interest of miners. In Grant County, the electricity cost for miners is automatically doubled if miners use or request to use 5% or more of the county’s capacity. The Grant County utility expects the rise in the BTC price to spur “high demand” this spring. But miners must brace themselves for higher tariffs, according to Louis Szablya, senior manager of solutions for large utilities in the county.
On Saturday, January 9, the Bitcoin mining difficulty was recalculated, after which it grew by 10.79% and exceeded 20 trillion, setting a new historical record.
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