[2018-07-16] New York Looking for Crypto Miners

[vit05]

Bloomber

New York just cracked open a door for electricity-sucking cryptocurrency miners to take advantage of some of its cheapest power supplies.

State regulators approved a new rate structure Thursday for one upstate utility that will allow miners interested in running operations there to negotiate contracts. Massena’s municipal utility will review the contracts individually while shielding the rest of its ratepayers from increased costs. Just four months earlier, New York cleared 36 other municipal power authorities to charge miners a higher rate than that paid by other customers.

New York is among the hydro-rich regions of the world that cyrptocurrency miners have targeted in a search for cheap power. From Quebec to Iceland to China, locals are raising concerns that miners will soak up low-cost hydropower supplies and raise power bills for everyone. That’s left governments including New York trying to strike a balance between attracting new business and protecting residents from rising energy costs.

“We must ensure that business customers pay a fair price for the electricity that they consume,” New York State Department of Public Service Chair John Rhodes said in a statement Thursday. “However, given the abundance of low-cost electricity in Upstate New York, there is an opportunity to serve the needs of existing customers and to encourage economic development in the region.”

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[Kemarit]

I think I have read this news before or maybe that's another state? But If I'm a miner I wouldn't choose New York though. Its not condusive eventhough they offer cheap electric bills. Probably a mid size miner can run there, but I don't think that large scale bitcoin mining farm can stay that long without even detected. And now it looks like the crackdown has started so I do hope that they get out in time and move somewhere and at least earn a decent amount of bitcoin to sustain their operations.

[cryptofonia]

I think I have read this news before or maybe that's another state? But If I'm a miner I wouldn't choose New York though. Its not condusive eventhough they offer cheap electric bills. Probably a mid size miner can run there, but I don't think that large scale bitcoin mining farm can stay that long without even detected. And now it looks like the crackdown has started so I do hope that they get out in time and move somewhere and at least earn a decent amount of bitcoin to sustain their operations.

"now it looks like the crackdown has started" do you mean something more than rising el bills?

[1Referee]

If that's your way of trying to attract them, then you have failed miserably. Miners, especially the larger ones, aren't interested in a fair price, they want the absolute bottom of the bottom. If on top of that you have to deal with a local government not shy of showering you in legal shit, you don't even want to consider their offer as miner. Miners lobbying for the best possible seats is a real thing. Bitmain isn't shy of that, and so are there a few other miners. New York? Skip. There are way better alternatives.

Mining is marching towards Scandinavian countries, which has a great climate for miners, renewable energy, and where the governments there are way more open minded, and more importantly, stable. Good development.

[Betwrong]

Although I haven't managed to reach the document I wanted, receiving this nice message from Bloomberg:

The article you requested is only available for Bloomberg Professional Service subscribers.

I concluded from reading other articles that residential consumers in Massena pay an energy charge of about $0.04 per kWh and that the Massena Electric Department is going to allow high-density load customers, such as cryptocurrency miners, to qualify for service under an individual service agreement.

Am I right in assuming that cryptocurrency miners will be paying as low as $0.04 per kWh? If that is true, then it's a pretty low price indeed, although not the lowest possible (so I agree here with 1Referee). For example, povincial utility Hydro-Quebec has proposed for miners to bid for electricity with the starting rate of 1 Canadian cent (0.0075 USD) per kilowatt hour.