Bob Wyman for Congress (NY CD-10)

What does lower cost-causation mean? I'm for good time of use... But retail rates concentrate all risk on the end customer. A wholesale signal can more accurately reflect grid values, and align incentives and manage riak through the market. It also enables project finance.

"Cost-causation" measures the actual utility cost caused by the users' electricity use. High coincident peak demand causes more costs than lower peak demand. Increased off-peak demand has little, if any, cost impact other than energy cost. Rates should be cost-based.

It's an interesting rub really... but the 6am morning winter peak created by heat pump electrification (HVAC) is low system cost, but is high in marginal GHGs and expensive to clear up. Given NY's zero-carbon goals... how are you valuing carbon in that equation?

The key take-away from the charts in the previous Tweet should be that we simply cannot afford to expand electric grid capacity enough to allow a significant quantity of air-source heat pumps. We can only afford to eliminate fossil fuels by installing geothermal heat pumps.

I think the take away is that we can't just be technology-focused and look at heat pumps of any sort as a silver bullet. We need to equally prioritize and optimize around even greater levels of load reduction. Insulation or a tighter envelope will also shave this peak.

It is cheaper to install GSHP. A heat pump eliminates on-site emissions, while envelope work only reduces them. In NY, we get more energy today from on-site fossil fuels than from electricity. Grid Peaks will rise as we reduce both energy consumption and GHG emissions.