Why Is Washington Utility Reluctant To Give Out More Electricity for Crypto Mining?

By Kapil Gauhar

BTC Wires: Very few people are aware of the fact that in order to mine bitcoins, a huge amount of electricity is required on a regular basis. Forbes reported back in January this year that “bitcoin mining is already eating up an estimated 20,000 gigawatt hours of electricity per year. That’s roughly .1% of global generation”

A Washington Utilities company that is customer-owned is turning down applications pouring in from residents requesting electricity to carry out crypto mining and blockchain operations.This has affected a huge pool of crypto enthusiasts and miners who were drawn to Washington due to cheap electricity. However, with local regulators pressuring them and introducing new regulations, keeping in mind the long term power supply demands for residents, it is becoming increasingly difficult for miners to continue with their operations due to dearth of electricity.

An embargo has been put in place by The Franklin Public Utility District commissioners (PUD). This time is to be utilised by the staff to investigate how cryptocurrency mining is adversely affecting the electrical system, before they can resume accepting applications. A new rate structure is also to be discussed and put into place by the PUD staff.

This isn’t the first time that an Utilities company in rural Washington, has enforced a moratorium of this nature. Chelan PUD back in April, had instructed their staff to enforce a similar embargo, since numerous unauthorized mining activities had been discovered, which threatened their safety of electricity systems. Fines and penalties were levied on offenders and notices like “reporting unauthorized loads to law enforcement as power theft” and “firing officials to protect public safety” were issued.

Another state that attracted crypto miners due to low rates is New York. A new electricity rate scheme for cryptocurrency miners has been put into place by New York state regulators that will enable them to negotiate contracts. Under this new rate, crypto miners can be charged a greater amount than other consumers.