Grid Operators Paid Miners a Record Sum to Curtail During the Summer Peak

Payments to bitcoin mining operations for reducing consumption during peak demand hours reached a seasonal record this summer, according to settlement data reviewed by Bitcoin Bounty Hunter. In several intervals, curtailment revenue exceeded what the same machines would have earned by hashing.

The arrangement is straightforward. Grid operators need loads that can vanish within minutes; mining is one of the few industrial loads that can, without spoiling product or idling a workforce.

A dependency cuts both ways

Consumer advocates argue that ratepayers are subsidising a discretionary industry. Utilities counter that the alternative — firming capacity built and paid for year-round to cover a handful of hours — costs substantially more.

We are not paying them to mine. We are paying them to stop, and stopping is the product we could not previously buy at any price.

The debate is likely to sharpen. Two state commissions have opened dockets on whether large flexible loads should face a distinct tariff class, a proceeding that would set the terms of the relationship for years.