Re: Lack of comprehension and imagination ...
The thing is, this is actually more of a policy question than a technical one.
The nuclear plants we are building in Britain now are 3.2GW output and cost 20 billion each. We spend ~9billion quid a year on subsidies for renewablesthat generally don't produce the energy promised.
Hypothetically, assume that you built a new nuclear plant every two years instead of paying that. 15 plants later that's 48GW; 5GW more than current demand according to gridwatch.
At that point 100% of your power is coming from a source with well known and predictable costs that won't rise, so offering an unmetered fixed rate contract for electricity would be entirely feasible in the same way it is for water.
Oh, and that unmetered profitable price? The Guardian et al screamed about the government guaranteeing that the power generated would be bought at a minimum price of £90 per megawatt hour in exchange for UK PLC not paying anything towards the building price. The Guardian et al stated that due to good wishes and promises from green marketing electricity prices would fall to far below £90 per megawatt hour making it a terrible deal for the future.
At the time of writing electricity prices are over £200 per megawatt hour, apparently good wishes and promises from marketing are worth about as much as you'd expect.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
