"We feel like it’s a bait and switch." That’s Michael Cao, CEO of bitcoin mining firm ZoomHash, one of a number of bitcoin miners currently involved in a months-long dispute over power costs with a public utility provider in Chelan County, Washington.
Cao isn’t alone. Other bitcoin miners in the region say they were drawn by promises of cheap power, a circumstance that’s now subject to possible change.
Washington state is home to some of the cheapest power sources in the US, a circumstance that, in recent years, has drawn more than a few entrepreneurs hoping to establish profitable bitcoin mines. Given that bitcoin mines thrive on cheap electricity – some have compared the business model to a power arbitrage – it’s natural that some would gravitate to a region that boasts significant hydroelectric power capacity.
Counties like Chelan and neighboring Douglas and Grant Counties have attracted bitcoin miners as a result, though those areas are not currently considering any form of rate increase.
Yet the seemingly fertile ground in Chelan could change in the months ahead, as the public utility district (PUD) is currently weighing a rate increase that local bitcoin miners say could force them to cut expansion plans, layoff employees or shut their doors entirely.
Chelan County, which according to US Census data has a population of roughly 75,000 people, boasts three hydroelectric plants along the Columbia River.
A moratorium on high-density load customers, which includes bitcoin mining firms, has been in place since December 2014 and is set to expire in October , by which time the PUD intends to have a rate increase plan firmly in place.
The utility is currently weighing a plan to raise rates for customers that use more than 250 kilowatts per square foot, a move that would include the power-hungry bitcoin mines in Chelan. This would […]
