New Illinois company hopes to offer cheaper power
New Illinois Cooperative Energy, or NICE, was developed by Illinoisans upset with electric rate increases since last year. It's led by Greenville-based Southwestern Electric Cooperative.
NICE hopes to get a large enough pool of customers to let the co-op negotiate attractive power-purchase prices.
The venture would draw lower rates by buying electricity more often and timing the market to catch lower prices.
NICE customers would still will get their power from Ameren, the distributing company, over Ameren's lines.
At least 7,000 customers must sign up in Ameren's service territory before the program may start.
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Bitcoin consumes 'More electricity than Argentina' - Cambridge
LONDON - "Mining" for the cryptocurrency is power-hungry, involving heavy computer calculations to verify transactions.
Cambridge researchers say it consumes around 121.36 terawatt-hours (TWh) a year - and is unlikely to fall unless the value of the currency slumps.
Critics say electric-car firm Tesla's decision to invest heavily in Bitcoin undermines its environmental image.
The currency's value hit a record $48,000 (£34,820) this week. following Tesla's announcement that it had bought about $1.5bn bitcoin and planned to accept it as payment in future.
But the rising price offers even more incentive to Bitcoin miners to run more and more machines.
And as the price increases,…
