My assumption is that electrical providers own their generators. So when they generate electricity, it goes out into this massive repository that is the electrical grid and then all consumers take at will from it.
So how do electrical providers keep track of “their” electricity and who is consuming it? Electrical production has to meet demand in real time so how do providers know who is responsible for generating how much at any given moment?
And how do the companies that own the power lines factor into this? Are they at all related to the power generation companies or are the latter just customers?
In: Engineering
Most ‘providers’ are resellers and not producers. Electricity is produced and is basically always available, your provider buys a certain amount at a certain price and sells it to you based on how much you use (according to your meter).
If anyone knows what happens of a provider doesn’t buy enough to cover their customers useage I’d love to know, because that has to be possible…
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