116 sats \ 4 replies \ @purpurato 24 Jun 2023 \ on: Streaming our financial lives with Lightning bitcoin
Interesting, although I don't see why it's best to pay for energy as you consume it, rather than monthly 🧐
Same goes for beers etc.
Do you think McDonalds would benefit from copying the energy producer's business model by allowing anyone to come and get whatever they wanted whenever they wanted something, and then billed them for whatever they consumed at the end of the month, hoping everyone pays up?
do you think their underlying costs would go up or down in this case?
The energy companies could (and most likely will) have two price models.... the "use now / pay now" price, and the "use now / pay later" price.
I top up my energy budget's lightning address, I pay for what I use as I use it, which means I save on my energy costs. It would be a no brainer to anyone who is looking to be smart with their money. "Oh, I can save 25% on my energy bill by paying at the beginning of the month instead of the end?"
That's an easy decision.
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Agreed, if my sats are streaming real time as I consume the electricity, the overall amount I consume would definitely change materially. I wouldn’t ever leave any lights turned on when heading out to run errands, I’d open the refrigerator less often, maybe I’d even lose some weight and live longer.
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In this example, you could probably have your cake and eat it too.
If your energy bill was going to be $200 on the credit price, but since you stream your sats, it costs you the equivalent of $160 in btc terms... even if you're irresponsible with your energy use it might cost ~$180, you'll still end up saving more sats than if you were consuming normally at the credit price.
I'd assume once your wallet runs out then they'd just start charging the credit price and bill you if you don't top up within a certain period of time.
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I've actually met the Synota guys in person, gotten to talk with them a bit about the model.
The energy bill you pay is for electricity you've already consumed from weeks ago. You pay after the fact.
The idea is that paying as you use energy benefits energy providers, since they're receiving capital for others' consumption of their energy instantly.
These companies often have multiple subsidiaries they have to pay as well. The way we currently do things -- separate consumption from payment -- can place downstream pressures on energy companies who have subsidiaries on other regions. After energy companies get paid, they also have to go out and pay any subsidiaries, which even further delays when they get paid.
Synota is battle testing this idea right now with Bitcoin miners.
The high-level vision is synchronizing consumption with energy to make everyone's processes more efficient (and subsequently cheaper) over time.
I'm definitely not smart enough to validate the success of the idea, but Jeff Booth's egodeath capital is a big investor, among others.
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