Most US rates are typically fixed with yearly rate regulation cycles -- my rate in North Carolina ($0.11/kWh iirc) was determined at the beginning of last year by the state energy regulatory agency (the power company fills out this extensive application saying "this is what we want to charge and why" and typically it's like a 50-100% increase, and the state says "hell no")

Part of the reason is taxes and carbon taxes. Another part is that growing demand requires investments in new capacity by energy suppliers. And of course European energy suppliers are investing a lot into that. And of course doubly so in Germany which is getting rid of nuclear this year and coal in the next eight years. And another part is that gas prices have risen sharply recently. So, those nice gas plants that were built to replace expensive to operate nuclear plants are now about as unattractive as coal plants are relative to renewables in terms of cost.

Of course Hetzner can choose to invest in generating their own energy. Those roofs over their data centers would be a perfect spot for solar. And in related news, that's exactly what they are doing: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/hetzner-online-ho...

Makes sense, it's what the big cloud providers are also doing. Consuming large amounts of electricity from the grid is not a great business plan when there are cheaper alternatives. And of course they get to advertise how green they are.

IMHO skyrocketing or unstable grid prices are a good thing in the sense that it makes people more likely to spend money on solutions like this.

The Green Deal has been dealt – with much more to come.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Green_Deal

My most recent monthly bill was $̶0̶.̶0̶4̶6̶/̶k̶W̶h̶ $0.092/kWh

Edited to show fully burdened rate, inclusive of delivery charges and other fees and taxes.