According to a report by “The Block,” the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), a subsidiary of the US Department of Energy, will start investigating the electricity consumption of confirmed cryptocurrency mining companies in the country next week.
According to a statement on Wednesday, after the EIA issued an “emergency data collection request,” the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) authorized the investigation on January 26, with a validity period of six months. The EIA also plans to solicit public opinions on the energy usage of cryptocurrency miners in the United States.
Joe DeCarolis, the Director of EIA, stated: “The rising price of Bitcoin is evidence for the emergency request.” The EIA cited the recent surge in Bitcoin prices as evidence for the emergency request, stating in their document:
“The EIA also states that severe cold weather has affected most of the central United States, leading to a surge in electricity demand. The increasing cryptocurrency mining activities and the strained power system are contributing to the uncertainty in the electricity market, which could result in peak demand and affect system operations and consumer prices.”
Pierre Rochard, the Deputy Head of Research at Riot Platforms, a Bitcoin mining company, disagrees with the EIA’s assessment. He quoted a recent report on the impact of cryptocurrency mining on the power grid and stated, “Scientific research is clear, and experts unanimously agree that Bitcoin stabilizes the power grid, and there is no need to collect data for so-called ’emergency situations’ due to demand response.”
Last month, during the cold weather period, Bitcoin’s network hash rate was estimated to have dropped by 25% due to the power reduction requests issued by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Charlie Schumacher, the Deputy Head of Communications at Marathon, a cryptocurrency mining company, stated to “The Block” at that time, “Many Bitcoin miners in Texas, including Marathon, have scaled back their operations in the past few days to support the Texas power grid and its citizens during the current cold weather outbreak, which is exactly how it should operate.”
