Cryptocurrency miners in Grant county of Washington district, United States may not be smiling so much at their wallets right now. This is because a Federal court in the state has turned down their application, seeking review of the discriminatory energy rates set by Grant County.
Some time ago, the district of Grant County stated that they had been receiving requests for increased electricity supply, which is about twice the average amount requested by the resident of that County. They noted that the electricity unit asked was irregular, and as such, it became difficult for them to plan and negotiate future supply flows with the electricity generating company. This situation usually causes them to receive more energy supply than they sometimes require, which ends up in losses for the County.
Consequently, the County had to look for a creative way of accomodating the energy requirements of the crypto miners, while meeting the needs of their regular resident and consumers. This lead to the enactment of the "evolving industry" category. This category comprises of companies with high energy requirement, unstable industry regulations and risky business operations.
However, the crypto miners did not take this classification in good faith and sought redress in the courts. They alleged that the discriminatory rates were unconstitutional, and ultra varies with the United States constitution. They also claimed that the energy estimation done by the County was overboard and inflated.
On April 10, the court dismissed the application by the plaintiffs, stating that the rate-setting was constitutional, classified as one of the legislative acts of government, not a judiciary task.
This judgement has a huge implication for bitcoin miners in the face of the halving event, which already reduces the reward for mining bitcoins.
Source: Bitcoinist
