No—not as one direct payment from the State of Texas. Riot Platforms reported $31.7 million in combined power and demand-response credits for August 2023, when it said it sharply reduced electricity use during peak demand. Riot later said about $7 million came from ERCOT ancillary services and about $24 million from selling pre-purchased electricity to its provider, TXU, for credits against future bills. The company marked the August figures as estimates.
What happened in August 2023
In its August operations update, Riot said it mined 333 Bitcoin and received an estimated $24.2 million in power credits and $7.4 million in demand-response credits. Those rounded categories add to $31.6 million, while Riot described its record combined total as $31.7 million.
Riot also said it cut power use by more than 95% during periods of peak demand. That curtailment figure and the company’s claim that its actions helped prevent consumer interruptions are Riot’s statements, not independent measurements of the event’s grid impact.
The August total followed a smaller July report: Riot said it mined 410 Bitcoin and received estimated credits of $6.4 million for power and $1.8 million for ERCOT demand response. It reported curtailing more than 90% of power use on certain peak-demand dates that month. These figures were published in the company’s July operations update.
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Who provided the value behind the $31.7 million?
| Component | Riot’s explanation | What the amount represented |
|---|---|---|
| ERCOT ancillary services | About $7 million, according to Riot’s September 8, 2023 explanation. | Fees for making its electricity load controllable through an ancillary-services program. Riot described the payment as compensation for providing the option to reduce load, whether or not ERCOT called on it. |
| Power resale to TXU | About $24 million, according to Riot. | Credits against future power bills after Riot sold electricity it had already purchased under long-term power agreements back to its provider, TXU. |
Riot’s August update called the second category “Power Credits” and said it reflected the ability under long-term contracts to sell power back to the ERCOT grid at market-driven spot prices. In its September 8 response, Riot identified TXU as the buyer and said the proceeds would be credits against future bills. The two descriptions explain why the combined figure should not be treated as one payment for shutting down: one component was associated with an ERCOT service, while the other was a contractual electricity sale.
How Riot’s power strategy worked
Riot’s November 2023 investor presentation described three parts of its power strategy, backed by long-term fixed-price contracts:
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- Manual curtailment: reducing mining when market electricity prices are higher than the revenue Riot expects from mining.
- Ancillary-services bidding: offering controllable load through ERCOT programs, which Riot said can compensate participants even when ERCOT does not call for a reduction.
- 4 Coincident Peak (4CP) participation: a program Riot said can lower transmission costs.
These are descriptions of Riot’s own arrangements, not a complete account of current ERCOT rules or Riot’s present-day contracts. The cited figures concern the 2023 event.
What the event does—and does not—show about Texas power bills
The heat episode occurred amid serious grid stress. The Associated Press reported record demand, an ERCOT emergency alert and constraints affecting power flows. Its coverage also quoted energy consultant Doug Lewin calling for payment programs that let households and small businesses reduce consumption in exchange for compensation.
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That context does not establish how much Riot’s curtailment alone changed outage risk or consumer electricity prices. The available reporting does not isolate Riot’s effect from other grid conditions and responses. Nor does it show that the reported credits were a direct state subsidy.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the headline can mislead
Riot objected to coverage framed as Texas paying the company $31 million to shut down. In its September 8 response, the company called the headline “sensational and inaccurate,” then set out the two components above. That is Riot’s characterization of the coverage, rather than an independent ruling on whether the headline was accurate.
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For readers evaluating the claim, the important distinction is between the reported combined value of credits and the source and form of each component. Riot reported a mix of ERCOT ancillary-services revenue and TXU power-resale credits—not one $31.7 million payment from the State of Texas. The company’s estimates and curtailment claims should be attributed to Riot, and the independent reporting establishes grid stress but not the company’s specific causal impact.
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