Cheaper to Buy energy?

[Hypochondriac 0]

Am I missing something, or is it cheaper to buy energy then produce it? I'm currently using wind to power my city. When comparing prices it's cheaper for me to buy electricity from the region then the maintenance cost. Is this also true for coal/oil plants? Seems weird

[AlexMBrennan 11]

It doesn't matter. If you are correct, then no one will bother to export energy (I.e. build more power plants than their city needs), and you will have to generate your own power. If you are wrong then you should build your own power plant.

Buying power is convenient early on (no supply chain needed, no initial investment required), and selling you surplus gives you free cash (because you can't plop just half an oil generator you'd need to avoid blackouts).

The only thing I'd imagine to allow you to profitably export power is the nuclear power plant (4x fast neutron reactors is enough to power a small region, and I'd guess that it is balanced to be cheap enough to make a profit supplying the region with power)... Except that no one will dare use it because one disaster could render your city uninhabitable