Power cuts as bosses get bonuses

The Daily Telegraph ^ | January 3, 2010 | Linda Simalis

[myknowledge]

THOUSANDS of struggling families are being disconnected from power at the same time as the State's energy bosses pocket thousands of dollars in performance bonuses.

A damning report by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) shows more than 18,000 residents had their power cut off for non-payment of bills.

One in seven of the disconnections was of a pensioner. The State's pricing watchdog has warned disconnecting rates could rise as a new pricing regime comes into effect in July.At the same time as families struggle to pay the bills, new annual report figures show the salaries of the State's nine energy provider bosses to be increasing.

[myknowledge]

What a go***** disgrace - A go***** disgrace for the cash-strapped power consumers in New South Wales.

The state gubbermint's power bosses get their paychecks at the expense of everyone else.

George Maltabarow takes home a ~$135k 'performance check' added to his $602k salary.

EnergyAustralia will charge customers up to $100 more per year for electricity next year.

Yeah, whatever. It'll be swindled by the energy bosses.

Lucky that my power is not sourced from EnergyAustralia.

One commenter wrote: There would be no need for the next price rise, alleged to be for the repair of failing infrastructure, if the incompetent and lazy New South Wales Government was to cancel the requirement for such organisation to pay the government an efficient bonus, in additional all such bonuses paid in the past should be returned to the utilities to build new and repair old infrastructure. this is just another excuse by the labor government to impose additional costs on the electorate.

Another commenter said: CEOs of electricty companys are already over paid. The independent pricing tribunal (IPART)are not independent at all. They don't just say its time to review prices they are asked to. The CEOs of electricity providers are not the people who keep the electricity businesses running either.They are the parasites in the business.

A third commenter replied: welcome to the brand new world where lighting and heat will be by way of candles and fire.

[GnuHere]

Whew! That kind of thing would never happen here!
/s

[major-pelham]

What are you talking about ? If you don’t do disconnects then no one will EVER pay. Then the system will be even worse with prepay the only way to keep the utility in fuel supply. You don’t walk out of WalMart without paying for the tube socks do you ?

[4rcane]

the electrricity bosses didn’t do anything wrong. Why won’t the article writer just pay for those ppl’s electricity bills and they won’t be cut.

[Doohickey]

THOUSANDS of struggling families are being disconnected from power at the same time as the State's energy bosses pocket thousands of dollars in performance bonuses.

I'm sorry, I'm not seeing the correlation here. If the "State's energy bosses" declined or did not receive bonuses, would "thousands of struggling families" still have power? Is electrical power some kind of new basic human right, like healthcare, that should be provided regardless of ability to pay?

[4rcane]

the problem is government printing money and forcing electricity companies to go Green, that is causing the electricity prices to go up. If anyone’s to blame, its the government that is causing electricity prices to go up to a point that now the poor can’t afford it

[4rcane]

correction: THOUSANDS of struggling families are being disconnected from power at the same time as the Green energy bosses pocket thousands of dollars in performance bonuses.

[chuck_the_tv_out]

agreed.

“more than 18,000 residents had their power cut off for non-payment of bills”

Then pay the bills. The company is not a charity. There are all kinds of benefits for people. Why not pay the benefits as food stamps and allocate part direct to the bills companies if people can’t budget their benefits properly.

Not front page news either. Seriously man if you don’t understand this pls ask.

[LouD]

Why do you link bonuses with curtailment of power for people who refuse to pay?

If I do my job, and achieve certain goals, I get a bonus. If you don’t pay us, you don’t get our products. The two are entirely unrelated.

It’s interesting that you think they are related, however; Do you think that businesses should have to provide products or services for free?

[Flavius]

the strong do what they can, while the weak suffer what they must

[Paratrooper]

The problem is that the state is in control. Government workers are taken care of with the taxes they exact from everyone. I’m sure there are plenty of reasons why the people did not pay their energy bills, a hint is the pensioners....maybe they have not gotten a reasonable cost of living increase( our retired Military is not getting a cost of living increase this year but government employees and companies under the government are getting their bonus and raises)
When the government competes with private industry, private industry will lose. The people who have been successful in the private sector will be the ones who will not be able to pay for their lifestyles until they reform and live closer to the poverty level.

[4rcane]

charities can help the weak. Businesses are businesses. Its immoral for businsesses to act like charity

[eastforker]

For free??? Of course not for free, but, it could be akin of price gouging.Food, water, energy and other services are not luxuries. They are basic requirements to live.No one is saying you shouldn’t make a profit but charging in excess when you don’t have an alternate less expensive way to obtain these sevices is, IMHO, highway robbery. I live in a county of about 6 million residents and pay an average monthly light bill of about $400 for reidential service.Thats over 2.5 billion $$ a year in revenue for the power company and thats not counting commercial services. That seems a bit high to me.

[kittykat77]

Well first, let's sort out the different types of non-payers.

There are pensioners, veterans, and others who live on fixed incomes; perhaps a budget plan can be worked out, especially if the amounts are not huge. Seasonal variations in utility usage can be tough to handle for the poor; sometimes it's better to spread out the average over the course of 12 months.

Then there are commercial businesses that have gone belly up and haven't paid their bills. Some of these settlements will be handled via the courts.

Then there are the scofflaws. All you can do is track them down and ruin their credit scores.

I'm old enough to remember when a public utility was actually a public utility, so these huge bonuses still rattle my brain -- but I'm trying to adjust.

Older people get a double whammy here. They were the generation that really chipped into the pot for electrification programs and water and sewerage treatment plants (in the US) and the establishment of public utilities to run them. Then they were converted to private companies (yippie!), and the rates and CEO pay have gone up. If I were an oldster, I'd be really grumpy. And sitting in the dark.

[caver]

Someone has to pay for this global warming crap, via carbon credits. Sounds like the voters are reaping their rewards.

[SunkenCiv]

FN?

[FreeStateYank]

The problem is not disconnecting non-paying customers homes, electrical company salaries or bonuses. If/when there is a large spike in non-payment of utility bills, the question is begged: ‘What did the rates do?’ Did they ‘necessarily skyrocket’ as ‘green’ initiatives were mandated by NSW government? I suspect that is the case and as with most government ideas, end up as unfunded mandates which transfers the cost of the clever ideas to the public via increased taxes, or in this case, higher user fees/rates, forcing those on a modest fixed income to get the squeeze.

Stupid wankers.

ANY country which desires prosperity MUST have CHEAP, RELIABLE energy sources.

Expect more of this shite with cap/trade initiatives, especially those with ‘carbon credit’ trading schemes, which are nothing more than the new derivatives market to benefit the algores of the world and transfer wealth from the many to the few...with a subsidy plan for the ‘poor’. If you have a job, or assets, assume the position or work to throw the climate change worshipers out of office...including the executive branch.

And while we are at it, remember Carter created the EPA to ‘get us off foreign oil’. Another bloated governmental institution which does nothing to fulfill it’s mandate.

Drill, baby, drill.

[ASOC]

Nice abou page, love the photos.

Tried to find the cost per KWh delieved to a home in NSW.

Could only find
In Australia most standard energy charges are set according to State Government legislation. Standard electricity and gas prices in Victoria and gas prices in Queensland are deregulated.

I did find 5 different ‘providers: that listed rates. Using a random NSW postal code (Victoria?)

For the first 1020KHw/qtr shows 19.4810 (cents? with all taxes) per KWh
Peak is more, over 1020 is even more, 0.20.88 AUD. and so on. (Currently 1 USD = 1.112 AUD) So, call it $0.20 USD per KWh.

So, I am ASSUMING (correct me plese wrong) that the GOvernment thinks ‘homes’ should only use 11.3 KWh per day (1020/qrtr or 90 days). After that you get to pay out the ying/yang.

Here in Anhcorage Alaska the cost per KWh is $0.1064 USD. Plus - 6.95 /month for the meter, taxes, energy charge (cost of gas) and on and on. We are allowed to average our use over the year, so the bill is ‘around’ $100 a month. WIth just two of us, gas heat and little use - washer/dryer/fridge and lights) we get off pretty cheap.

If we used more, we would get a discount - but we would have to use a tremendous amount to get the discount.

Thanks for the post - now I feel like maybe we are not getting screwed as bad as before. Shared misry and all that.

(a releated thread on US power costs in 2007
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/gogreen/msg0411334418129.html)

[Bryanw92]

>>Why do you link bonuses with curtailment of power for people who refuse to pay?

They always do. A utility company in my city won’t give employees a pay increase this year (and may ask for pay cuts) because “the customers are suffering” and it would look bad. Total employee salary plus benefits is about 2% of the company’s total budget so this will have no effect on the “suffering”.

[Bryanw92]

>>Thats over 2.5 billion $$ a year in revenue for the power company

Do your power plants run on air and unicorn farts? Fuel is expensive and fuel transportation is even more expensive.