[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?

[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.

[Cheerio]

Is electrical power some kind of new basic human right, like healthcare, that should be provided regardless of ability to pay?

Humans, at a bare minimum in the 21st Century, have a right to government funded -
House or apt
Food
Energy - electric, gas, and oil
Water
Garbage pickup
Obamacare
Transportation, car or subway/bus passes, and
'Help me out here what have I missed?' /sarc

This the mind set of many many child messiah voters in Nov 2008. How did this happen? Could it have anything to the young people's empty heads being filled by propaganda in the public education system - k thru college? Young people are being taught the evils of Capitalism in practically every school you would go into, starting first with the environmental wackos and how corporate America is what brought us the fouling of our air, water, and killing of polar bears.

[myknowledge]

The author is sort of treating it like a human right, but in today’s society, we would need it to run electrical appliances, like TV sets, PCs, stoves, toasters, microwave ovens, refrigerators, washing machines etc.