Hey guys, a clarification is in order: By “power company” I meant the companies that are the government regulated monopolies that deliver power to customer. They own the lines and sometimes have a separate subsidiary that owns generation. it is these companies, e.g. Duke, Vectren that I am referring to.
In general, power generation and distribution is shaping up to be like health care. We will have a few government controlled monopolies that will make serious money and they will always sign on to more regulation. It is classical crony capitalism and rent seeking.
They will protest loudly while at the very same time negotiating their rate increases. They will use their cozy regulatory relationships to drive out competitors.
The great part is that Capitalism will be blamed for the fiasco. Then as electric rates skyrocket we will see a flood of imported items that are energy intensive. Then Freepers will cry “Buy American!” and “Free Trade Doesn’t Work!”.
Sure they do, but Duke, Vectren all still have power plants that make the electricity that they ultimately sell. Granted, they may be owned by the same parent company but regardless and the cost is passed on. You won’t only see utility prices sky rocket, you’ll not have it either! There isn’t enough wind, solar, hydro or gas fired available yet to take the place that coal fired makes and is being retired. I’d say it’s whole house generator time.
I know in Texas at least, generation is a separate company than transmission and distribution. It wasn’t that way 25 years ago when I worked at Houston Looting and Plunder (Lighting and Power), but we were preparing for the split coming with “deregulation”.
“We will have a few government controlled monopolies that will make serious money and they will always sign on to more regulation. It is classical crony capitalism and rent seeking.”
I couldn’t agree more.
What happened back in the day when MaBell was divided because of violating monopoly laws? Guess those laws don’t matter any more. Like most of our laws.