"It's the ultimage scam!" - Crapgame, Kelly's Heroes 1970
Posted on 07/31/2024 7:58:15 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
This is crazy, unless the utility was forced to prepay for something they now can’t get repaid.
Utilities are monopolies that have profits capped (I believe at 15%). If they had to spend, due to a mandate, they do have the right to recover that expense.
Wow! I need to keep that in mind.
We have gas, here.
Same thing with water usage, government tells public to cut done on water use during a drought, the water company Jack’s up rates
hmmm- will coupon-ers be charged for the money they save at grocery stores by major companies that are jealous thaT they didn’t pay full price?
My neighbor fell for a solar panel deal with “no cash up front” where panels are installed for free and you pay $130 a month to rent them. Guy proudly showed me his $0.00 electric bill for last month. I said, “So your electric was $130”. He looked confused, like he hadn’t thought about it that way. We recently had a power outage but he couldn’t use his solar panels for electricity because they are “one way”, power can only go out to the solar company, not into the house! I got a kick out of that one!
Next utility company’s will be sending us sox with hand grips for Christmas.
“You have to pay more for appliances that don’t last as long”
My own experience has been good. We remodeled the kitchen ten years ago and dishwasher, range, refrigerator and microwave are all still going strong.
When we remodeled, the prior remodel had been about 50 years prior and, other than a couple of burned out elements on the electric range, things were still working well.
The “New Normal” in America. How far can this madness go?
Not sure how it prices out with propane but with natural gas it works out nicely. And they tend to last. You can not get them with Wi-Fi but I did not want that on my appliances any way. I worry the toaster will conspire with the blender. :)
Can McDonalds send me a bill for the hamburgers I no longer eat because they got used to the profits from the days when I ate them?
-PJ
"It's the ultimage scam!" - Crapgame, Kelly's Heroes 1970
ultimate scam. I proof read it several times, too.
If the Lousiana gov’t allows this, it’s a prime example of state run fascism.
Over the long term, it works in that private investors put up the capital to build and maintain utility plants and grids and get a reliable rate of return on their investment. This relieves utility customers from getting assessed arbitrarily for the capital needed to provide utility service.
In the alternative, local governments may establish their own electric utility and set rates and terms of service. They use local taxes to establish and support the utility and the local government gets the benefit of any profit generated.
Local politicians and the private interests aligned with them can also use the utility to benefit themselves in many sneaky ways. Since the utility is publicly owned, there is usually no outside utility regulator to complain to other than the local government that owns and benefits from the utility.
Can private utilities also abuse the regulatory system? Yes, there are many ways, so state legislators, the public, and specialized consumer advocates keep a close watch on the regulator and on the utilities. In practice, economists and customers usually find that privately owned utilities are better run and more honest than government ones.
As for being "forced" to pay for a product that you are not using, there is a simple answer: go off the grid. Install enough solar power, batteries, and the like to meet all or most of your home power needs. When you run the numbers though, you are almost certain to find that buying power from the local utility makes more financial choice.
Indeed, you have the right to go to the local utility and make them connect you to the grid and provide you with electric power that is cheaper than you can get it on your own. When you look at the system that way, you have the upper hand in that you get to force a private company to serve you on terms that benefit you.
Fascism.
We went to war over taxes with no representation along with government abuse 250 years ago.
History does not repeat, but it does rhyme.
I’m now retired but my former job as a manufacturing consultant included discussing energy incentives available to reduce usage. The local power company helped pay for upgrades to lighting to reduce energy because that meant a reduction of capital costs for them in new generating capacity. So this ploy in Louisiana flies in the face of that logic.
People cut their water use and the water department lost money.
The solution? Increase water rates.
I really hate that too.
One thing I’ve never heard: are there nat gas outages?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.