sigh. my Electric bill goes up 22% today. stupid ComEd.

[waggy]

chicagotribune.com

A state-mandated, 10-year electric rate freeze ended Jan. 1, and rates are going up for most people by an average of 22 to 55 percent. That means some people will see their bills jump more than $300 a year.

Patton, a volunteer lobbyist for the senior citizen advocacy group AARP Illinois, expects more than just watching her bills go up this winter. She predicts local governments will ask for more tax money, businesses will tighten their belts and seniors will face tough, potentially life-threatening decisions.

"I think seniors are really going to be so frightened with having to pay for that and pay for their medication," Patton said.

State lawmakers froze rates in 1997 to encourage competition, so residents and commercial users would have more choices for their power needs. But competition hasn't developed in the residential market, giving megautilities Ameren and ComEd control of nearly all of the state.

State regulators approved an auction process this fall in which companies bid to supply power to Ameren and ComEd customers. The result was sharp increases in prices.

Businesses, from small ones up to major energy users, face the largest increases, but they also have many more competitive choices than residential consumers.

Residents in and around Chicago who are served by ComEd will see an average 22 percent increase.



sigh that really huge jump. part of the reason i really hate IL.

 

[AbsolutDealage]

Yup, in the same boat here. Not much you can do about it though, unless you are willing to move.

 

[dullard]

You got 10 years of low bills (including the time of the energy spike in the last couple of years) and you are unhappy?

Would you have rather paid full price that whole time?

I think you are complaining about the wrong thing.

 

[Queasy]

Time to invest in fluorescent bulbs and a heat pump?

 

[mzkhadir]

I thought it was 10-12%

 

[vi edit]

<---- Ameren customer. 55% increase for us.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
<---- Ameren customer. 55% increase for us.

whoa. that does suck.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

what are you paying now per KWH?

 

[Bateluer]

Time to reevaluate how your live and what appliances you use. Acclimate to a warmer indoor temp in the summer and a cooler indoor temp in the winter, switch to CFL bulbs, etc. I'm sure you can conduct your own research.

 

[ElFenix]

seniors need to hurry up and die. i swear they are going to bankrupt our society.

 

[Mermaidman]

That's unfortunate, but how much has energy costs risen over the past decade? 22% seems OK.

 

[AbsolutDealage]

Originally posted by: dullard
You got 10 years of low bills (including the time of the energy spike in the last couple of years) and you are unhappy?

Would you have rather paid full price that whole time?

I think you are complaining about the wrong thing.

No, ComEd basically agreed to freeze rates to avoid antitrust/price gouging claims against them. Supposedly, the rate freeze was coupled with a program that was going to encourage competitors to enter the market. Obviously, that never happened, and now we are all getting screwed on the back end.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Time to reevaluate how your live and what appliances you use. Acclimate to a warmer indoor temp in the summer and a cooler indoor temp in the winter, switch to CFL bulbs, etc. I'm sure you can conduct your own research.

already did most of that.

my avarage bill is $80. not going to go up much but enough to be a downer.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: AbsolutDealage
No, ComEd basically agreed to freeze rates to avoid antitrust/price gouging claims against them. Supposedly, the rate freeze was coupled with a program that was going to encourage competitors to enter the market. Obviously, that never happened, and now we are all getting screwed on the back end.

You start by saying NO, and then you agree with everything I posted. He should complain about the lack of competition. He should complain about the poor law (why would competition enter in a period of fixed artificially low prices?). He shouldn't complain about the rates being low for years and now returning to normal. He is complaining about the wrong thing (and thank you for backing up me 100% with your post).

 

[K1052]

The fact that the original legislation did not include rate increases at all was completely unrealistic, so now the public gets to enjoy sticker shock as it expires.

 

[Amused]

This is what happens when the government thinks price fixing will promote competition. It does exactly the opposite, as shown in this example.

Thanks Illinois lawmakers. Now Ameren and ComEd own the state.

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: Amused
This is what happens when the government thinks price fixing will promote competition. It does exactly the opposite, as shown in this example.

Thanks Illinois lawmakers. Now Ameren and ComEd own the state.

Oh no, now you're going to get treated like everyone else in this country! Your complaint doesn't seem to be with government price fixing, it's that it won't continue with it.

 

[funboy6942]

Im so glad I left

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Time to reevaluate how your live and what appliances you use. Acclimate to a warmer indoor temp in the summer and a cooler indoor temp in the winter, switch to CFL bulbs, etc. I'm sure you can conduct your own research.

already did most of that.

my avarage bill is $80. not going to go up much but enough to be a downer.

I would kill for an $80 average. Currently I average about $175 a month in a 3bed house that's only 1200sq ft.

 

[AbsolutDealage]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: AbsolutDealage
No, ComEd basically agreed to freeze rates to avoid antitrust/price gouging claims against them. Supposedly, the rate freeze was coupled with a program that was going to encourage competitors to enter the market. Obviously, that never happened, and now we are all getting screwed on the back end.

You start by saying NO, and then you agree with everything I posted. He should complain about the lack of competition. He should complain about the poor law (why would competition enter in a period of fixed artificially low prices?). He shouldn't complain about the rates being low for years and now returning to normal. He is complaining about the wrong thing (and thank you for backing up me 100% with your post).

That's fine, but I don't think that waggy was being that shallow with his argument. He and I both were complaining of the increase in general.

For the record, we didn't have "10 years of low bills"... at the time of the lock, they cut the rates by 20% and we were still paying over the national average. Before that, we were paying some of the highest electricity costs in the nation.

Obviously, we would not want to pay "full price" for the past 10 years, because ComEd's idea of "full price" was gouging their customers with artificially inflated rates.

Now, that same thing is happening all over again. ComEd made ~$2 Billion last year, and they cry poor mouth about how we will have an energy crisis/rolling blackouts/layoffs/etc if they don't increase our rates. It's all a bunch of BS.

At the end of the day, ComEd is putting the screws to their customers again, and our bills are skyrocketing because of it. That's what waggy was complaining about, and that's what I was saying. I don't think we were "complaining about the wrong thing"... at the end of the day there is more money coming out of my pocket because of a greedy and monopolistic power company.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Strk

Originally posted by: Amused
This is what happens when the government thinks price fixing will promote competition. It does exactly the opposite, as shown in this example.

Thanks Illinois lawmakers. Now Ameren and ComEd own the state.

Oh no, now you're going to get treated like everyone else in this country! Your complaint doesn't seem to be with government price fixing, it's that it won't continue with it.

Oh no, maybe if the government didn't grant utility monopolies in the first place, none of this would be happening. Maybe the problem is, and always has been too much regulation, rather than not enough.

So no, my complaint is the lack of competition. Not the rate increases.

And I don't have to deal with this. Springfield has it's own electric company. One of the few small utilities to survive this fiasco.

 

[vi edit]

My bill last month was $177(gas & electric), and that was for a fairly mild December. We had a stretch of about a week that was in the single digits/teens, but was otherwise seasonably warm.

I'll be facing a $275 tab. This is a 2100 sq/ft home (3100 including basement).

If January is a miserable cold bitch of a month I could have a $300+ tab.

 

[BrownTown]

Yeah, you should count your blessings, energy prices have gone up alot more than 22% over the last 10 years on average.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Time to reevaluate how your live and what appliances you use. Acclimate to a warmer indoor temp in the summer and a cooler indoor temp in the winter, switch to CFL bulbs, etc. I'm sure you can conduct your own research.

already did most of that.

my avarage bill is $80. not going to go up much but enough to be a downer.

I would kill for an $80 average. Currently I average about $175 a month in a 3bed house that's only 1200sq ft.

heh if i let my wife have her way mine would be that much.
i tend to be a bit anal when it comes to wasteing electricity, water etc.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Amused
This is what happens when the government thinks price fixing will promote competition. It does exactly the opposite, as shown in this example.

Thanks Illinois lawmakers. Now Ameren and ComEd own the state.

It has been proven over and over again that when (A) a government adds laws/restrictions that the customer in the end is screwed and (B) a governement removes laws/restrictions that the customer in the end is screwed.

Basically, the companies use the law changes to sneak in as many rate hikes / fees / competition killers as possible. In the end, all that happens, is that the good intentions (to either restrict or to remove restrictions) are futile. Sure, the consumer may get a trinket or two in return for massive increases, but that trinket isn't worth the cost.

Conclusion: get the government out of meddling with day to day business decisions. They shouldn't have allowed a monopoly. They shouldn't have tried to control that monopoly. And now they shouldn't have ended that control. All three were bandaids on a bleeding wound. If a government has to meddle (and that should only be in rare extreme cases), then go for a surgery not a bandaid.