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

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Amused

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.

the government doesn't grant utility monopolies. there is a utility monopoly because it is retarded to build out multiple last mile systems to deliver the same competing product, so it will never happen. whoever gets there first wins and has a defensible monopoly until the end of time (or at least until someone figures out how to use a separate last mile system delivering a separate product to deliver the first product, like how phone lines can now deliver tv and cable lines can now deliver phone; or until someone who doesn't need to build out a last mile system can deliver a competing product, such as wireless phones.)

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Amused

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.

the government doesn't grant utility monopolies.

Wrong.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Amused

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.

the government doesn't grant utility monopolies.

Wrong.

While there certainly are agreements made between utilities and local/state governments, what he says is pretty true. It is a defensible monopoly once the initial infrastructure is built. The initial outlay of capital would be enormous to build a new plant and the lines needed to distribute your services. The ROI simply would not be there.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Sigh, they also used to run commercials about how good this price increase is supposed to be for consumers on the radio. I wonder if anyone was buying it...


And this is all at the same time when we have piss poor service, the power goes out at least three times every summer, more like 5 or 6.

 

[apex32]

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
Sigh, they also used to run commercials about how good this price increase is supposed to be for consumers on the radio. I wonder if anyone was buying it...


And this is all at the same time when we have piss poor service, the power goes out at least three times every summer, more like 5 or 6.

Wow, thats bad. Ours never goes out unless its one hell of a storm. It probably goes out 1-2 a year. We haven't had a price increase of anywhere near 22% either. But everythings already expensive so , oh well. (New York (^state))

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
Sigh, they also used to run commercials about how good this price increase is supposed to be for consumers on the radio. I wonder if anyone was buying it...


And this is all at the same time when we have piss poor service, the power goes out at least three times every summer, more like 5 or 6.

haha yeah. they TV spots on also. they compare it to California's problems they had a few years ago. saying if they do not increase the price that is what is going to happen.

 

[jlbenedict]

Congrats... This happened here in northern Maryland also, with BG&E.
72% rate increases ... gotta love it

 

[pmoa]

yup we got a 75% hike here in Maryland by Constellation Energy. Welcome to the 21st century

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Amused

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.

the government doesn't grant utility monopolies.

Wrong.

Amused is right about ElFenix being wrong.

 

[OutHouse]

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.

ye me too. during the summer my electric bill pushes close to 300 for a 1600sq ft house.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Amused

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.

the government doesn't grant utility monopolies.

Wrong.

Amused is right about ElFenix being wrong.

well, i guess i didn't word what i meant properly. the government does grant monopolies, but the monopoly would exist even without the government grant. which is what the rest of the post says.

i notice that amused addressed nothing else i wrote, however.

 

[drinkmorejava]

Originally posted by: 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.

I wondering what kind of program this would of been, because a rate freeze is only going to discourage competition if there's no way for them to make more money.

 

[AbsolutDealage]

Originally posted by: drinkmorejava
I wondering what kind of program this would of been, because a rate freeze is only going to discourage competition if there's no way for them to make more money.

From what I remember, ComEd no longer owns any generators, so they now have a bidding system to buy the energy from privatized generation plants.

I guess the idea was to remove the power generation from the startup costs, so that many providers could buy from the same energy pool, and simply provide the service along the existing infrastructure (obviously with some kickback to ComEd).