Outrage in D.C. over Doubling of January Electric Bill

[newmac]

All due to sneaky legislation passed way back by ENRON; residents are fuming at 500 power bills in spite of home weatherproofing

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Complaints-Against-PEPCO-Energy-Bills-Grow-Louder.html


This is a job for President Obama

[MADem]

1. Prices are going up everywhere. It's getting insane.

And I went to CFLs eons ago, before it was cool.

[Orrex]

2. I haven't heard of even one person benefiting from utility deregulation

By "benefiting," I mean that a consumer sees an improvement in her service and/or a reduction in her bill, or even that her bill increases at a lower rate than other economic indicators.

In every single case that i've heard of, deregulation instantly caused a huge jump in the bill.


Does anyone know of a contrary example?

[CurtEastPoint]

5. Ga. deregulated natural gas years ago (GOP-led, natch) and...

There are dozens of 'marketers' and the gas still comes from Atlanta Gas Light BUT the middleman and AGL get pass-thru charges, 'customer service' charges, etc.

So.. typically my usage if about $15 worth of gas (therms) and they tack on about $20 in charges. It sucks and I wrote and complained and nothing happens. It's like trying to put the genie back in the bottle.

Monopolies USED TO BE regulated and we benefited. Now? Not so much.

[Orrex]

6. Prior to deregulation of our electric service

The local providers catapulted a lot of propaganda extolling the virtues of consumer choice and competition in the marketplace. The very first month that deregulation took hold, our bill jumped 30% with no increase in usage. They simply raised the price just because they could, and it's never gone back down.

[DJ13]

3. Welcome to 7 years ago in California

If its any consolation, we still havent recovered.

Our energy costs remain 40% (or more) above where they would have been just accounting for inflation.

[ContinentalOp]

4. Great, so in another few years when DC is totally screwed because of this stuff..

I guess Californians are free to come back, point and laugh and their problems and blame the DC voters. Cool! :P