Skyrocketing Electric Rates

Harvey Ramer

I don't know how wide spread this is but some people around here got a real shocker on there last electric bill. Apparently they shopped for generation companies and found one with a cheap price. Sometime along the way the generation companies switched to a variable rate. With the exceptional cold weather generation costs went up and consumers got stuck with really high electric bills. I heard some prices as high as $.45 per kWh !!!



I think it is kind of like a bait and switch tactic.



I am a member of a Coop and enjoy low rates and exceptional service. I am lucky!



Harvey

Drewser

Wow!

We enjoy very low rates around here (NW WI). I expected an increase this winter but according to my latest bill we're still at $0.09433 per kWh with an $8 per month service charge. Service seems pretty good. Very infrequent outages. Natural gas, however, went up a fair amount. I guess the low electric is the trade off for have a record number of below zero days this winter (66 or 67 I think). This winter has been too long.

Jamie Hall

The only thing that is surprising

about the higher rates is that they are surprising.  They shouldn't be; the companies are very clear, although in very fine print, that they can raise the rates at will after the introductory period.



The people to get mad at are the politicians who sold the public a bill of goods on how "consumer choice" was going to save big bucks.



I wrote a whole paper, years ago, on the phenomenon of natural monopolies and how they should be treated (electric power is one; so is natural gas.  Cable television.  Telephone used to be, but isn't any more.  etc.).  It's an interesting topic.

KC_Jones

I used to work for a utility

For 7 years I worked for an electric utility and I told everyone after deregulation...DO NOT SHOP AROUND!  Those companies will get their money somehow.  I equate it to this I have a product and my neighbor buys it from me then sells it to you for less than they paid me...they then need to figure out how to make money.  I still can't figure out why after so many years of a regulated monopoly people thought deregulating it would be a good idea.

BobC

Right on

A couple of years back I switched suppliers to save 5 cents a kwh (9.9 vs 14.9 cents), everything was fine till the contract period expired and they raise the rates from 9.9 to 22.9 cents in August when the AC was working overtime. It took 60 more days to switch back because of the way the utility commission set things up.



These utilities are all monopolies and they can do just about anything they want because they keep the politicians coffers full. A neighboring town has a municipal light company and their rates are always 20% less that national grids and you never hear about extended power outages after storms; the people who work for that municipal light company know their jobs depend on keeping the taxpayers happy and it works out well for all involved. I suspect the cat they are not paying anybody millions of dollars to run the utility goes a long towards keeping the rates low.



Bob

KC_Jones

Not Monopolies anymore

They actually used to be a monopoly, but aren't anymore.  When they were the government regulated the prices, they couldn't have a price increase for any reason without running it past the government.  Now it's a "free" market and anybody can do basically anything they want.  The utility I used to work for doesn't even own power plants anymore those are all individually owned to create "competition".  The problem is now that they are so obsessed with the bottom line the plants aren't being run the same as they used to be.  Maintenance isn't the same as it once was.  It's only a matter of time and something is going to give.  If the politicians are smart they will undo the catastrophe they have created, but that depends on them being smart and admitting they made a mistake.  Your example of the municipal electric company is a perfect example...essentially government controlled and much cheaper.  My $0.02