[Watchdogs] Rate Increases

[Williams, Mark (San Antonio)]

The recent recommendations show the monthly fee increasing by $2.50 per month - not $15.

Go read the recent board meeting agenda.

That article is old news.

Who paid for your hook up when you became a member?  The existing member of PEC subsidized you.

Average cost is the wrong method of illustrating the cost to the consumer.  Incremental is the appropriate method.

Mark

From: watchdogs-bounces at pec4u.org [mailto:watchdogs-bounces at pec4u.org] On Behalf Of cgrossman
Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 1:30 PM
To: watchdogs at pec4u.org
Subject: [Watchdogs] Rate Increases

Sorry, Mark.  There is nothing socialist about Paul's analysis of the situation. It's about equity.   See this article in the Johnson City Record Courier  http://www.jcrecordcourier.com/news/article/13639  Here's how the cow ate the cabbage:  raising the connectiion fee from $20 to $35 for residences raises the effective rate per kwh.

The $20 fee is already regressive; raising it an additional $15 per month puts the burden even more heavily on the shoulders (or in the pocketbooks) of those of us who live modestly and conserve energy.  The only realistic way to compute cost per kwh is to roll  the connection fee into the calculation.  In my case, here respectively are my costs per kwh for the the first four months of this year:  19¢ (242 kwh); 17¢ (257 kwh); 21¢ (202 kwh) & 23¢ (165 kwh).

As I understand it, the connection fee is based on the costs of doing business, i.e billing, maintenance, extending service to new customers, and increasing capacity to accomodate new customers and large users.  I am willing to pay my share for billing and maintenance but I don't think it's fair to make me subsidize costs for extension of service to new areas/customers or to pay to build capacity for large users.

It's recognized by other public utilities that conservation is a meaninful way to cut the cost of providing electricity in that costs for new capacity are offset.   Folks who use under 500 kwh per month should be getting a break...we are not part of the problem.  Fair is fair, not socialism.  Reducing the connection fee and creating a tiered rate structure to encourage conservation is a fairer way to proceed.
C Grossman
Western Oak Hill




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