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Potential Skyrocketing Electricity Rates
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T O P I C
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Discussion Started: 08-02-2006, 3:56 PM
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A major law passed by state lawmakers 10 years ago temporarily capped electric rates. But those caps are about to come off. At the end of 2009 and 2010, rates for PPL and Met-Ed will be set by the open energy market. Some are projecting rate hikes of 60 to 80 percent. What do you think of this?
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View Messages: [newest first] | [oldest first]
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Robo0425
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01-28-2008, 5:48 PM
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I have a question. If rates are going to skyrocket after deregulation and price controls cease, and as te topic headder suggests, and this is because rates will be determined by the open market, then I would infer from that that we have been paying far less than an open market would have dictated for 10 years.
I don't want my electric bill going up any more than anyone, but I can't say I have ever ad a problem with PPL's rates as of yet and we heat and cool with electric. So I guess, while the increase will be painful, it seems that we will just be paying our fair share for the first time in a decade.
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davidjsout
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01-24-2008, 4:47 PM
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Great! Choices, choices. Feed my family, pay the mortgage, put gas in the car, or pay the electric bill?
I love how everything is going up except wages.
David - York
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scadaman
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09-30-2007, 7:31 AM
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As a employee of a major PA electric company, this doesn't surprise me. In the late 90's, a certain Governor in the state made the comment, "We want to be the California of the East." Well, be careful what you wish for, as you may get it folks. Politicians and the Wall St gunslingers played games with electric companies that have provided good service at stable prices over time looking to squeeze money out of anything they could find. Some companies sold all of their generation assets for basically pennies on the dollars while the buyer then flipped the same property in some cases for hundreds of MILLIONS in less than two years. (Remember TMI folks?) My best advice is to send emails to our illustrious politicians who caused this and demand answers. Electric deregulation was a farce, scam, and a joke that we will be paying for many years down the road. The market rate for electricity is much higher than what the customers are now paying and that will eventually come up to the current floating rate. I remember the excuse for this risky scheme - "To make our state more competitive for jobs". Ok, where are all the new jobs then? Again, the electric companies were basically forced into this by the politicians, so blame them and remember them on election day.
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Amp48046
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09-09-2007, 4:51 AM
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Yesterday I found out something I never heard before. At a family gathering the subject of our electric bills came up. A relative mentioned how much her bill increased this past month. She never has a bill over $80 or $90 dollars, and she received her Aug. 07 bill and it was $179. Suspicious, she called Met-Ed and he had her go out to her meter and told her to read to him the numbers on the meter, and lo and behold, he told her that her meter was read wrong by Met-Ed. They're reimbursing her the difference. I wonder how many times this has happened over the years and we weren't aware of it.
Adios, Michelle
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BillMuir
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02-14-2007, 8:37 AM
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I say the same thing now that I said right after the disaster of deragulation. Renact those laws!! I truly believe in the saying that "governemtn that governs the least governs best" but some things (like basic utilities (phone, power, heating)and public transportation) should be strictly controlled to ensure its availability, at a reasonable cost (resonable = actual expense of producing/providing plus 2-3%) to all.
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JoelMarc
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12-29-2006, 11:25 AM
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The residents of Maryland were protected in the same way by a rate cap. The businesses however, had to pay the going rate. When the residents were applied with the going rate they wined and cried. The increase wqs fortold to be 70% or more. It never got anywhere near that. Prices go up, get used to it.
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larry168
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11-04-2006, 12:26 PM
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Hello,Again our lawmakers did nothing to protect the people of Pa.To have a 60 percent plus for electrice is not real and should happen.This is how they take care of business.They take care of the rich and only the rich.I hope not but then we will see crime go up because people need money to pay.They keep cutting jobs plants are closing or moving out of Pa.Send our jobs over seas immiragration taking our jobs.Get these needed people on the books and they and the bussiness owners pay theie fair share of taxes back into the system.And all profits go into the crooked business people they are causing the problem not the workers. Thank You
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Robo0425
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10-24-2006, 4:08 PM
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Rob, I would question how you can deny simple supply and demand economics. The electricity that is skyrocketing in price is produced largely from oil. Oil prices have skyrocketed largely to increase in demand, although I will admit that there are supply issues that are beyond our control. OPEC decides how much to produce, but production reductions can only go so far and then they are cutting off their nose to spite their face.
The point I am making is that it DOES matter if you pay$20 a week or $60 a week to the enemies of America for your gas. The difference is $40, multiplied by the 100 million or so drivers in this country...well you do the math. It seems to me that it would make a big difference.
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Rob-in-PA
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10-22-2006, 9:56 PM
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Robo, you comments are amusing and incongruous at the same time. This is the same type of psycho-babble the right-wing neoconservatives spew every day (no I am not saying you are one, just referring to the typical source of this insane viewpoint). People then jump on the band wagon and begin repeating these erroneous remarks without fully thinking about them before they do. Gas is gas, and the purchase of gas is just that. It doesn?t matter if you purchase gas to fill up a Volvo, Kia, Yukon or a moped, it is all gas. So what you are saying is, you can sleep better at night knowing you only give $25 per fill up to a nation that funds terrorists rather than Dawn who may purchase $60 of gas?
This type of logic is no different than purchasing clothes from stores who receive their merchandise from overseas sweat shops. You point the finger at others who buy 10 outfits when you only purchase 2. In your logic, they are 5 times worse than you are.
Instead of the argument being how much one buys over another, why not make it who we purchase our gas from. Research the petroleum companies known to not be linked to terrorist supporting nations. Almost everything we see and use everyday is either made from or runs off of oil based petroleum products. We would all have to give up and sacrifice a lot to become completely independent from oil.
More on the topic of this forum, hopefully people reading this start to begin planning for this hike. We all have 2-3 years to get things in order and prepare for this hit when and if it happens. I know myself, I am preparing to pay a few items down and cleaning up some unnecessary spending over the next 2-3 years so when this does take effect, I am not hit so hard in the wallet.
Thank you, Rob
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arlen927eg
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10-15-2006, 7:00 AM
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As oil went to the "open market" look what happened to the price of that commodity. Yes, 70 & 80% increases are on the horizon for electricity. Just look at what happened in Maryland when BG&E this year announced 70% hikes in electricity. We will get the same treatment in 2009/10. When electricity is allowed to be sold as a commodity by traders and investors, the cost will reflect their profits--not just the cost of the service. What is happening right now to the middle class in this country is surely tragic, and our children will never enjoy the great lives we enjoyed over the past 50 years. How terribly, terribly sad for them.
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