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High Utility Bills Continue To Make Life Miserable For People All Over The World


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2022 Sep 1, 4:11am   973 views  18 comments

by ohomen171   ➕follow (2)   💰tip   ignore  

#highutilitybills We continue to be haunted with stories about high utility bills all over the world. Yesterday afternoon, I was watching CNN. There was a poignant and touching story coming out of Baltimore. A middle-aged woman with Multiple Sclerosis was interviewed. She was suffering in the summer heat of Baltimore. Based on her medical condition, air conditioning is not a luxury; it is a necessity of life. Her utility bills blew up to the point that she could no longer pay. Her power was cut off by Baltimore Power and Light. Her health suffered. $2,000 US worth of food was destroyed. Some people came to her aid. She was put in a subsidized program for low-income people with special health needs. She got grants from the US government. Her power was turned back on. Despite all these moves, she was lamenting that her next utility bill was in the range of $500 US. She wondered how she would pay this high bill with her limited income.
One of our readers, Artemis Westenberg, wrote an in-depth article on the high price of electricity and natural gas in Holland. Artemis indicated that over 2 million of Holland's 17 million population could not afford their utility bills. I shared her excellent report with you. In England, electricity bills have gone up an astounding 98% in one year. There is a movement starting in England for the entire population to refuse to pay their utility bills. The FT of London did an article on this movement in today's newspaper.
China has problems with high utility bills. Droughts have dried up rivers and water bodies that normally produce hydroelectric power. China is forced to burn more coal. They do this with great regret. Electricity is not immune from the laws of supply and demand. As the demand for electricity increases and the supply falls, utility bills go up.
Elena and I used to have an electricity and natural gas bill of $600 US+ before this power crisis began. I went to work with a power consultant. I got the power bill down to an average of $385 US per month. With the help of one of our readers, John Peterson, we installed solar power. The monthly bill went down to an average of around $230 US per month. If we had not gone solar, who knows what our former average bill of $385 US per month would be; perhaps $500 or $600 per month?!
Elena takes the attitude that governments all over the world should break up private utility companies like PG and E. Small competitors would be established to take their place and create competition. There is some merit to what Elena says. Such a move would take a lot of time to implement. I think that what needs to be done immediately is subsidies to help people to pay these high utility bills. It would take several pages to present my ideas here.

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2   WookieMan   2022 Sep 1, 5:54am  

ohomen171 says

Small competitors would be established to take their place and create competition. There is some merit to what Elena says. Such a move would take a lot of time to implement. I think that what needs to be done immediately is subsidies to help people to pay these high utility bills. It would take several pages to present my ideas here.

No. The infrastructure to run a utility is massive. It's one of the few things government should do within reason. They already run water, sewer and roads. Certain things there needs to be one person steering the ship even if you don't trust them. Not a fan of government and/or monopolies, but certain areas/fields make sense.
3   zzyzzx   2022 Sep 1, 5:55am  

ohomen171 says

Her power was cut off by Baltimore Power and Light.


???
BGE or Constellation Energy.
4   zzyzzx   2022 Sep 1, 5:57am  

ohomen171 says

Small competitors would be established to take their place and create competition.


They sort of did that in Maryland, but all the "small competitors" currently charge more then the BGE / Constellation Energy.
5   Bd6r   2022 Sep 1, 6:03am  

ohomen171 says

Elena takes the attitude that governments all over the world should break up private utility companies like PG and E.

Elena should take the attitude that idiots like Greta Thurnberg and Climate Extinction should be spanked, then sent back to school, followed by spanking their parents. After that, build nuclear power plants and pump natural gas, and power prices will go down.

On another thought, lets spank and send back to school also California legislature and Democratic con-gressional caucus.
6   Al_Sharpton_for_President   2022 Sep 1, 6:31am  

A digital currency tied into racial and ethnic, vaccinated status, social media, and voting record databases, will allow the right people to receive utility bill subsidies.
7   Hircus   2022 Sep 1, 8:37am  

ohomen171 says

Elena takes the attitude that governments all over the world should break up private utility companies like PG and E. Small competitors would be established to take their place and create competition. There is some merit to what Elena says.


Competition might help in some places, although I think utilities are tricky due to the massive infrastructure outlay costs which doesnt lend itself to multiple providers. But I feel like you're missing the big picture here.

Energy prices are high due to the Democrat war on fossil fuels.

Adding competition via more small utilities is unlikely to bring any significant savings when the input costs and regulatory costs / hurdles are high.

Have a lookie and note the very strong correlation of high prices = blue states.
https://www.chooseenergy.com/electricity-rates-by-state/



Ignore remote places like hawaii/alaska, as they have other factors in play.
8   NDrLoR   2022 Sep 1, 8:54am  

WookieMan says


Not a fan of government and/or monopolies, but certain areas/fields make sense.
Infrastructure, utilities, fire and police protection have always been the domain of municipalities because of their scale. One of the first things out of the gate locally in 1966, the first year of The Great Society programs, was to pay for school lunches. I don't think school districts need to be paying for kids' breakfasts and lunches, that's their parents' responsibility. That's how dependency has been fostered all these decades later, the gubmint will do it.
9   NuttBoxer   2022 Sep 1, 9:00am  

ohomen171 says

High Utility Bills Continue To Make Life Miserable For People All Over The World


And why are the prices higher? Have productions costs increased? No, at least not if you use efficient means of generation like coal, oil, and nuclear.

There are no droughts, there is no energy crisis, there is no lack of farmable land, but thanks to centralization, industrialized crap(called food by some), and communist agreements between state and private utilities, these problems have all been manufactured.

2030 - The government's fucked up everything, but only the citizens will suffer.
10   NDrLoR   2022 Sep 1, 9:00am  

zzyzzx says

all the "small competitors"
Are nothing more than a bunch of store fronts with no investment in infracstructure.
14   AmericanKulak   2022 Sep 1, 5:41pm  

I liked that Kunstler piece where he was bitching about the batteries and controller
15   zzyzzx   2023 Feb 1, 7:51am  

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-investors-snapping-up-colorado-river-water-rights-betting-big-on-an-increasingly-scarce-resource/

New York investors snapping up Colorado River water rights, betting big on an increasingly scarce resource
16   clambo   2023 Feb 1, 8:05am  

Utilities already are regulated by the government; in California it's called the Pubilic Utilities Commission.
PG&E needs their permission to raise their rates; they're already a government run business.
Being broke has sucked forever; sometimes you just have to accept you can't afford to live alone and shack up with some people to make ends meet.
I did it and I didn't love it all of the time.
My friends complain about bills and I see them with their new fingernails, hairdos, clothes, eating out and drinking out, etc. etc.
Energy is becoming expensive in poorly run places; notice in Florida it's much less expensive than fucked up California.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em; save some of your money and buy stock in a Florida utility FPL; the symbol is NEE=Next Era Energy.
17   Robert Sproul   2023 Feb 1, 8:06am  

ohomen171 says

Yesterday afternoon, I was watching CNN

Found the glitch!
18   Robert Sproul   2023 Feb 1, 8:24am  

clambo says

sometimes you just have to accept you can afford to live alone and shack up with some people to make ends meet

I am trying to convince an old pal to look into this. We all had various roommates when we were young and there are much worse things.
Like the well-studied terrible effects of loneliness and boredom on old people that live alone.

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