Ring Ring Ripoff

Friday, March 28th, 2008

More deregulation, less protection

By Michael Sorkin, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Consumer groups are warning that a bill working its way through the Missouri Legislature would make it easier for large phone companies to raise customers’ rates. It also would make it harder for state regulators to help consumers who have service problems.

Opponents will have a hard time stopping the legislation: House Bill 1779 sailed through the House two weeks ago, 130-22, with heavy lobbying by telephone and cable companies. It’s now before the Senate, where promoters are predicting an easy victory.  Click here to read the full story.

AT&T, Technology No Comments »

Are You Rich? Congratulations, You’ll Live Longer

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Money and your life

The very rich are different from you and me, and not just because they have more money. The very rich live longer than ordinary Americans. Over the past two decades, the life expectancy gap between the haves and have-mores has grown even wider.

The question is why, and what that says about our health care system and our society.  Please click here to read the entire St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial.

Healthcare, Insurance No Comments »

The Trojan Horse Gallops around Jeff City

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

Power switch

Missouri utilities want to change state law to encourage energy efficiency programs. They’re willing to help their customers pay for installing energy-saving equipment, insulation or even new energy-saving air-conditioning systems.

Saving power is a good thing — for the nation, for consumers and especially for electric companies. It means they don’t have to build expensive new power plants to meet increasing demand. The economic benefits for utilities are so great, in fact, that legislators should be asking why Senate Bill 1277 and House Bill 2298 are needed to encourage them.

The answer is that they are not. Not the way they’re currently written, anyway, and probably not at all.  Please click here to read the full editorial that ran in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sunday, March 16, 2008.

Ameren, Electric, KCP&L, PSC No Comments »

PSC Acts against Consumers Again…

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
Dear Friends:Once again the Missouri Public Service Commission takes action to benefit the utilities and not consumers. The attached St. Louis Post Dispatch editorial criticizes the PSC’s adoption of an environmental surcharge—criticism the Consumers Council of Missouri has raised ever since passage of SB179 in 2005. This unfortunate statute approves four possible surcharges which can be added to utility bills. The PSC has already approved two—the fuel surcharge and the environmental surcharge. Now each and every one will have to be opposed when they are presented for adoption. It will be a challenging task considering the current composition of the current PSC. I recommend you read the editorial in full.

Alberta Slavin, Consumer Council President

Post Dispatch Editorial

Environmental dodge

03/04/2008

Missouri’s Public Service Commission has just given electric utilities another way to reach into consumers’ pockets. This time, it is using the environment as an excuse.

The commission regulates and sets rates for utilities. Last week, it approved a new rule that allows power companies to apply for permission to place surcharges on customer bills to cover the cost of complying with environmental rules. Such surcharges would be in addition to the utility’s regular power rates and possibly also on top of separate surcharges, authorized previously, to cover increases in fuel costs.

At first blush, this seems like a fair way to encourage environmental investment. Everyone wants the owners of dirty, existing coal-fired power plants to install the latest pollution-control equipment.

But the cost of installing new equipment is supposed to be built into a utility company’s base rates already. New requirements don’t come along very often, and when they do, utilities often are given to meet the new standards

Please see STLToday for the rest of the editorial

PSC, Uncategorized No Comments »