Need further proof that Republicans and conservatives are incapable of separating their fantasies from reality? Check out Virginia. Virginia state Senator Mark Hurt (R) decided to respond to recent, drastic rate hikes from Appalachian Power in his state by blaming "cap and trade." He said, "The federal 'cap-and-trade' passed by the House of Representatives last year is an example of the 'devastating policies' that affect people’s lives, forcing companies to raise rates to revamp their facilities to follow environmental rules."Yeah, here's the thing Mark, "cap and trade" is not law. It has not passed the Senate and has not been signed by the president. So, it simply cannot be responsible for the rate hikes in Virginia. Sorry, dumbass! Nice try.
You wanna know what did cause the rate hikes? Corporate greed. A recent report in the Danville Register Bee pointed out that Appalachian Power changed its billing method to charge customers based on estimated usage, rather than actual usage. So, using less energy would not yield a lower bill. Appalachian will charge you whatever it wants. Suck it, Virginia.
Once again, wingnuts...you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. (h/t thinkprogress.org)
2 comments:
Hurt was pretty stupid for that,indeed.
However, that being said, public utilities are governed by what they charge their customers through public utility commissions. (in other words by the government)
They could not raise rates in such a manner if government did not allow them to do so. It has nothing to do with a private corporation being greedy. It has to do with them convincing an out of touch PUC to let them do this. Once again, GOVERNMENT is the problem and not the private sector.
Facts are stubborn things, Splash.
From what I understand, Appalachian Power is a public/private co-op, but your point is taken. Still, according to the report, though the company is supposed to get approval from a government board before rate hikes can happen, the company's practice has been to implement their hikes while waiting for approval. So, approval for rate hikes was little more than a formality. The governor is now supposedly going to force them to end that practice. We'll see.
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