Electricity Price Comparison

According to Crain’s Chicago Business there’s a rate hike coming in the 2nd or 3rd quarter of 2010.

ComEd the local utility which provides electricity in Northern Illinois – to approximately 70% of the state’s population including Chicago – has announced the inevitable increase to recoup the cost of maintaining and upgrading the system and power-lines.

While I certainly understand that they incur costs and expenses for regular updates – I don’t see why it needs to be increased because the upkeep of the delivery system (note: ComEd does not own power plants – they just maintain the delivery) should already be factored into the budget of a company.

As an example – if you have a DSL line (via  http://www.o2.co.uk/broadband/ or another provider) or cable for your internet service, wouldn’t it surprise you if they started increasing your bills by a $1 here and $2 there to cover for the maintenance of the line. If this increase should happen every other year and so on – you would find it weird.
I’m sure that this happens in places but it just doesn’t make any sense, especially at a time when the economy has tanked, unemployment is sky-high, and things are just not heading in the right direction.

I’m sure that this happens in places but it just doesn’t make any sense, especially at a time when the economy has tanked, unemployment is sky-high, and things are just not heading in the right direction.

You take all those people who’ve dropped off the unemployment rate and don’t get counted in the official figures and we have something like a 17% unemployment rate. For other utilities and suburbs in Illinois there have been increases from 5% to proposals for a a whopping a 23.56% water rate increase for people in Kankakee.

I think it would be prudent to re-evaluate all impending increases in the cost of electricity and see if they can be delayed until the economy picks up again. But until we are out of the woods and you see the average retail price going higher and higher along with everything else while your paycheck is shrinking and shrinking.

The earning and spending power of an ordinary American is going downhill – in these extraordinary times, we all need to have turn a bit from maximizing profit to maximizing compassion.