Unitil blasted at hearing

Unitil, a New Hampshire-based utility monopoly, is already the target of lawsuits over its failure to restore electricity in a timely manner after a blackout last month.

Now Unitil's shoddy service is the topic of public hearings - at which Unitil's feet have finally been held to the fire.

This is what public hearings around Cincinnati ought to sound like after the repeated blackouts that result every time someone sneezes too loudly - especially after Duke Energy made customers pay for lost business when it didn't restore power in time. In Fitchburg, Massachusetts, angry citizens and local officials urged the state's Department of Public Utilities to take action against Unitil. A Democratic legislator was met with applause when he told regulators, "You folks must bring the regulatory hammer down on this company."

Like Duke, Unitil wants customers to pay for its own slow response to the outage, via increased rates. Also like Duke, Unitil already charges exorbitant rates. As with Duke, Unitil also enjoys rubber-stamp rate increases.

Ah, yes. Paying more for less reliable service. It's a BushAmerica hallmark.

At the hearing, Massachusetts regulators were asked to award local electric service to a different company.

I can't speak for New Hampshire and Massachusetts, but I know Kentucky and Ohio need to bring the hammer down on Duke pronto. Because Duke Energy is a corporation, it has no constitutional rights, so the state can start seizing Duke's assets this very minute if it chooses.

(Source: http://www.telegram.com/article/20090128/NEWS/901280504/1116)