Power company wants customers to pay for blackout

You can't make this stuff up, ladies and gents. This is yet another entry that shows how regulators rubber-stamp every demand by monopolies, no matter how irrational.

Just after the infamous Blackout of '08 that afflicted Cincinnati and northern Kentucky during a dry wind, Duke Energy - which has a monopoly on electric service in the region - asked for yet another rate increase. The audacity of the demand shocked consumers, especially because Duke took over a week to restore power in some areas (especially in poorer neighborhoods).

But now - in both Ohio and Kentucky - Duke wants to increase rates on consumers specifically to pay for the blackout. Duke does this by creating a separate account to track costs they claim they suffered.

Costs they claim they suffered? What about the costs everyone else suffered? Every urban area in modern America (including Cincinnati) bases most of its economy on having electricity. What about the costs to small businesses, public and nonprofit agencies, workers, and families?

Even if Duke didn't cause the blackout or the delay in remedying it, why does the company think we should pay for it? We weren't using power, because Duke wasn't delivering power (regardless of whether this was Duke's fault). We're supposed to pay for a product that wasn't even available?

That's like if a bubble gum manufacturer made everyone who was born before 1928 pay them a hefty sum for being around before bubble gum was invented and depriving them of revenue for a product that didn't exist.

And whose fault was the week-plus delay in restoring power? Duke Energy has nobody to blame but itself for that.

To sum up, Duke took many days to restore power, costing the public an untold sum, and now Duke wants to make the public pay more to cover the business Duke didn't get because of its own delay! In other words, people are going to be paying more for a complete lack of service.

In Kentucky, utilities are supposed to follow a regulatory procedure before raising rates. But I saw nothing in the media about this Duke demand until after the public comment phase had already closed. Because of this, you can already hear regulators' rubber stamp whistling through the air, and it's about to land with a painful thud.

Such is life in corporatist America, I guess.

(Source: http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story/Separate-Account-Allows-Duke-Energy-To-Track/UrPNtCX5-0upPCG5Fu1jxA.cspx)