The air we breath, the money we spend
To comply with federal clean air standards, Cinergy/PSI needs to come up with a plan to reduce the amount of mercury produced at its coal powered electricity generating plants around the state. On the whole, this should be a good thing: Reducing mercury emissions, and toxic emissions in general will make Indiana and its neighbors breath a little easier.
However, nothing is simple in the strange world of American utilities. See in Indiana, as in most states, when a power company needs to spend money, they can increase rates to cover their costs, plus, as private companies, they get a reasonable return on their investment. So the power companies can make bigger profits by spending more money.
Cinergy came up with a mercury reduction plan, and has submitted it to the Indiana Office of the Utility Consumer Counselor, and this plan involves spending lots of money and a rate increase. The Office of the Utility Consumer Counselor has found the plan “solid” in all respects save one: It does not fully address the mercury issue. the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, a consumer advocacy group, is fighting to see that the plan is not approved, calling it the “Profit Plus Plan,” and noting that the plan ignores many measures that would reduce mercury emissions while adopting the most expensive emissions-reducing technologies:
Least cost energy service is a legal mandate. However, Cinergy’s approach is to inflate their profits as much as possible with the highest cost option. Customers have to remember that they are paying for this, not the company. So the bulkier the rate base, the more money the company makes.
July 4th, 2005 14:11
air purifier
air purifier