Quote:
Originally Posted by roflwaffle
The cheapest thing is to offer rebates for more efficient stuff and play commercials telling people to reduce power consumption. At ~2-3c/kWh w/ the high end being ~8c/kWh, it's pretty damn cheap, esepcially considering that it's replacing power from peaker plants. |
I think the utilities have their billing structure bass-ackwards. The residential customer that uses the least amount of electricity pays proportionally the HIGHEST "facilities charges" and the HIGHEST amount/kwh. AND I just got notice that my utility is requesting rate increases which will hit the- you guessed it- small residential customer the hardest, with both higher facilities charges and "distribution charges" for the small user than the big one. Soooo... the rewards go to the biggest users? The economic incentives to conserve are what? (besides just paying for less kilowatts).
I think the utilities should provide incentive in the other direction. Say, if you consistently reduce usage over a 12 mo period, or use less than "average", or ? Gimme a break on my facilities charge, or distribution charge, or gimme a free appliance inspection, or window plastic kit, or SOMETHING, for having reduced my average consumption by nearly 50% over what it used to be!