My biggest complain is the amount I pay for water. During "winter", I use ~2000 gallons of water a month. Cost $55/month. During summer, I water my lawn every day and use ~16000 gallons of water a month. Cost? $70/month...

 

You don't know the half of it. Some MN companies were involved in a cleaner coal technology plant in ND but the MN legislature was threatening them with all kinds of hell if they went ahead with constructing this plant in your state. It would provide cheaper power in your state, make you more competitive for some business to locatwe there, but MY legislators don't like it so they are messing in your business.

 

Be happy you have a choice in delivery companies where i am there is just one

 

Our electric bill (PG&E) is ~$25/month. We don't pay for garbage and water

 

Hey Mr. "My wife's paycheck comes from the power companies but I'm totally unbiased I'm sure," why don't you tell the truth? You know, the fact that nobody is "forcing" anyone to shut anything down.

The truth is they are "encouraged" to develop alternate sources of electricity generation. MN has the capacity to generate more wind power than any other state in the nation except perhaps California. We generate revenue from the construction of wind generators since we make them here. Encouraging the people we buy our power from to spend that money in our economy in a way that protects our environment (and therefore our economy) is simply good business.

Wind isn't perfect, but nobody is arguing for the mothballing of all coal plants. That's just your wife's employer's agenda talking.

And last I checked, the elected officials of a legislature are *supposed* to look out for the interests of our state, not just kowtow to whatever corporate lobbyist comes by flashing cash. The Great River Energy coal plant is being built in North Dakota as we sit, so nobody prevented anybody from doing anything. The only issue is one of pricing, as Great River and ND both want Minnesota to treat ND coal plants different than MN, WI, IO, or anyone else's.

 

I recently moved into a rental and called the water company to have it put in my name. The management company had previously turned the water on for the contractors that were remodeling the place. Guy on the phone tells me that they need to charge me $23 to send someone out to turn on the water (23 dollars is chump change is the big scheme of things but that is not the point. Fact still remains: they want to charge me for NOTHING). I tell him, "it is already on, I'm just calling to have it transferred into my name." Then he changes his wording and tells me that everyone has to pay for "start up fees". After going back and forth for a few minutes, him asking me why I'm so hostile. (call me crazy, but I really hate to pay someone for pretending to come turn on my water that is already flowing) I ended up paying the stupid fee, I really wish he would have just bullshitted me from the beginning and said that it was start up fees. So sick of getting scammed like this, the worst part is that with all of the bullshit laws we have I can't even be protected from this kind of thievery. I went through the same B.S. a couple years ago with an electric company that pulled the same crap. "we need to come turn on your power that is already on for this many dollars."

 

Yes her paycheck does come from an energy company. I am not against wind, its a good thing, so is nuclear, so are a few options depending on what you need and where you need it.

the point was that a sh*tload of the cost in your energy bill comes directly as a reaction to legislation passed by people who don't know anything about producing the energy, don't care what the results of high cost are, hate any corporate entity, and pretend that they have no hand in the results of their decision.

I can not tell you with what GRE was threatened with behind closed doors here.

And to say that utilities are "encouraged" as you put it to have alternate types of energy is a flat out lie. They are MANDATED in many cases.

I am not against clean energy, and am a proponent, but many politicians think you can mandate that we switch to 100% wind tomorrow and you can't. And you need to fuel turbines with something when the wind does not blow.

 

The price you pay for gas is affected by fees implemented by people who don't know how an engine works or how a refinery operates. What's the big deal with power companies specifically?

I think somebody is full of it regarding GRE, as they are currently building their plant. Obviously whatever they were threatened with wasn't very scary. They want to sell power to MN, but with an exemption from current MN regulations. I think we'd all like exemptions from regulations, but we don't all get them even if our case is "special."

There was a reason I put "encouraged" in quotes.

I don't care if "many politicians" think one thing or another. That's a given. Did you just discover that elected officials aren't necessarily experts in all fields? I'm sorry your wife has her work cut out for her, but painting a picture as one-sided as you are is just ignorant. State legislatures are not there to give sweetheart deals to power companies. I'm sure it sounds all very benign and universally beneficial to all concerned parties when your wife talks, but maybe I'm too cynical to believe that the people who supply power to our state are just misunderstood tree-hugging hippies with dolphin tattoos on their bellies.

 

[QUOTE=NuncoStr8,Jun 24 2010, 02:00 PM]

I think somebody is full of it regarding GRE, as they are currently building their plant.