Consumer Ripoffs
On June 12th hubby and attended a dinner meeting about how to save energy costs. I posted a Link to the company because I believe in the product they showed us. We are on a mission with a tight budget to reach our goal. Believe me, if we have any funds left over spending money with this company will be highly considered, as well as if we move to another place. Then comes the Consumer Ripoff…..
Several days went by, we get notice of our electric bill, $336! Our electric bill has been running consistently over $200 for the last couple of years. Part of it is the career politicians who must be lining their pockets with lobbyist funds, or partaking of lobbyist provided luxuries. They certainly are not for the people or they would not let such things fly.
But it’s not the bought politicians
When writing to one such representative he told me that there was a committee that governed over such things in Michigan. That may be, but I remember being very discussed with the legislature for allowing Consumers Energy (our electric company) to charge for opting out of the smart meter installment program (I opted out). Any way you look at it, someone is getting big time kick backs for allowing the electric companies to fleece their customers!
They have allowed them to charge more in the hot summer months – due to supply and demand. Which by the way is an underhanded way of doing business. The price should be figured for doing business. Taking advantage of earning opportunities at consumers expense is sheistering. In my opinion.
Same goes for them charging every one .99 per month to pay the electric of those that can’t. Where do the funds go when the “supply and demand” generates a surplus here. And are the funds paying for dead beats who just aren’t going to pay for anything? Because I have a serious problem with that! (don’t get me started on how many people are sucking up disability when they could be working!!). Once I got an electric bill that had a charge on it for their employees retirement fund!
but besides all that
I can remember back in 1996 when my husband and I started living at my grandfathers place. We had just bought his house. His electric bill was $70. We replaced his electric water heater because it was not working properly. It was half full of sediment. That alone dropped my grandfathers electric bill $6.00.
After that my husband and I took over the electric bill because we were adding to the electrical use. We put up a yard light that came on at night. I put a computer in one of the bedrooms of the house. We just used more electric than he did. The bill steadily increased. When we started paying over $200 per month, we also started paying attention.
One year a storm blew through which left us without power for 5 days. Our electric bill did not go down. The yard light, which had been staying on 24/7 because the sensor stopped working in it, finally died. Our bill did not go down. It seemed like no matter what we did we could not reduce our electrical cost. In fact it would go up!
There was a time just before the high cost that no matter how much electric we used it would not go up. In fact it seemed like the more we used the lower our bill. You know in hindsight it makes sense to me. A sheisters way of doing business. Get people accustomed to using s lot of electric then jack the price. The consumer will not want to go without. YES I do believe that!
Think about it.
Everything that we need and/or depend on is subject to unreasonably high prices. Insurance. Energy. Cars. The gas industry. A couple of years back oil companies were charging ridiculous prices at the pump and enjoying record breaking annual profits (every 3-4 months). When the legislation started acting like they were going to look into the fleecing of consumers, the price came down.
The same needs to happen for electric. It is way out of control! Consumers Energy is leading the national average for highest prices in the Midwest region for electric in 2012. Making Michigan the 12th highest in electricity cost to the end user. There’s no competition.
what to do about it
The solution seems easy to me. Band together and be a solid voice. We’ve already had an excellent example of what the American people can do by standing together, TRUMP! Whether you voted for him or not, one thing is for certain’ he invoked unity amongs the voters. That kind of change is within our grasp on every issue. The answer is to stick together in one solid voice. We don’t have to agree on everything, just support each other when we do agree!
We cannot tolerate those sucking up free money every month for no legitament reason. Disability or welfare! I am looking for an after retirement job and I can tell you first hand jobs are out there. For every skill level, physical ability level, there’s no reason for able bodied people not to work. Raising generations of families on welfare should be a crime! Those that really need it is one thing but it should only be temporary!
