Storm Brewing

[whirlcool]

And if you are under contract with a provider that goes under you are put in the "default pool" and are charged the maximum rate for electricity until you can change to another provider.
As you spoke about the repairs, on channel 2 news they were interviewing a Centerpoint Energy spokesperson and he did say that we will end up paying for this. First they have to run it by the PUC, but eventually there will be a BIG rate hike to cover this.
What I'd like to know is if we are paying 16-21 cents per Kwh why do they need extra money to fix the lines? Tons of other communities are getting along charging just 35% of those rates!

 

[toggleswitch2]

Odd that in a state where you basically stick a pipe into the earth anywhere and you have oil and natural gas spewing out that rates would be so high..........

 

[bigbubbacain]

MaytagMom, I'm not trying to sound like a smartass here, but IMHO the worst part about deregulation is that it's deregulated. The parameters and definitions behind it were never made very clear. It sometimes appears as though the whole phenomenon came into being because some whiny little putz wanted to break in to the utility biz. I don't blame deregulation as much as I blame the little start up companies for getting greedy. It seems like everyone started playing that "if Reliant Energy can get X dollars per kilowat hour then so can we" game. That's totally opposite of what these little companies told us they were going to do.

Yeah, Toggle, regarding your aforementioned comment, it is odd. Also odd, is the fact that Texas still has so many coal powered electricity plants. AND the fat lady hasn't even sung yet regarding T. Boone Pickens and his "plan" for natural gas. I'm not too sure about anyone who goes out to West Texas and buys "futures" in the water supply. That's just diabolical. He's in his 80's and he's a greedy old fart. I don't think he'll live long enough to see the West Texas water shortage that he has predicted.

As for me, my livelihood is in natural gas. My partner and I are in a small operation that goes into abandoned well fields and drills horizontally for the gas that others just walked away from or thought that it was too much trouble to extract. we're "small potatoes" compared to the giants in this industry, but it's an honest living and the public just doesn't realize how much natural gas is out there. Toggle, I guess you could say it's a question of knowing how to stick that pipe in the ground. Natural gas looks so promising, as long as we can keep it in the hands of the people and minimize the greed factor. When my 03' Tundra Pickup is paid off in a few months, I'm converting it to CNG/ Compressed Natural Gas. I'm not expecting the economy on my truck to improve, but there's a principle here. I just want people to know how easy and practical this concept is to live with.

 

[duetboy]

1950's, 1960's and 1970's

When I was a kid growing up in south central Kansas, all of our irrigation wells were powered by Propane. A good friend of the family ran a "route truck" with his taker truck and filled all of the farmer's engines once a week. In those days, a 500 gal tank filled with propane was quite cheap!

All of the irrigators in the area have now switched to electric or diesel.

Jeff

 

[alr2903]

I know its needed........

I drove the 55 corridor from Memphis to New Orleans on wednesday and i passed approx 40, Pike engery trucks, bucket lifts, generators and service trucks. I figured they were headed to TX and W. Louisiana, The TV pictures coming out of southern Tx. are still unbelievable. I beleive the "Pike" trucks were from N. Carolina. Just a post of hope for you Tx folks... help is still on its way. It was a site to see though that many of them in one caravan... wishing you Tx folks some quick relief. alr2903

 

[alr2903]

energy not, engery

 

[whirlcool]

Even as I type this 20% of Houston still is without power. We have friends in the southwest part of Houston and also in Pearland who have no power. It's a mess!

 

[58limited]

My parents in Spring are still without power. Mine came on Sunday at noon. Still no internet so I check e-mail when I can. The drainage district is going to clear the saltgrass debris from my yard. The Corps of Engineers wants them to reclaim the 20-30' right of way. This will mean no fence all the way to the seawall and no deck (which I already have permit to build). Basically I'll loose rights to 1/2 of my backyard.