The road to hell ...

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... is paved with good intentions. 

The national power grid.

In the Massachusetts Legislature, one of the senators has introduced a bill which he hopes will get power companies to move faster to get power restored.

His bill requires power companies to give customers two days worth of rebates for every day the power is out.

It's hard to tell if he's serious. I say that because sometimes legislators will introduce a bill on behalf of a constituent. The politician knows the bill has less of chance of passing than I do of being elected sheriff in my county. But. For whatever reason, the bill is introduced.

It being in Massachusetts, I sorta don't care if he is serious. However, if this passes up there, other legislatures and legislators may take note. That makes me care. A lot.

A lot of people look at this idea and say "YEAH! We need that here!"

Light me up.

Why?

"Cause the power companies really don't care about us when the power goes out. But be late with paying the bill and they are all over us cutting the power off," you say. "Make 'em get a move on to get the power back on!"



Do you know that you will have a bill each month? Bah.


Have you ever tried to restore electrical service in a line that carries enough power for an electric chair? What do you know about setting up high power lines? erecting poles? repairing damaged substations?

If you don't know about all that, how about leave it to the experts?

A few more questions:

How will the power company cover the cost of supply the free electricity to customers?

"That's their problem. They have the money to do it. They should do it," you say.

Gotta get me some of these trees.

How does the power company make money.

"Well, duh, they sell electricity," you say.

Who do they sell it to?

"Baker, you are an idiot. They sell it to me, you, other people, business, industry and so forth," you say.

Is this their only source of income?

"Yes."

So if they have to provide electricity at no cost to people who were without power, who'll pay for this?

"Nobody. The power company."

It costs money to generate power. Repair crews have to be paid. Equipment has to be maintained. Loans must be paid off. Damaged lines, powers and such have to be replaced and repaired. This costs money.

How many of you get this one?

"Not my problem," you say. "They should supply the power because it was their lines that went down. The customers are inconvenienced."

This is going to cost the power company money to do this. Where do you think the power company will get the money to cover the costs?

You. Your utility bill will go up to cover the cost of supplying the "free" power.

Power company rates in most of the US are either overseen by a government board or, as in the case of Electrical Membership Cooperatives, by the customers themselves who meet annually and vote on how to run the power company. Profits are tightly managed and are generally low but consistent and often plowed right back into improving services or the community.

If a law is passed forcing power companies to give free power to cover outages, rates will go up to cover this expense. The power companies won't have a choice.

Some things is just stupid, know what I mean?