Wlson Energy = Retail + 50

Guest Blogger: Dave Wood
Citzens' United For Change
Printed in Wilson Times 2/25/2010

Having watched the energy situation of the citizens of Wilson deteriorate to the point of crisis, I feel compelled to write to offer a different perspective of the situation. But first, I need every reader to first do a short math assignment with your last Wilson Energy electrical bill.
 First, take the last month’s usage in kwh and multiply by Wilson Energy’s rate of 14.38 cents/ per kwh and add the $8.60 connect fee. If you did this correctly you will get the exact amount on your bill. Now let’s recalculate the bill as if you were a Progress Energy customer. Do this by multiplying by the total usage by 9.570 cents per kwh and add their $6.75 connect fee. It is important to note that the 9.570 cents per kwh Progress Energy charges is the going RETAIL RATE approved by the NC Utilities Department for citizens within its serving area. Now divide your Wilson electric bill by the Progress Energy electric bill and multiply by 100. This is how much above RETAIL you are paying for your electricity! Now we have discovered the root cause of the problem! We are paying 150% more for the same service than we would if we were direct Progress Energy customers. In other words, we are paying RETAIL + 50% for our electric needs. Let this phrase “RETAIL +50” roll off your tongue several times as it’s important to the solution to the problem.

Now, I will not rehash the history of how we got into the present crisis other (than) to say that, decades back I never could understand the logic of how one could save the end user (electric customer) money by putting a middle man between the producer and the ultimate consumer. The end result of that nonsense is “RETAIL +50”. Normally when a consumer pays above retail there is some premium service provided but, try as I might, I cannot see any difference between the electricity coming from my wall outlet and the electricity at my cousin’s house in Raleigh.

Now if you either attended or watched the city council meeting last week, you saw much flailing of the arms and gnashing of the teeth by the city council members, (with the exception of Councilman Pitt, who seemed to be the only one with an understanding of what really is going on (RETAIL +50), as the good citizens of Wilson started applying pressure for solutions. The hard economic reality is that rates have now increased so dramatically that those citizens living on the economic edge, aka working folks, can no longer afford their utilities! The increased usage caused by the hard winter has pushed their consumption beyond their ability to pay. The bills are not the result of the cold weather, the real issue is RETAIL +50, and it’s not going away but will continue to get worse with time.

Now with all due respect to Councilwoman Gwen Burton, who held up her outrageous electric bill for all of us to see she was in the same lifeboat as the rest of us, the citizens of Wilson do not want your empathy, we want solutions to RETAIL +50! Wilson utility customers are tired of paying a 50% premium for our power, we are tired of being told to spend 5 or 10 thousand dollars up front to super insulate our homes for the 3 to 5 % pay back in our bill per year this might offer. We are tired of being told to set up a payment plan when one cannot afford the bill in the first place. We are tired of a billing system that cannot or chooses not to understand that there are 30/31 days in a month. We are tired of all the window dressing and posturing by the city leaders on this issue. In other words, we need solutions to the root issue which is? That’s right folks RETAIL +50!

Another interesting tidbit of information came out of the last council meeting. Seems a lot of city services are being funded out of the profits from our utility bills, such as non profits such as the Salvation Army and United Way. While it is laudable and necessary to fund such organizations, these entities should be funded via the standard tax process not through our utility bills. Alas, this is my fault along with the rest of the voters as we should have been minding the store a lot better than this! It’s easy to see how this happened, as I’m sure the taxpayers have been pressuring the council in the past to keep property taxes low. Boy, it didn’t take long to slide down that slippery slope. The unintended consequence of this action is that we have created in effect a tax , and I might add a very regressive one at that, on top of the very people that can ill afford it.

So what’s the solution? It’s really very simple. The City of Wilson has got to get out of the utility business plain and simple. The hard economic reality is that the city simply does not have the “economies of scale” to compete with the likes of a regional power provider such as Progress Energy or Duke Power. And today, we as customers also lack the protections on unreasonable rate increases afforded by the Utilities Commission. Every day we delay we dig the hole deeper. But you say, “the debt, the debt, what about the debt?” Well, this is where the hard part and leadership comes in. There is no free lunch. To sever our relationship with ElectriCities and be served directly by Progress Energy we will have to pay what we owe. There is just no way to do this without tax increases across the board. But at least one day it will be over. Councilman Pitt was very correct in stating that the debt as structured now will never go away. The original debt might be retired in 15 years, but what you are not told is that NCEMPA continues to issue debt, which is added to our bill. Just last year they sold millions in tax free municipal bonds to fund their operations! Guess who pays for this? You got it, RETAIL +50.

The voter’s part in this is also simple. We have to vote people onto the council that will get Wilson out of the utility business. We already have our campaign slogan, “RETAIL +50”. Based upon the number of mad voters on all the FaceBook pages, I fully expect to see thousands of these signs in yards all over the area during the next election cycle. And, it’s a little easier than it could be, as we get to keep Councilman Pitt, as he seems to be the only one with the backbone to do what is needed for the long term good of the community. I just wish he was in my district."

Dave Wood
Wilson, NC

February 25, 2010