Empire Electric to build a billion dollar wind farm!

Empire Electric. now Algonquin Liberty out of Toronto Canada, is building a new Wind Farm in Missouri at a cost of one billion dollars. Until 2020, there will be huge credits given out by the Federal government. That money will greatly enhance the profit picture for the company's investors, many of who are Canadians. Prior to its sale in 2016, empire levied one of the biggest increases of any other electric service in Missouri, over 63%. That made us one of the highest payers for electricity anywhere around. Then in May, Empire levied another 'fuel cost' tax to offset increased fuel costs. This idea of paying on costs has been a tried and true tactic. One of my favorites was the manner in which they offered cash for anyone who installed certain efficient air conditioners and suck. Sadly, the customer that didn't upgrade, ended up paying for those who got checks! Now, they are cashing in on tax credits that will bolster the coffers of the company in Canada and which will like result in higher not lower rates over time.

In my view this will turn out to be yet another ripoff as we move through time. Orchestrated by a socialist democracy off to our north! You can contact the Missouri Office of public Consul and complain at:

Governor Office Building, Suite 650
200 Madison Street
PO Box 2230
Jefferson City, MO 65102-2230

Voice: 573-751-4857
Toll-Free: 866-922-2959
Fax: 573-751-5562
mopco@ded.mo.gov

Empire Electric's zany fee structure!

I recently viewed the back of a recent Electric bill from Empire just to take a gander at the detail and was flummoxed when I noted that one item, the 'Energy Efficiency Program Cost' amounted to over three dollars. I was confused about this and so Googled it. Very quickly, I discovered an article posted by the Joplin Globe - 'Empire seeks to recover costs of offering efficiency programs!'it went into some detail, but the bottom line was that statement by an attorney that stated,' It's very simple. The company wants you to pay for the revenue they will lose if you save energy.' 

WTF

So, if you took advantage of the $500 rebate and spent $5000 to install an energy efficient Central AC system, you will still be paying for it vs-a-vis the new fees. And if you could not afford a more energy efficient system, well, you still will pay for it! How neat is that for a company owned by a Canadian concern!

Perhaps this is just the tip of a growing fee(d) me effort. I'd bet in a few years we may well see even more added fees like;

High Tower Alignment Fee

Cross Town Emergency Fee

Low Efficiency Energy Fee

Uncle Bob's Retirement Program
Employee of the Month Program
Stick It in UR Arse Program

Well, you get the picture...

Empire Electric and a two hour plus outage!

At least the outage was in the wee hours of the morning!

I just have to give it up for Empire Electric. They win the outage race hands down! I've lived for decades in other locations and could count the power outages on one half of one hand. Living here, in Forsyth Missouri, it's like living in the Wild West! 'You just never know when that pesky old sub station will up and quite on you'! Dag nab-bit!

And so it was during the morning hours of October 31, 2013 that the power went out yet again... this time for over two hours! Was it a sub station problem? I don't know. Empire doesn't make it a point to let its customer base know what's going on, unless there is another rate hike in the offing, that is...

Well, perhaps this state of affairs won't last much longer. I'm sure that Obama and Hilliary are even now looking at a National Power Bureau that will allow for our government not only to be a single payer entity for healthcare, but which will also allow them to become your only source for power. What a wonderful world we are living in....

Empire Electric Rate Increase in September!

A rate hike of 13.35% was announced recently by Bill Gipson, president and CEO of Empire Electric Company. Apparently the Missouri Public Service Commission approved the increase after it was announced that he Plum Point generating station in Osceola, Arkansas was completed ahead of schedule. Accord to Mr. Gipson, “The new rates will allow us to begin recovery of the costs associated with the environmental upgrades at Iatan I and the new Plum Point generating station.”

What this means to the average customer of Empire will be and increase of about $13 a month per thousand kilowatts of use.

Thanks Empire Electric, I think…

In the mail this afternoon was a box of Lumacoil energy saving compact fluorescent lamps. Four in all. They were really neat and I appreciate my Electric Company for sending them to me. Maybe this is some government program trickle down thingy that has finally made its way to my humble door!

Enclosed with the lamps were two pages from Empire with a bunch of information showing how there are various rebates and incentives for both home owners and building contractors. Nowhere does Empire actually address in these papers why they sent me these nifty lamps in the first place. (Must be a gift horse kind of deal. Just don’t look too far into its mouth…).

Could this be some kind of government benefit thing? And if so, who's paying for it? I’m only asking because the lamps actually came from China! What?