One third of our bill has nothing to do with energy usage. We sent an email as well. We pay for a power plant so GLE can sell power to the mainland. When was the last time the Island actually needed it?
Brad
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Moderator: Gillespie
Strangely Brad, it was running today, don't know why but I heard it. It has long been said they use it as a peaking station when they cannot produce enough power from the other side or if there are outages feeding our supply but the efficiency of sending the power back through never seemed likely. Its total generating capacity would me quite minimal in the big picture. I took video of the main public meeting regarding the surcharge and all that they were going to do for "us". I argued that to break the REA original commitment was a slippery slope, perhaps we are experiencing some of that these days. The power company brought in their best dogs to hound our leaders and a good friend and former boss, Roger Westenbrook kept saying to me that the REA (Rural Electrification Administration) long standing requirements (at least privately) should not be broken. They were. I sent the tapes to the Public Service Commission so a fair assessment could be made and was shortly thereafter fired. In my view the power company gave a percentage increase requirement to the townships that would cause the surcharge to expire knowing it could not be met. These were experts in their field. WE suffer the consequences!!
Memory?
I know that I am getting older, and some will say that my memory is not as good as it once was.
I believe we were promised at this same meeting that Richie talks about or the one that took place earlier that this surcharge would never go up, but that it could be decreased. I believe we were told that the kwh would be going up, but that the surcharge would never go up.
There is video of this meeting thanks to Richie. I borrowed his older video camera and the tape to make sure that it got archived for all to be able to go back and check it. You can find the video on http://beaverislandnewsarchives.com
http://beaverislandnewsarchives.com/Bea ... rators.htm
The audio is difficult to hear, so an amplified speaker might be helpful. (or perhaps my hearing is going too)
Joe Moore
I believe we were promised at this same meeting that Richie talks about or the one that took place earlier that this surcharge would never go up, but that it could be decreased. I believe we were told that the kwh would be going up, but that the surcharge would never go up.
There is video of this meeting thanks to Richie. I borrowed his older video camera and the tape to make sure that it got archived for all to be able to go back and check it. You can find the video on http://beaverislandnewsarchives.com
http://beaverislandnewsarchives.com/Bea ... rators.htm
The audio is difficult to hear, so an amplified speaker might be helpful. (or perhaps my hearing is going too)
Joe Moore
The math
Here is how I see the math. This is not exact but has to be a close estimate.
The base rate is going up about $14.00 per meter. The GLE web site says they have about 125000 members so assuming each member has at least one meter that calculates out to an annual increase of 21 million dollars to GLE. The BI surcharge is on top of this at another $110,000.00 per year. It looks like about 1.5 million of the 4.3 million original cost for the cable and generator, has been paid by the $10.25 surcharge. Since the new increase in the base rate is supposed to even out the distribution cost to all users it seems to me they can easily pay the less than 3 million still due from the new 21 million per year they will be collecting. I am not aware of any other community being charged a surcharge for the line running to their location. I don't know how many kWH they sell but they are decreasing their income by about 1% with the lower rates but I would bet there is still an new excess of dollars for distribution.
GLE did send me an email saying they are going to look at the surcharge again. I think all the emails that have been sent are having an affect. Thank you for getting involved.
If anyone is going to be on the mainland tomorrow it would be great to have some company at the meeting. Call me at 231-547-2393 if you want to ride over from Charlevoix. Leaving around 10AM
Don Seelye
The base rate is going up about $14.00 per meter. The GLE web site says they have about 125000 members so assuming each member has at least one meter that calculates out to an annual increase of 21 million dollars to GLE. The BI surcharge is on top of this at another $110,000.00 per year. It looks like about 1.5 million of the 4.3 million original cost for the cable and generator, has been paid by the $10.25 surcharge. Since the new increase in the base rate is supposed to even out the distribution cost to all users it seems to me they can easily pay the less than 3 million still due from the new 21 million per year they will be collecting. I am not aware of any other community being charged a surcharge for the line running to their location. I don't know how many kWH they sell but they are decreasing their income by about 1% with the lower rates but I would bet there is still an new excess of dollars for distribution.
GLE did send me an email saying they are going to look at the surcharge again. I think all the emails that have been sent are having an affect. Thank you for getting involved.
If anyone is going to be on the mainland tomorrow it would be great to have some company at the meeting. Call me at 231-547-2393 if you want to ride over from Charlevoix. Leaving around 10AM
Don Seelye