Over the past week, Ewan Oglethorpe, Kristen Arnold, and Andrew Riedy from The Ohio State University have braved the cold weather and the corporate suits to testify on American Electric Power’s proposed new electric rate plan.
AEP wants to raise rates 15% a year each of the next 3 years, for a total increase of over 52%! They want to do some good stuff, including investing $178 million in energy efficiency, but overall the plan is lacking. Students testified to demand:
- Third party administration of the new programs
- Spending across the service territory and customer classes so big business doesn’t get all the cuts, and
- Rate increases across customer classes so homeowners don’t get stuck with all the burden.
To get it straight, we oppose AEP’s plan. After recording record profits of over $1 billion last year and paying their CEO Michael Morris $19.7 million a year, they have no business asking for more. They’re also the world’s seventh largest greenhouse gas polluter, with plans to move on up.
IF their plan gets approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, it damn well better at least charge everyone, benefit everyone, and be administered by a transparent third party like they do in other states. Go Ewan, Kristen, and Andrew!
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Oh to be young again and feel so confidently justified in lashing out at the demon du jour and its unjust practices. I am a new contract employee in estimating at AEP, 1 RP. I have been familiar with AEP, mainly Ohio Power Company, and Indiana and Michigan Electric Company (that dates me, doesn’t it?), since I was a youngster in Northwest Ohio. My father was an Electrical Contractor and we worked very closely with both those entities from the 1950’s until we closed his business in 1992. They were good companies to deal with, and excellent community citizens, their employees being extremely helpful both professionally and personally. We also worked with 4 or 5 other electric utilities in that area and they generally strived to achieve the community approval enjoyed by the AEP companies. Today I read the criticisms leveled at AEP, and just shake my head. It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to investigate AEP a little deeper and find evidence of the corporate resources that are channeled into making this company a leader, in so many arenas. Just a suggestion: It might be enlightening to invite these OSU students to visit 1RP, have them peruse the displays in the first floor lobby, converse with some real people who work here, and learn something about the history and track record of the company they have chosen to criticize. There is always room for improvement, but I think they would find that major efforts are being made continually to address deficiencies, with a primary focus on safety and the well being of the public. We do seem to hear a lot about the “obscene” profits made by Refiners, and Utilities, and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, and the compensation of the Officers of these giants. Little is said, however, about the total investment that is represented, or the liability that exists, much less about the responsibility that executives accept to be at the helm of operations employing 10’s of thousands of employees, and dealing with hundreds of thousands if not millions of customers. There are not many people out there who are capable of shouldering these tasks. “They don’t come cheap”; I wouldn’t want them to.
Dave, perhaps you neglected to read the post. Please respond to the content of the student’s well-informed and rather specific demands:
* Third party administration of the new programs
* Spending across the service territory and customer classes so big business doesn’t get all the cuts
* Rate increases across customer classes so homeowners don’t get stuck with all the burden.