Energy Monsters Looking To Quash Deregulation

Many small energy companies are up in arms this week and are circulating petitions and letters aimed at voters to take a stand. The stand they want you to take is to call your local representative and tell them that you support lower electric rates, competition within the current grid, and the many small companies that are now competing with the big energy giants.

One such company circulating this letter is Energy Plus Holdings LLC and it alleges that consumers will "lose the ability to save money and receive other innovative benefits such as valuable rewards offered by Energy Plus. We urge you to contact your State Senator or Representative to let them know you want to keep retail electric competition in Connecticut - and that you want to continue to have the opportunity to earn rewards and save money on your electric bill."

Connecticut deregulation came about after consumers complained that they were paying among the highest rates in the entire continental U.S. Unfortunately, UI even amid deregulation managed to nearly double its rates in just over a decade.

Having heard several conference calls from UIL Holdings, the energy company in New Haven and Milford who reports quarterly to their investors; the common theme by its CEO Thorgenson is "profits are up nicely." The DPUC regulates this kind of rate activity of our local energy giant and about a year ago UIL drew much public criticism by Mayor Stefano when they decided to abandon New Haven to build a multi-million dollar "over the top" world class HQ in Orange at the old Movie theater site and at the expense of increased billing rates.

Mayor Stefano citicized UI, pointing to the site it abandoned in New Haven as a "Toxic dump" citing "UI still has not acted responsibly in cleaning up their mess." UI is also currently working with ENRG Inc. in Milford to complete a peaking generation plant.

According to representatives I spoke with last year at the "Devon Day Fair," the question was asked by Dick Sieron an Electrical engineer who worked for the power companies "how is this project funded?" The representative there indicated that "although this plant will not operate for many months out of the year, ratepayers will be paying for it anyway out of their current bill."

UI and its partners continues to draw sharp criticism from the community, especially in recent months when their lack of safety precautions caused a Middletown plant to explode, killing and injuring several people.

The cause for competition in sales, distribution, and generation of electricity is very much needed amid the acrimonious and accident prone nature of the current industry. The DPUC and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was able to stop many of the abuses of the energy companies directed at the people of CT in previous years, but with his bid for Congress being a major distraction to those efforts the people of Connecticut may be in serious jeopardy of being taken advantage of by the energy giants yet again.

There is no surprise that in wake of this years U.S. Senate race the UI Gang is going "Gangbusters" trying to "Stick It" to the people of Connecticut now that they see an opportunity. It is our responsibility to "slam the door shut yet again."

UI Showdown On Church Street

The latest dispute between New Haven and United Illuminating sparked a heated face-to-face confrontation over unfinished business, as two UI execs crashed a press conference at their doorstep.

Mayor John DeStefano and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal held a press event outside UI’s downtown headquarters Friday morning to protest the company’s request to boost shareholder profits — a request that will likely lead to a rate hike for customers down the line.

At a hearing Monday, the Department of Public Utility Control will hear oral arguments on a motion to reopen UI’s rate hike case.

Blumenthal and DeStefano plan to face off with UI execs at the hearing, which is set for Monday at 11 a.m. at the DPUC headquarters at 1 Franklin Sq. in New Britain.

They didn’t plan on Friday’s fight, which laid bare a frayed relationship between the City of New Haven and an institution that has been in the city for 116 years.

“Dumb Growth”

At 11 a.m. Friday, the mayor set up a podium outside the UI headquarters at the Connecticut Financial Center at 157 Church St., right next to City Hall. He and Blumenthal protested UI’s request for a higher cap on profits, as the company slashes its management and operations budgets. The company Tuesday unveiled plans to defer about $60 million in maintenance and infrastructure work.

“We need to show this company there are limits to greed in Connecticut,” declared Blumenthal.

DeStefano seized the opportunity to link the current fight to a past one: UI’s plan to abandon its downtown New Haven corporate offices when the lease expires in 2012, and centralize its offices in a new corporate office space in Orange. The mayor has blasted the move as counterproductive to smart growth and transit-oriented development.

If UI is hurting for capital money, the mayor argued Friday, it should abandon its relocation plans.

DeStefano was backed up in this criticism by Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, New Haven State Sen. Martin Looney, Branford State Rep. Lonnie Reed, Fairfield County’s state Sen. Anthony Musto and members of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment and Fight the Hike. They called the move “dumb growth.”

The press conference drew a slew of cameras, citizen activists, aldermen — and UI administrators, who sat quietly as the accusations flew. Then DeStefano, visibly red in the face with anger, called on two top executives to take the mic.

They did.

“Let’s Go Right Now!”

Jim Torgerson, CEO of UI, and Anthony Vallillo, president of UI, defended the move as being in the benefit of all ratepayers in the state. The move would eventually save customers $25 million over 20 years, said Vallillo.

The conversation quickly devolved into a yelling match.

Vallillo argued that the taxes on UI’s infrastructure, including its poles and substations, would still flow to the city — “no matter where we’re located.”

Yes, jumped in DeStefano — “with all the intended pollution.” He was referring to English Station, an old UI plant in Fair Haven that the company got rid of in 1999. The site remains a toxic brownfield, according to the mayor.

Photo“You gave it to someone with no liabilities and ability to rehab it and took your profits and left a dirty site in a neighborhood where thousands of children live,” said the mayor. “So let’s go over right now, Tony, with Jim, to English Station, and show you what you’re leaving to the City of New Haven. We’ll go right now, with all of these cameras.”

“It’s not an operating plant, hasn’t been for years,” objected Vallillo.

“You cut it loose,” charged DeStefano — “like you cut loose your customers and like you’re cutting loose the people who can’t access a car to get to work.”

Click on the video at the top of the story to watch the full exchange.

The UI duo said that in downtown New Haven, employee parking is expensive and downtown stoplights are not well-coordinated. The new digs in Orange will have plenty of parking, they said, and would be near a new train station that’s proposed for Orange. DeStefano shot back that a new train station would come only out of the pockets of state taxpayers.

At one point, the mayor went over to a crowd of a dozen supporters and got them to start chanting, “Fight the Hike!”, drowning out the UI execs’ comments. DeStefano personally tore into Vallillo, accusing him of driving a Jaguar and living in Orange. (Vallillo denied the latter charge.)

Customer “Ultimately” Pays

At the podium, Torgerson also defended his company’s motion before the DPUC — then admitted the cost of the request would inevitably fall on customers’ laps.

“We’re not asking to increase [electricity] rates at this time,” explained Torgerson.

Following months of public protest, the DPUC in February issued a final decision rejecting UI’s request for a $81.1 million, two-year rate hike. Instead, the DPUC ordered UI to pay its customers a one-time reimbursement totaling $970,000. It also lowered the ceiling on UI’s permitted rate of return on equity from 9.75 percent to 8.75 percent.

UI is asking the DPUC to revisit that decision. The company made the request in a March 13 letter, at a time when the stock of its parent company, UIL Holdings, had plummeted by 40 percent since Dec. 31. The letter argues that the cap on the return on equity is hurting the company’s ability to attract shareholders and raise capital. (Click here to read the letter.)

Torgerson said that this time, instead of asking to raise customers’ electric rates, the company is asking only for the DPUC to raise its permitted profit ceiling. At 8.75 percent, the ceiling is the lowest of its kind in the nation, he argued. He said the company has an obligation to provide sufficient returns for its shareholders, and needs to raise the ceiling in order to do that.

He didn’t mention that since he wrote the letter, the stock has largely rebounded, delivering a 45 percent increase in profits for the first quarter of this year compared to last. Torgerson also didn’t mention, at first, that raising the ceiling on profit margins would eventually be passed on to the customer.

He was later pressed by a reporter on how the company planned to raise profits without adding to customers’ monthly bills. Torgerson replied that the company wouldn’t ask for a rate hike right away, because of the economy, but would likely do so down the line.

“Ultimately, you would be paying for that, yes,” he said.

Milford Electric Ratepayers Swindled Again

By Pat Eaton-Robb

HARTFORD -- Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced Monday he has launched an antitrust investigation into the operator of New England's power grid and some power generators, alleging they swindled consumers out of almost $86 million.

Blumenthal said the generators failed to provide "a watt of power" despite being paid under a federal rule that calls for them to supply the region with electricity when requested by ISO-New England, which runs the grid.

He said the generators have received $85.8 million since 2006, but failed to provide any power when asked on 108 separate occasions. Most of those requests came during peak demand and had to be met from other generators, leading to duplicated costs to consumers.

"This swindle is unconscionable, especially in time of economic distress," Blumenthal said.

He said he also has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to launch its own investigation into ISO-New England and to compel the generators to return the money.

"ISO-New England's failure to stop this scam demonstrates once again that it sides with generators against ratepayers, allowing them to pillage the pockets of consumers and businesses," Blumenthal said.

Ellen Foley, a spokeswoman for ISO-New England, said the company would submit information to FERC in response to the attorney general's concerns. She would not comment on his allegations.

FERC officials were unaware of the allegations
and had no immediate comment, a spokeswoman said.

Blumenthal said ISO-New England has refused to provide his office the names of the power generators that were paid.

He also called for reforming the federal rule to ensure that no generators receive money unless they actually provide the region with electricity.

Milford Democrats Bash Richetelli

The Milford Democratic website appears to have more in common with a public "Rant" site targeting our mayor. While in no way to I attest to be for or against Richetelli I do find it odd that the Democrats are so focused on destroying our mayor rather than working with his administration to navigate these trying times.

Their focus appears to be directed at dethroning Richetelli and implementing their own character who undoubtedly will yield similar criticism (as all politicians inevitably do.) It is safe to say that criticism is just a hazard of the job, but be warned that the Democratic party in Milford is deceptive (They never criticize themselves).

Case in point, they have yet to denounce Obama's energy plan that would cause your electric bill to skyrocket. They instead campaigned on the premise that they somehow represent condemnation of UI. The duplicity and double talk became clear when the opportunity came to speak out. The DPUC offered public hearings, Milford's leadership was invited and yet not one single person from our town, besides myself and some members of the Independent party was in attendance.

The point here is not to institute a blame game, call Democrats Communists, and Republicans Fascists but rather allude to the fact that there are way too many stones being thrown in our glass house at the moment. Democrats and their blog need to stop bashing, and begin instituting workable solutions that engage teamwork with our mayor.

These issues certainly can be aired during campaign season when Richetelli is up for election again, but until then their efforts should be directed in using their current elected representatives in town to put their "money where their mouth is" not just point fingers and create the type of animosity that builds the very disdain and division that they do.

This is their website offering the excess accumulation of immature rants against our mayor, whom during his personal crisis they alleged to support. Yet now, in an act of brazen and cowardly hypocrisy "trash" him. Truly distasteful and despicable.

www.milforddemocrats.com

Obama's energy plan calling for electric rates to spike. Most Milford Democrats support Obama's energy plan just ask them.

UI Rate Increase Zapped!

This is some very good news for consumers, showing that once again the monopolies do not have omnipotent powers. The last victory that served the public interest this well was the rejection of the LNG in the Long Island Sound.

Even with all the cheer now in motion, there is still some concern as the public score card of us against them is pretty dismal. To give an estimate of how it looks, one could could easily tally Two Wins for us Seven for the energy giants. This merely means that the public needs more practice in standing up against the very corporatism that chastises the wallets of all too many struggling families. The good news is that people are starting to "get it" we are standing up for ourselves better today than in the past. I wish to offer my thanks to all of you who turned off the "I Pod" stepped away from the TV and wrote a letter, instead of playing X Box or going out to a game.

UI is, at the moment is digesting their defeat, and much to their chagrin their stock will be battered over it. This is because failed avaricious greed also backfires punishing those executives who did not succeed in their obligation to enrich their stock holders. The party is clearly over, UI now has an "off balance" balance sheet has taken out a line of credit and shuttered its investors some of whom are livid and downgraded their stock.

Thankfully for the people of Milford these numerical complexities caused by this unholy Wall Street alliance is not our problem this go around, but the UI monsters are still scheming in the days to come. We wait in angst as they digest the DPUC report and prepare a retaliatory response this February 4th.

We are all nervously awaiting the next round of punches, and their new strategy in circumventing the very system that disallows them the freedom to charge at will. The bad news is that because of that attitude the people of Milford will never stop fighting them.

Public Utility District And Consumer Demands

The Concern over the cost of electric continues to be at the forefront of the cost of living debate in Connecticut. Yesterday I met with an executive at Countrywide Financial who indicated that foreclosures in Milford have reached a record 350 with nearly 80% of the city mortgaged. Already declining real estate values have been impacting home equity lines of credit by having lenders either cancel them completely or reduce the amount by which can be drawn.

When I asked what advice he had for fixing these issues he said Connecticut needs living wage jobs and curbs on the cost of energy. There are too many Milford residents that are struggling and are in danger of losing their home. The news on Wall Street last week has also been disappointing with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae reaching new lows, lows so low that over 90% of their stock value has been lost in a year.

Should these two lending giants drop out of the lending arena, banks will have to issue their own in-house loans and reduce their risk to depositors by only writing loans to individuals with high credit scores. When I asked what the new magic number was, he indicated that would be somewhere between 740 and a 760 FICO score. Essentially this score would exclude 80-85% of all potential lenders. This is what has been dubbed as the "Credit crunch," and is going to pose some serious challenges for commission based professional dependent on loans being written to purchase property, build additions and conduct repairs.

On the local front, and specifically dealing with the energy issue alone, I have spoken with and written to some of our local leaders. I would like to add my concern that Jim Amann's last two legislative updates both ignored UI and the high cost of energy, this is even after I took issue with him after receiving the last 2007 legislative update. Not that I am a Rell fan but she has a "One Thing" program, what does Amann have or propose?

So far all I have seen from the Dem's, (and I single them out because all our elected state leaders in town are Democrats,) is one person looking to "condemn" the electric company and the other just completely ignores the issue, besides Slossberg "fighting the hike" where is the leadership?

I think you need to look at the UI situation like a bad marriage between us the ratepayers and them the monopoly. This is clearly an abusive relationship with UI as the abuser. We either need to fix the relationship or get a divorce from this company. Energy companies are a “dime a dozen” and the taxpayers have a real attractive “grid.” We do not need to take their abuse they produce nothing, since the 1999 deregulation they have become nothing more than brokers or middle men. Why can't we buy energy directly without having it marked up and resold to us? This was my question to Mike Brown who is a member of the Democratic Town Committee who responded to this question by making the following partisan statement:


"The Crux of the Situation: Government control of transmission and distribution, as indicated in the resolution, would require the establishment of a Public Utility District (PUD). This is the case throughout the country and is required by federal law. The PUD would manage the distribution of electricity. A government run district would be more inclined to promote reasonable energy development, conservation, and renewable generating methods. PUD's are nonprofit entities and are run by an elected board - elected by the citizens, not a shareholder in Texas.

And as for government control, would you let the State Government control the public highways? Oh, that's right, they already do - a very big "lemon aide stand" in deed (to quote Scott Willey). Apparently there are things called public libraries, also run by the government. Willey's rhetoric is right out of the Republican playbook. The Republicans say that "government doesn't work" and "government is bad." They often prove this once they get into power. Here in Milford, we suffered through 18 years of Republicans running the government - badly."

To conclude this post, I cannot emphasise more strongly that this is not an issue that we can afford to be partisan on. A solution must be found to benefit the thousands of struggling families trying to make ends meet. I believe that partisan politics will only prolong this problem and I am making a plea to all our Representatives here in town and the state to get on the same page. When we all agree miracles can happen!

Amann's 2008 Legislative Update Fails To Mention Concern Over The Cost of Electric.

Jim's legislative update was recently mailed out and everyone should have received it by now. To start let me mention the good news, I believe it was a remarkable improvement over the last one and it did address many points of concern here in town.

The flip side is that he made no mention of one of the biggest issues among those competing for his seat. This issue is the skyrocketing cost of electricity. Slossberg has figured this out, my competitors for the replacement of his seat have figured this out, the governor has figured this out, so why has Jim not mentioned a single word about what is clearly one of the biggest issues not only here in Milford, but in Connecticut and yes the entire country.

Having made a video addressing his agenda last year, I will only hope that Jim just forgot to mention this issue, that perhaps it is just a "snafu" an oversight or perhaps may I dare to call this some kind of conspiracy. Jim, come to think of it has not had any public position on the surging cost of electric, not in his last legislative update or his current one perhaps I do not read enough news and just missed his official protests. Should this be the case please let me know and I will write a retraction to this article, just e-mail me at frank@mycomputerfox.com or call me at (203) 247-4357.

Until then I must sadly once again protest Jim's leadership in taking a strong position on the energy company here in town and the DPUC allowing them increase after increase in cost to consumers. Certainly I would hope that Jim does not resort to what my opponent did "Condemn" the electric company. My personal belief is that condemning companies does not help consumers but does foster the kind of animosity and dysfunction that pits consumers against monopolies.

While I do not personally condemn UI, I certainly can empathize with their difficult position and as long as "we" consumers desire electric and electric service we are stuck with UI "love'em or hate'em." The right way in dealing with this problem is old fashioned "liaises faire" economics and open market competition. I believe the right thing to do is open Connecticut's energy markets and the new taxpayer built electrical grid to world wide competition and investment. Zoning all over Connecticut should be open to dedicating new sites to accommodate competing companies; Allowing the building on new power plants, not just peak plants. Anti-trust laws should bar UI from growing any further until a sufficient number of competition emerges in the market.

My current concern on this issue, (widely ignored by our current state representative) can easily be fixed by focusing on sites to build these energy companies, clean companies would be ideal, perhaps wind, solar, hydro, or something equally as good. It pains me greatly to see so many state resources focused on building movie studios, rather than dedicated sites to produce desperately needed cheap energy I hope Jim gets this message, he will need to if he wants to become a successful Governor some day.

UI Promises a $3.00 Savings In Exchange For Public Hazards

After nearly a decade of our local power plant being shut down, a multi billion dollar improvement to the electrical grid and the re-opening of the Devon power plant UI promises an insulting savings of $3.00 to us the consumers.

This $3.00 savings will cost us reduced air quality, 900 Million dollars worth of construction traffic, mostly out of state jobs, and the transportation of dangerous and highly explosive gas through our district, and Milford.

Quite surprisingly Jim Richetelli is excited that this plant is opening, I am personally not certain why but I have heard him on occasion as touting this project as something of an achievement. I have yet to concur, especially in lieu of the fact that it will not save us much on electric and bring hazards to our district.

This paltry savings is not something that I conjure up out of "thin air" but is rather documented in this week Connecticut Post just click HERE. The article also cites a murky deal between Blumenthal and UI and CL&P mandating a 4 Million Dollar Refund. This Refund however will not find its way back to you because John Larkin, a spokesman for Milford Power, said he doesn't "expect there will be any decrease to consumers' bills, because the system is so complex and $4 million, when divided among the state's residents and consumers, is not a lot of money."

The time has come to continue challenging the "voodoo economics" of these energy giants and hold them to honest business. If they have One Million customers than of course the opposite works dramatically in their favor and with electric up nearly 100% in the last seven years they should have money bursting out of their vaults.

UI has instead "slapped its consumers in the face" by yet asking for another increase under a decoupling bill. They are upset that consumers cutting back on their electric usage, and their uncollected receivables has lowered their profit disappointing their investors on Wall Street.

Unless this power plant can provide a greater savings to the consumer, it should be opposed or annexed by the city of Milford for operation on behalf of its residents.

Electricity and Energy Agenda In CT

Hopefully the last of the UI rate hikes are complete and to make sure we do not over extend ourselves the most important thing we can do this coming year is educate ourselves on energy conservation. In reading scores of news stories and blogs there appears to be a lot of dissappointment with the way CT’s Citizens are treated these days. Lets face it, you, me, and everyone alike, has been (and continues to be) an awesome opportunity for big business to procure revenue on behalf of themselves and investors. In some cases we are the investors reaping the rewards of the misery big business pushes on others. A case in point is the staggering profits of Exxon Mobil and I assure you as I was cursing the Gas pump there were countless others who invested in Exxon that got their Gas money back in spades.

Unfortunately I do not believe UIL stock is going to show the same level of gratitude I would suggest that anybody and everybody who own UIL stock sell every penny of it and inform their friends and relatives to do the same. This is the best message we can send.

I believe that this rate increase is not because of anything, other than, recouping lost profit from an 18 Million dollar loss on UI’s Xelcom nightmare, and pressure to get the “Filthy Five” back in business burning natural Gas. Gas delivered from a horrific LNG nightmare off the coast of West Haven. I believe that UI is cut from the same mold as Enron it is hard to feel sorry for a company that delivered us the highest electrical rates in the continental U.S. I also remember the nuclear power plant they wanted to build in Westport 40 years ago today.

Now UI wants to get back in the generation business. They want to reap even bigger profits by repurchasing the power plants they sold. I believe they know that gas burns cleaner hence resolving the coal burning pollution trouble of UI’s “Filthy Five” problem. Their massive rate hikes also quite ironically erase their irresponsible losses on the Xelcom fiasco too perfectly.

The old CEO left pretty much in a hurry and the new guy Mr. Torgensen does not give a hoot about us the consumers. UI has offered nothing to the poorest of the poor so far. At the moment His entire day appears to be consumed battling politicians, arbitrating down UI’s employees, and counting wall street profit. The only time we, the CT consumer, are ever thought of is when we fail to afford our electric and the power is shut off.

As a small business owner I just opened a little company called the ComputerFox right here in Milford Ct on New Haven ave. and I cannot tell you how every penny counts in starting a business. Up front losses are expected but thanks to UI’s 50% rate hike for commercial locations I am quite certain that that my growth plans are being impacted.

The consensus of many of my collegues at the chamber of commerce is that business is becomming more and more challenging in CT. I can only hope that some one sees that the aggregate carelessness of utilities, taxation, insurance, and services directly impact the already micro-wage economy that we have built.

The problem goes full circle in that the same underpaid people just return to your business and force small business to either collect less or nothing. Blumenthal is correct in calling UI’S rate hike a “Tsunami” I see it more as the “final nail in the coffin” of New Haven as well as the modern harbinger furthering the spread of poverty. It would appear that the BIC corporation closed its plant just in time. I fear Sikorski will move out of state next taking dictaphone with it. Many news companies, I believe, will also be impacted as many small businesses who advertise in will have to chose between fewer ads or power.

The only good news I see in the distant future is that Deregulation may be accelerated and new companies will be offering competitive rates, however Gov. Rell says that she see’s no short term solution in sight due to UI’s contract obligations. For now we may all have to buy more efficient light bulbs and use less power. Keep CT in your prayers.

To listen to UI's Conference call click on the link:

http://biz.yahoo.com/cc/2/83932.html