Hi Jed, What's so hard to understand? If I can take a commodity worth 4 cents and sell it to you for 16 cents, I make a huge profit. If I install special meters that allow you to buy the same commodity for 4 cents, I don't make a huge profit.
Remember, I'm ALWAYS paying the peak cost, regardless of how much the commodity costs to manufacture. A good metering system would cut my electricity bill in half at least. Also, the readers are supposed to come once a month. Why do you suppose there are times when I don't see them for 4 to 6 months at a time? As I said, I'm here all the time. But I'll agree that to really prove my case I'd have to analyze my bill more carefully. That would be hard though; because they're always estimating it's very difficult without reading the meter every month myself to know what's happening, and looking at Con Ed's 10Q's and K's. I do suggest that presumption of innocence on the part of the electric co. may be a bit naive. Actually, comparing the Gas and Electric co's are like night and day. The gas co ( BUG ) is a model of efficiency and honesty compared to the electric. They even give you postage paid envelopes to mail in your check. The only thing they do that I don't like is charge a large fixed cost over what I actually use in gas. But I use very little gas, and they have a big system to maintain. They would go broke providing residential service without gas heating. Hence the fixed cost. It's not even that much, only about 13USD per month. I often contemplate what savings I might get from a gas powered genset... At current pricing it may well be practical. K. -----Original Message----- From: Jed Rothwell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 12:34 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: What if all cars ran on electricity . . . Keith Nagel wrote: So why do we still have the meter service? If you ask the electric company, they predictably complain about the evil meter readers union. Well, I'm here to tell you, most unions in this town are so horrifically corrupt and toothless, that they are kept around _only_ to provide cover such as above. The actual reason is very simple, if you can buy electricity at 4 cents a KW/H off peak and sell it at 16 cents KW/H, WHY IN BOGS NAME WOULD YOU EVER WANT TO CHANGE THAT SYSTEM??? That hypothesis makes zero sense to me. It is always better for a company to have pinpoint control over prices. The more knowledge of company has of demand and customer behavior, the more it can optimize profit. The price of oranges or fresh corn at a grocery store varies from day-to-day (and sometimes from hour to hour) depending upon crop yield, futures and wholesale prices. The grocery store optimizes the price to sell many oranges, make the most profit per orange, and to prevent spoilage from unsold goods. The electric power company has the same kinds of problems. It has billions of dollars worth of equipment that sits idle for much of the day, costing interest. Then at peak hours a does not have enough equipment and it has to buy electricity from other power companies. The power company could make a much better profit if it could fine-tune prices to affect demand, and also if it could reach out and turn off a few hundred thousand air conditioners by remote control the way it does in California. I think we still have meter service because the power companies are not managed well and they do not employ the latest technology to optimize profit. The cost of collecting data from the meters is only a small percent of total expenses because meter readers only come around two to four times a year, as Nagel noted. Your bill is based on your previous history consumption. I do not see why anyone objects to this. Electric power consumption is usually quite predictable. The power company may overcharge you during some quarters, but it is bound to undercharge you in others. Occasionally after you have been overcharged you get a statement saying you own no money, but this seldom happens to me. - Jed
