Utility Deregulation!

[cowman]

I hate to rip old Ralph after I have bragged up Alberta in these threads! But something is just not working quite right here with our utilities!!! And I'm not ungrateful for the one year of electricity rebates(even though it was my money in the first place...I mean they could have pissed it away right?) but I think these power rates are getting a little out of hand. Now I'm not a big power user. Two houses and a farm yard...one cattle waterer and one tractor plugged in. $254/month! For 1700kwh.
Is this resonable? When we had the rebate it was $120? We were told deregulation would create competition and lower the price...which it did from 11 cents/kwh to 6.93 cents/kwh , but the service charges went through the roof! Now how does this happen and how can you complain as this is a co-op type of thing. All I know is I'm paying a lot more for power, which is exactly what happened when Alberta Govt. Telephones morphed into Telus, a private company!
Maybe all you old commie boys in Sask. and Manitoba are better off???

[gopher]

Deregulation of the power supply is a legal way for companies like Epcor to steal our money. According to Ralph, degregulation works -- he just forgot to say for who. He takes care of the power companies and they take care of him!! It really is something when these companies can add on extra charges called a " rider " to collect money they lost in previous years. Wouldn't it be nice if we could charge for lost income ! I use 3 phase power to irrigate and one field that is only 67 acres normally would cost me approx. $ 1800.00/ yr to irrigate and last summer the cost was just over $6400.00 for the same amount of pumping time - ( that pretty well tells you what I think of Ralph and deregulation ). In this area there are several wind turbines going up and I wish them well because Epcor needs the compitition.

[jensco]

As far as a "commie" province goes (and I had nothing to do with this group as I moved in after, so, I can't B&C yet!), in MB we are paying 5.78 cents for the first 175KWH followed by 5.16 cents above that. However no SC - big bonus. We are classed as "Residential Low Density" or in layman's terms, Rural vs Industrial or City Residential.

After reading the postings, I'm feeling very lucky right now!!!

[cowman]

Jensco: Who provides your power? Is it a private company,co-op, or government monopoly like Sask. power? Also how do they generate power in Man.? In Alta. it is mostly gas and coal fired generators. We had a private regulated monopoly(Trans Alta.) until a few years ago. Then they deregulated the industry...I don't know why. I think it had more to do with ideology than common sense...or maybe some one high up got bought!
And while I'm ripping Alberta I'd like to know if we are being sold a bill of goods on this health care deal. Ralph is always ranting on about how Alberta Health is on the brink of collapse! We must raise the insurance premiums from $408/yr. to about$600/yr. for a single person. And then I read in the Calgary Herald that Ontario, Quebec, and B.C. spend a lot more per person on health care than Alberta does and no health insurance premiums! What kind of garbage is this? Maybe old Ralph is getting ready to turn Alberta Health over to EPCOR, too!

[cowman]

Cowman: Theres no mo money. You're not making any, nobody else is making any. The power Co. isn't making any. The teachers arn't making any, the health system doesn't have any.

Ralph has no mo money. Where did all the money go. I'll bet you some unethical CEO's or some creative booking keeping by some untrustworthy accounting firm has made off with the mo money.

Have you noticed that the money is gone and we are living on credit that has been max'd out. We have to decide what health care we can AFFORD, what education we can AFFORD and what we can personally AFFORD. WE have no MO MONEY.

The Kernel

[jensco]

Manitoba is under government monopoly. Now help me out here other Manitobans, how is it generated? Lots of water and a hydro-damn up north but I think there must be some gas/coal generation as well. Comes from not being in the province long enough to know all the numbers.

[countryguy]

Actually all of our hydro here is water produced.We have such an abundance of running water up north that we have no need to produce it any other way.Our rates are probably some of the lowest in the country due to the fact that we export alot of our excess power.A while back the province was going to sell off Manitoba hydro but I guess it never happened.

[cowman]

I suspect that could be why your rates are lower. Hydro power is a good thing I believe.
Now I do wonder...is your hydro power taxed like Alberta energy generated power? I wonder if the feds have a meter at the U.S. border. Taxing all the power you could be exporting! And I'm fairly ignorant here... I really do not know if you export power?
I do know the federal government has their hand out for every liter or cubic meter of gas Alberta exports!
In no way get me wrong on this! I am not against Manitoba making a buck! I'm just against those dirty dogs in Ottawa raping us here in Alberta! I am, from my mothers knee(literally!!!) a western separatist!!

[countryguy]

Cowman

Yes Manitoba exports power.Do they get taxed on it?Heck if I know.All I care about is if the light comes on when I hit the switch!!Check it out at hydro.mb.ca

As for the western seperation,I hope you include us on the eastern prairies "the west".If so I'm in!!!!Could be an interesting topic of discussion don't you think??

[Muttley]

Good idea to talk about seperating,would make a heated discussion.
First person done chores can start a new topic.

[wilagro]

I just got my power bill for Dec/Jan/Feb. After deduction of Dec. subsidies, it came to $250.00.
Without the subsidies, projected cost of power will be $100 a month. This is a 33% increase from previous billings. Deregulation is a crock of bull droppings. Ralph and his boys might fool some people but they can't fool me. I know a scam when I see it.

[Deb]

The Conservative government in Alberta has slowly been handing over our industries to foreign corporations. Our health care will be privatized and American corporations will make money off sick Albertans. We've been shafted by deregulation of power companies. The public has no protection against intensive livestock expansion in their neighbourhood.

Social services is cut back so that social workers have an unbearable case load and little twin baby girls die.

Didn't Ralph and his friends just vote themselves a bonus into their pension fund or something? The trees are practically given away, the oil and gas is practically given away (and all that water used to get it out of the ground!)

And our premier, the alcoholic (a sign that he is not happy with himself) who beats up on unemployed people in shelters, doesn't really want the job anymore. You can see it in his face. You can hear it in his words (like lets have a leadership review pal-eeeese). When he staggered to the microphone on the night he was re-elected last year, he was still in shock that he was re-elected. He must have thought, "Gee, I can fool all of the people all of the time!" Welcome to Ralph's World!

So why do Albertans (the few who bother voting) still vote for him???

[Deb]

The Conservative government in Alberta has slowly been handing over our industries to foreign corporations. Our health care will be privatized and American corporations will make money off sick Albertans. We've been shafted by deregulation of power companies. The public has no protection against intensive livestock expansion in their neighbourhood.

Social services is cut back so that social workers have an unbearable case load and little twin baby girls die.

Didn't Ralph and his friends just vote themselves a bonus into their pension fund or something? The trees are practically given away, the oil and gas is practically given away (and all that water used to get it out of the ground!)

And our premier, the alcoholic (a sign that he is not happy with himself) who beats up on unemployed people in shelters, doesn't really want the job anymore. You can see it in his face. You can hear it in his words (like lets have a leadership review pal-eeeese). When he staggered to the microphone on the night he was re-elected last year, he was still in shock that he was re-elected. He must have thought, "Gee, I can fool all of the people all of the time!" Welcome to Ralph's World!

So why do Albertans (the few who bother voting) still vote for him???

[Deb]

Deb I knew you were a NDP supporter from Sask. Ralph is The best leader Canada has ever seen. He has created an Alberta advanage in the Canadian economy.(not hard to do with socialist governments all over the place)

He would also create a huge economocial boost to agriculture too if the federal government would loosen up it hold and caused some more freedom of marketing choices to happen.

[cowman]

Deb: Why do we keep voting for Ralph? That is a good question. Maybe one reason is who else is there? I mean the Liberals? The same liberals who ripped off every Albertan for 80 billion? The same Liberals who only promise tax and spend? Or the NDP? So we can become economic wrecks like B.C., Sask. and Manitoba?
I do vote in every election, even though I believe it is mostly a waste of time.
I am not a great fan of the Tories but they are the best we have.
And besides Ralph is a very good politician! The little guy can relate to him...he is likable and comes across as very down to earth. He is big enough to admit he has a problem with booze. And what he said to those bums in the homeless shelter....was any of it untrue? Would it be better if he had told them that it was good to be a parasite on society?
I won't try to defend all the Tory policies...because some of them are questionable! But I do believe this government basically reflects the views of the majority of Albertans....otherwise we wouldn't have the incredible majority in the legislature.