Specialist-Lion-8135 t1_iu2v639 wrote
Reply to comment by redshirttiger in Aquarion a subsidiary of eversource recently aquired my towns public water. I am the only person still furious about this corporations absurd monopoly in CT? by writingonthefall
Yes but there comes a point when they have forced us to choose between them and food and shelter. It’s a strange and cruel thing to be forced to buy something without a chance of thrift. In the past, one could choose to use candles and kerosene to save on electricity or oil but now, two necessary public commodities are scalping the public (and they are posting excessive profits) without mercy or opportunity for negotiation.
No amount of future regulation can balance this unconscionable and rapacious excuse for gluttony. We are at a time in history where there is tremendous opportunity for alternative resources and we are trapped under flagrant corruption disguised as pragmatism.
redshirttiger t1_iu30bil wrote
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ES/financials?p=ES
Where do you see excessive profits? Their profit is literally regulated by the state.
Eversource did not cause natgas to go from $1 to 6 (or $30 in the winter in NE). Imagine being in Europe where it is $40+. I think there's a lot of fat in the system just as much as anyone, but geopolitics is the driving factor for most of the cost increase in the last couple of years. Eversource's problems were already reflected in everyone's baseline power bill.
BobbyRobertson t1_iu4midj wrote
Their profitability is regulated by the states to be a percentage of costs. They inflate costs and overrun the budgets of approved projects because that directly inflates the profits they're allowed to pull, even though the margins are the same. John Oliver did a great episode on this
>The law imposed some restrictions – companies are supposed to spend the least they can while providing quality, environmentally safe service. “Which sounds great, because it caps their ability to make too much money,” Oliver said. “But, and this is a huge but, there is a carve-out. Because when they build something – a piece of physical infrastructure – they’re allowed to then pass along that cost to you through your bill, plus an additional percentage that they get to keep as profit” that’s usually about 10%. “This creates a clear incentive: the bigger the project, like a power plant, the more profit they make.
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