Deregulation?

[500 KVA]

When I worked for a Utility in Pennsylvania, They were so Gung-Ho about deregulation. The way of the future. Everything that was good with working there went very bad, very fast. All because they needed to get this deregulation thing first, so they could be the deregulation masters, and show the World.

I left that rat hole soon after. My friends that are still there are suffering with the rules the regime put into place before I left, and some new ones that were implemented after I left. All of them 100% for the Companies benefit.

What is happening with this beast called deregulation? What is it doing to you? Is it still occuring, or is it dying as we speak?

Where I work now, the threat of deregulation was put to bed by the State Legislature. I guess they are sitting back to see what happens else where. But I don't hear anything about it. I know our utility got stung by Enron two Summers ago. We almost went bankrupt for it.

These super Utilities such as First Energy are banking they will be able to break the unions with their new rules brought forth by deregulation. They want to change the way we live. Tilt it to their advantage. They say "Change is good!" Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't!

I lived the change wave while at that last Utility. I Hated it. That's why I left. Made me sick to my stomach! What's happening now to you guys, and gals? I'm really curious.

[CenterPointEX]

Deregulation gave Houston Lighting & Power Chiefs a free reign to suck the cream out of the company N bail. Before deregulation they had the P.U.C. as a watchdog... they did their bussiness and marked it up by a pecentage set by the PUC. The percentage related to how well they were takin care of bussiness an ifn or not the voting public was pacified... Dereg took the watchdog off em, and now a corperate raider has free reign to buy a utility, quit doing maintanence... suck the cash cow dry... n just before sh!t hits the fan they pump up the value of the company on paper and bail with a pocket full of cash n leave stock holders n goverment holdin the bag... Government has no choice but to pick up the pieces at the expense of the tax payer. Case in Point... after dereg CenterPoint went from a three year rotation on tree trimming to a five year rotation. That saved them a boat load of dollars... that was the tip of the iceberg on the maint cuts... you guessed it.. . after a period of time the stock soared... The big brass bailed, including CEO Don Jordan... the stock went from 48 dollas to four dollas... The Light Company layed off 500 employees... They borrowed two billion dollas from Warren Buffet at twelve percent interest to keep operatin... Warren knows they are gonna use tax payer money to rebuild... the stock will consequiently rise accordingly... Warren bails n finds a new cash cow...
The year California took a dump, The holdin company for PG&E made reckord profit's... But PG&E stock took a dump... Wonder who was left holdin the bag?
When they deregulated airlines, planes started fallin out of the sky... over time they have begun to reregulate the airline industry... The airline unions took a beating ...at what cost Deregulation?

[farky]

i had 15 years at hl&p backin them days.i had to leave on one of those buy outs because i couldnt stand every day worrying if today u were gonna have a job or not.hl&p used to be a great co to work for in th early 80s now i would rather work for a contractor than that group of ass wipes.working for a good co now loveing svc work.

[CenterPointEX]

Ya dat too much to read... Da ding dang tree huggers in Cal won't let a new power plant be built in der State... dat's why dey rely on power from other states... Sad part is Reliant didn't do nuttin illegal in California... immoral maybe but not illegal... Here is how it went down... Cal Dereg forced monopolys to jettison x amount of der generation to foster competion... Cal charges per pound fer pollution put in da air... thus coal is costly ta burn in in Cal... Reliant had got good at cleanin up coal in Houston... dey bought Cal's coal units fer pennies on da dollar cause nobody wanted em cause of the pollution charge... they put skeleton crews on em N barley cranked em... cause at low rates the pollution tax outstrips da income... but when sh$t hit da fan... Reliant stood up N said we got power... who wants it?... N da biddin began... dey paind da pollution cost N had a mint left over... They played by CAls retarded rules fair N square... but dey must not a give em a reach around, so da Cal whigs felt used N squealed bloody murder... It's not fair... ya followed our rules N we woke up wit a pain in da gazoo... ya didn't even lubricate...

[CenterPointEX]

jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj nnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[just say no]

dam topgoove you can type...sure your not a clerk..

[CenterPointEX]

Reliant did buy some of Cal's coal plants... N they did play that game with them... California tree huggers still won't let power plants be built in their backyard... PG&E's parent company made reckord profits the year PacGas went bankrupt...how does that happen? Reliant also owns a gas pipeline company called Arkala Gas... reckon they played games with the gas price?... Gas went ballastic... that made coal real economical to burn... yer sellin coal fired juice at da same price der sellin gas fired juice... cha ching...?
Enron... N not just Enron but they were the leader of da pack... Here is how it worked... There was no tradin platform fer electricity... Enron got the gov. to let em build one... there was a company in Colorado that tested yer system to see how much it could handle before it melted down... they did it by runnin up volume by buyin N sellin at the same price... fake trades as it were... they done this over a live market N noticed a byproduct... a price spike, artifically created... so's they started sellin companies a price spike... Enrons stock took off cause their trade volume was inflated peppered wit price spikes... they would take the money generated N float it in the stock market... make some legit money, which flowed back into Enron... that was all fine N dandy til 911 busted da market N Enron got caught grabbin fer air... N not just Enron... Who footed the bill fer PG&E to get back on it's feet... I wonder? Taxpayers maybe? Got any hot stock tips barehander so's I kin git me some N go home?

[Koga]

We went through all that dereg crap about 10 years ago.Big layoffs,No maintanence on circuts or equiptment.Accidents right and left.Moral went through the floor.We had nothing good to say about the company.Customers started to see it in outages everyday.And I mean everyday, same circuts with longer outages.If they could get somebody on the phone they were in another state and had no idea what they were talkin about.Contract meter readers who cant read meters,customer gets a 4,000 dollar bill with a 24hr. cut off notice.So then no one talked good about the co.Somebody up there woke up.They fired the CEO and did a 180.Started listening to what us dumb ol linemen in the field were saying.Hired alot of guys back.Started doin things in house locally again.You should see the changes in a few years.Deregs now on hold. But there is still one thing no one has been able to explain.If the customer decides he can save a few pennies on his bill by using another power co.to supply him over our lines, who does he call at 2 am during a storm to come climb his pole in the back yard to change out his transformer ? If we have to charge him for it hes gonna lose the pennies he saved on his monthly bill. Details, details, details. Always pay attention to details !
"Dont come down the same way ya went up"
Koga

[Stanman, at ComEdy Il.]

Here in Ill. we are going through dereg. When the customer buys from another supplier, ComEdy is still responsible for the equip. and meter, etc...


The state has been very clear that no preferential treatment is to be given one way or another. And the state bought this crock of shit!

Anyway, the customer doesn't pick up the bill unless it's private property pole or equip.

Hey barehander, what kind of discount do you get? We don't get shit!

[CenterPointEX]

At the end of the day... any failed electric entity has to be bailed out by someone... cause folks just cain't do without da stuff... bad stuff happens when da lights go out... Dat's why dereg is such a bad deal... our lives will be at bay at the hands of stockholders...

[MAVERICK]

What I like the most about deregulation is the way the bill is charged out. We have a distribution charge and a generation charge. It's all on the same bill, so when someone gets greedy on the generation side, they just raise the rates. Now customers, as smart as they are, see the increases and automaticly blame the utility company. They don't understand that we don't generate power anymore, we just distribute it. All of a sudden they are company spies. They call the company saying that we are just standing around. We know it as waiting for switching or reclosing. They say we are waisting time eating on company time. We call it morning coffee break you know like everyone else in the free get by law. They call to say we are shopping on company time. We call it taking a dump (no shitters on the trucks). They call to say we are sleeping on the side of the road. We call it LUNCH. I tell ya, our rates haven't gone up, generation rates have. The generation side is deregulated so they do what ever they want. What is going to really piss customers off is that rates are going up again another 30% at the end of the year. How many rats will that draw when they roll that out. The best thing is that desk jockeys don't have to face the irate customers, we do. Yes, I like deregulation......... about as much as getting smoked on 23kv in a blizzard. MAV.

[CenterPointEX]

Sad part is... folks voted for it... there was big money pushin it when they voted for it in Texas... I just wonder where that money came from... ya right it was grass roots money raised by concerned citizens... I think we need to pass a Federal Laymans law... the law would require anything on a ballot that is written in legalease... to be accompanied by a laymans explanation... when sumtin gits on a ballot written in legal mumbo jumbo... folks either don't cast a vote on that particular issue or cast the way it was written to lead them... then the only folks left votin onit are benifactors... just fer kicks, poll someone under twentyone next time yer at the polls... you would not believe their reason fer votin the way they did...

[CenterPointEX]

I just wonder how long before they re regulate... The gov of California is talkin about doing just such a thing... I hate to say I tole ya so...

[australiantroubleman]

I can only speak from a down under (NSW) experience but dereg almost destroyed our industry here , we are still picking up the pieces ,no staff trained for 10 years , no upgrade work carried out just some maintenance and band aid type solutions.
Lots of ridiculous management ideas that wasted money , selling company owned land and assets then buying them back at much inflated prices or leasing them back.
Private companies are supposed to be building new power plants but none have shown any interest yet and our demand is starting to reach levels that will push spot prices in summer through the roof ,
Our companies where supposed to be sold 6 years ago to multinational bidders as happened in Victoria but it ended up being political suicide .
Now the value of the assets are much reduced as the Victorian experience wasnt the cash cow that the private investors thought and company values are very much reduced
So we have a huge capital expenditure program being finaced by power bill rises and tax and the govt has been left holding the bag .

Anyway some things are good now ,wages are up due to lack of staff , companies are poaching staff from each other and CEO,s are arguing over staff movments. Its a good time to be in the power distrubution industry as a ordinary worker.

But the promise of cheaper power to the customers i believe has not really occured .

l

[Squizzy]

So that is what we have to look forward to in Western Australia, the state government is trying to break us up. And now the private backers for the new baseload generation plant are having second thoughts,well at least the wages are on the way up!!

[igloo64]

Deregulation= Isnt That When U Is Constipaded Waiting For The Shit To Explode? I Wish Cigarrettes Was Deregulated :d

[australiantroubleman]

Yes Squizzy they really blew it , they broke the company up into a network and network service division , the companies where separate and used to bill each other, it was a ridiculous then they sold depots and land they owned for 30 yrs or more just to make some $$ to make themselves look good.

Then they told us we where all doomed and would be working for labour hire companies on short term contracts as soon as the place was sold to multinationals.

I was going to go TAFE teaching at that stage i had had enough even though i have enjoyed just about every day of my work for the last 25 years.

Then the tides turned a state election loomed and the liberal party made it a election issue they even offered each family $$$ for the sale , it backfired voters sick of dereg in other industries seen through it and they had a resounding loss .
Next some hard lined senior managers where alleged to be insider trading and where dismissed , new managers then saw the studipity of the dereg situation and reversed some decisions and gradually it improved.

Then after some hot summers and new extreme air conditioner demand caught them by surprise they had to look at rebuilding the system it took some big outages a heavily overloaded system to make the state stop sucking huge $$ out of the industry and let it rebuild which is where we are up to now.

[Squizzy]

Hi Troubleman,
that last paragraph is rather familiar, we have just spent the last 12 months working like dogs upgrading transformers. It was called the "summer Ready project" we are still doing it so obviously "Summer Not". The clowns got us to go around and upgrade all these transformers now they figured out before next summer the load on the mains is going to be too high.
It looks like we are going to be getting 700 plus reconductoring jobs, like we haven't got enough to do with too few people......

[CenterPointEX]

Y'all ready for summer 2006 Squiz?

[Squizzy]

Yeah our summer has just finished and we didn't do many reconductoring jobs, had a few burnt out taps and connections nothing too bad though. I would have loved to have done some thermo-graphic survey work on the lines and find all the hot spots reckon there would have been a few. Its just something else to place mote stress on the system now....

[Squizzy]

Gee CP you dug up this old thread. Well they did split the local utility up and guess what? It all has gone to crap. They split it into four and profits minimal I now work for a contractor as the dollar$ are much better our summer is supposedly over but the last couple of days yesterday 40C today 42C and the same tomorrow yuk (100F is 38.9C) so we got some more to come. The utility guys say there has been a few faults around some Drop Out Fuses and burnt taps but the Transformer upgrades seemed to help now its just pray the mains don't all sag and fall off the poles as they are mostly overloaded...

[Squizzy]

Thankfully we haven't reached that stage yet, the states utility is still Government owned they just split it into 4 stand alone businesses. Only problem is that the profits that used to be generated in one section were used to prop up another ie the metro area's tarrifs were used to offset the reginal areas. The whole thing has gone to sh!t instead of turning a profit and giving the state government a further $200+ million the government looks like getting $16mill:eek:

[CenterPointEX]

TXu is being bought out for one purpose... They are gonna bleed it dry then sell... It is crazy because outside legal action nothing can be done to stop these guys from stealing the TXU infrastructure and selling it for cash... Stock holders are powerless to protect themselves... If it was a public company buying TXU it would be different in that you could follow the money... but these guys know what they are doing and don't want to share. It is straight up billion dollar theft......................................

[CenterPointEX]

Does anybody know the status of this deal to sell TXU to overseas investors? I have not heard any thing on it in a while. The media has become silent on it.

[woody]

Here lies the problem...Hint...Big...Hint...WE can't be regulated! HA...NO SHIT UNION OR NOT! HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA...................NO MANPOWER...PERIOD. CRISIS MODE....REALLY NOT FUNNY. SMALL Utilities se it first... Biggers later and it's BAD (DID"NT INVEST IN IT"S FUTURE SO KISS MY ASS ALSO!) woody

[woody]

INVEST>>>INVEST>>>INVEST...Ya heard it or better yet READ it here FIRST. Buy any stock in the crappy utility or company that you know or work with! The utility or the company is gonna explode! woody

[CPOPE]

May 31, 2009 11:34PM
New Yorkers Suffer Under Private Electric Company
Con Edison raises electricity rates. New Yorkers still feeling effects of deregulation!

Con Edison is a clear example that the mentality of “privatization and deregulation” has to go. Since it consolidated its private monopoly of power distribution, it has not operated in order to provide New Yorker’s with the electricity they need at a reasonable price or to provide its workers with a decent salary and benefits. Instead, Con Edison operates with the good of its shareholders in mind. As a result, New Yorkers are scraping to pay their bills, employees are losing benefits, and the public is being endangered, while executives and stockholders’ wealth is on the rise.

Con Edison was once a model of stability. Prior to deregulation of the industry, it delivered electricity at a reasonable rate to millions of New Yorkers. Then, in 1998, as part of a global trend of privatization and deregulation, private investors completed a process of buying out smaller companies and created the nation's largest privately-owned energy company - Consolidated Edison Inc. I felt the effects of this private company this month, when I received an ominous note attached to my monthly bill entitled “New Electric Rates Effective May 1, 2009.”

It seems that the Public Service Commission approved an increase to Con Edison’s electric-delivery service rate. The average New Yorker will now be paying an additional $6 a month, only a year since the last hike of $4.25. These hikes coincide with an approval from Albany for the natural gas delivery company National Grid to raise their monthly rates an average of $6 per customer. New York City residents also face a 40% hike in water rates since 2006 as well as the MTA fare hikes. Between the economic crisis and the various rate hikes, Con Edison’s higher costs could be enough to make thousands of New Yorkers choose between skipping meals and paying their bills.

The commissioner of the Public Service Commission claims to empathize with Con Edison’s customers, “We are always concerned about the impacts on rate payers of any rate increase, but today’s decision is particularly difficult… Unemployment has risen and consumers are having difficulty paying their bills.” But the rate hike does only one thing – increase Con Edison’s revenue to $721 million. Why then would the Public Service Commission endorse such an action?

Part of the answer lies in the current fiscal crises in the State and City. Legislators are dealing with budget deficits by cutting public services desperately needed by working class and poor New Yorkers. Even these sharp cuts have not been enough to fill the budget gap so they have resorted to increasing property taxes, including those on utilities such as Con Edison. This seems like a fair way to shift the burden on those most able to pay, but Con Edison and the Public Service Commission seem to disagree. $239 million of the revenue generated by the rate hike is justified by the Public Service Commission to cover the increased property taxes. This is just another way in which the burden of the economic crisis is shifted to the already over burdened working class and poor.

The latest rate hikes are indicative of a larger pattern of behavior that Con Edison has displayed since deregulation in 1998. The quality of service has decreased, prices have gone up, and the exploitation of Con Edison workers has increased. This is made clear through Con Edison’s attempt to create divisions between workers and consumers by listing employee pensions as a motivation for the rate hike. Last year after intense negotiations, Con Edison was able to win concessions from the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2 to reduce employee benefits. In exchange Con Edison agree to allow the employees to keep their traditional pensions and not switch to 401(k)s. Now, the company is trying to pass off even the small gains by the workers onto the customers in the form of rate hikes.

Another aspect of for-profit energy is the declining quality of service. In 2006, Con Edison’s poor service resulted the massive week-long blackout in Queens. The black out particularly affected the sick and elderly. For example, 72-year-old Iris Long was recovering from a triple bypass surgery when the black out hit. She later testified that the black out contributed to chest pain and vocal chord problems: “I felt it was hindering my recovery, ” she said. In 2005, stray voltage killed a woman after she stepped on an electrified plate. In 2007 an 83 year-old steam pipe burst in Midtown resulting in the death of one person and 40 injuries. These are just a few of the extreme examples of the effects of privatization, but the decreased quality of service is evident in Con Edison’s slow response time to everyday complaints and lack of customer service.

Con Edison is a clear example that the mentality of “privatization and deregulation” has to go. Since it consolidated its private monopoly of power distribution, it has not operated in order to provide New Yorker’s with the electricity they need at a reasonable price or to provide its workers with a decent salary and benefits. Instead, Con Edison operates with the good of its shareholders in mind. As a result, New Yorkers are scraping to pay their bills, employees are losing benefits, and the public is being endangered, while executives and stockholders’ wealth is on the rise.

In contrast to the privatization model, Electric companies should be operated as well regulated public utilities with the interest of workers and consumers in mind, NOT in the interests of business executives and stockholders. Revenues above running costs should be returned to the customer and public utilities should be subject to democratic local control by the people affected by their actions.

It seems, however, that this will be long struggle. Con Edison has publicly stated its plans for next year - another $6 rate hike! It should be clear by now that privatization has not delivered the juice for New Yorkers.

[Koga]

I know these things happened after deregulation for

Ma bell
Cable
Gas
all these prices have gone up , more than 100%
So what makes anyone believe deregulation is good for the consumer or the workers of the company involved, who just get pink slips.

Koga

[Pootnaigle]

I defy anyone to show me where deregulation has benefited the consumer. Its earned millions for investors and actually caused some utilities to go belly up ( California I bleve had several Back when Enron exploited them)
Texas is not completely deregulated there is still a portion thats regulated and the difference in the final consumers monthy bills is unbeleiveable when comparing the 2.