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Tag: rate hike

Monopolies, rate hikes and trash TV... ah, Granholm's Michigan

By Nick, Section News
Posted on Wed May 13, 2009 at 06:43:48 AM EST
Tags: Dillon, Consumers, DTE, rate hike, tax hike, Maury, not the daddy (all tags)

29 schools this fall and 800 dealerships on Thursday. Those are the items on the chopping block... the chilly prospects facing the Detroit area's largest school district and industry, according to this morning's Associated Press.

Who says Motown hasn't had a hit in years (Eminem not withstanding)? We absorb more and more of them every day.

And thanks, especially, to Andy Dillon and legislative Democrats, cash-strapped Michigan families are about to take another punch to the gut. The Detroit News reports this morning that Consumers Energy will raise rates again. This week. 3.5 percent amounting to about $2.99 a month.

Consumers says it needs higher rates to upgrade power lines and equipment, reduce emissions, install software for improved billing and customer service, and develop metering technology to pinpoint outages.
Last June, regulators authorized Consumers to raise the average residential bill $2.64 a month. Detroit Edison, the state's largest utility, could raise electric rates in July, depending on what regulators decide.

In other words, in the last year Consumers has raised rates by 6 percent... ish... and by over $5 a month. DTE is set to follow suit.

Amazing what you can do when you've got a legislatively protected monopoly.

Dear Speaker Dillon, any interest in cutting me a $10 check from your personal account every month to cover these rate hikes? I get that you're the government and I'm not. You can (and do) use the coercive threat of force to compel $10 from my bank account every month and I don't have that same ability. That's why I'm applying to your humanity and your sense of fair play. Just be warned... there are millions of Michiganders in line with me hoping you'll whip out that checkbook.

And either way, at least Michigan is maintaining her status as a nation leader in one category or another, even if that category is governmental absurdity and the price it lays on the shoulders of her citizens. Well, that and Day Time Talk Show Hosts Per Capita... or DTTSHPC.

Read on...

(622 words in story) Full Story