Power rates could surge - 30% rise possible under SCE plan
ROSEMEAD - Southern California Edison estimates rates for some residential customers could increase by an average of 30 percent or more next year because of soaring fuel prices and costs to upgrade infrastructure, according to a company executive.
Edison filed an application with the California Public Utilities Commission last fall to ask permission to raise electricity rates in 2009. The utility's initial rate forecast included an average increase of 17.5 percent for residential customers, according to a report issued by Edison in March.
Now, Edison expects that number could double. Average residential rates could increase "in excess of 30 percent" when rising fuel prices are taken into account, said Akbar Jazayeri, vice president of regulatory operations for Edison.
Edison's rates are broken into a five-tiered system based on the amount of energy a customer uses. Only
customers within the three highest tiers - the heaviest users - would be affected by the proposed rate hikes, Jazayeri said. "A customer that stays within tier one and tier two will not see any rate increase at all," Jazayeri said.
"It's very important for the customers to start planning and make sure they have energy-efficient equipment and that all steps are taken to reduce their energy usage," Jazayeri said.
Edison said the higher rates are needed because of volatile fuel prices, which have skyrocketed since the utility filed its initial request with the PUC. "We are mentioning this to basically prepare the customers," Jazayeri said. "We are very concerned."
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Comments (9)
This article was "posted" by Michael Lind, but was it actually written by him?
With the "ROSEMEAD" dateline and the various quotes, it looks a lot like a newspaper article. If so, it should be referenced as such, and not leave the impression that Lind wrote it himself.
Comment #1 Posted by: editorial desk | July 25, 2008 06:25 AM
ed desk-
It's pretty obvious it wasn't written by him.
Comment #2 Posted by: editor-in-chief | July 25, 2008 07:01 AM
editor-in-chief:
If you are correct, I will look forward to Lind providing a reference to the actual source of the article.
I am sure you will agree that what is "pretty obvious" to you may not be obvious at all to someone who lacks your trained editorial eye.
Comment #3 Posted by: editorial desk | July 25, 2008 07:30 AM
ed desk
your position is well taken.
Lind, knock-knock...
Comment #4 Posted by: editor-in-chief | July 25, 2008 09:30 AM
You can just capture a line or two and google it, for the source. Like so: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GZHZ,GZHZ:2007-26,GZHZ:en&q=Southern+California+Edison+estimates+rates+for+some+residential+customers+could+increase+by+an+average+of+30+percent+or+more+next+year+because+of+soaring+fuel+prices+and+costs+to+upgrade+infrastructure%2c+
It appears to be published in the Whittier Daily News, but MSM quite often just retypes a press release. The credited author independently digging up all those stats seems highly unlikely, but whatever. Anyway, problem solved.
Comment #5 Posted by: Johnny Chingas | July 25, 2008 09:44 AM
CHINGAS to the rescue.
Que bien!!
Comment #6 Posted by: Johnny Chimichinga | July 25, 2008 10:42 AM
Tyler has weighed in on this before...am I correct in saying that copyright fair use allows for a "sampling" of a news article as long as there is proper attribution given to the source as well as the writer? There may also be instances where you need the author's permission. And it would be nice to link to the full text of the article, too.
Comment #7 Posted by: Lisa Snider | July 25, 2008 11:08 AM
I think that's correct.
And in cases where the article already appears on various web sites and is meant to educate the public we can generally assume its fine to publish them on the Ojai Post, so long as proper credit/original source is given.
Comment #8 Posted by: Suza | July 25, 2008 11:33 AM
Alright already!
Comment #9 Posted by: ¡ai chingaso! | July 25, 2008 03:43 PM