For those of you who pay for your own utilities, this winter has been a motherfucker. Last year was bad, but this winter has taken the proverbial cake. Montanan's are being bent over and taking it in the ass just to keep their pipes from freezing. Last month it cost me $175 to heat my teeny-tiny house. AND we only heat the upstairs (approx. 600 sq ft). AND we have a pellet stove. AND we have a programmable thermostat. AND the warmest it ever gets upstairs is 65 degrees. AND AND AND, I could go on, but I just get pissed. But who am I to whine. At least we can afford it. Can you imagine one of the Montanans that can't afford $175/month. Can you imagine having to choose between feeding your children or buying your medication and having your power shut off? I can't even imagine.
Here is something else to think about. Montana generates enough electricity to supply Montana and ship the remainder west. That is 2/3 of the electricity Montana generates is used by other states. As for natural gas, Montana is one of the leading producers of natural gas in the West. Oh, and if that isn't enough, according to the Helena IR, we have the highest power rates in the region. I get it. We are going broke just to stay warm while we are sucking up all of the pollution involved in producing electricity. Don't even get me started on the refineries. . .
I am sorry, I forgot why we hated Montana Power Company so much? Oh, wait it was because they owned the coal mines, they owned the power plants, they owned the dams, they owned the natural gas lines and they provided heat and electricity to homes. Right, they were a monopoly and that is bad because the consumers paid the ultimate price. Low gas and electricity rates. If you read the Helena IR article it states that NWEnergy does not own any power plants, nor does it own any of the natural gas wells, and therefore they have to buy it off the wholesale market. Capitalism at its best.
The point of the article is that gas and electric rates are going to decline. Thank god. We were having to tap into our beer fund to pay our bills. No beer makes Auto a dull girl. What can we, as the consumers do to stop the bleeding? Contact the governor, contact our legislators, a boycott will surely not work. Any suggestions?
4 comments:
I just spent last weekend in Jackson Hot Springs, MT. The whole town is heated by their geothermals! Not a single person pays for heat. As a matter of fact most homes have there windows open b/c it's too hot inside (wayhhh). Maybe the rest of MT should consider doing the same thing. Stop giving our power away and use it ourself. (Sounds like the women's right movement...). At any rate Auto, my heating bill was $213 for keeping our tiny shit-hole at 57 degrees. Thank god for sex or else I would be a popsicle by now.
Karen
It is interesting that you bring that up. I met a woman from southern Illinois who heats her home geo-thermally. They drill a really deep "well" and run closed system water pipes down into the well. The water is heated from the ground and up into the house, etc. The major cost is up front drilling a deep well and all of that piping running through your floors. After that, you can use solar or wind to power the pump that pushes the water, but it doesn't require that much pumping because heat rises - blah, blah, blah.
I have a dream that involves me hopping out of bed and placing my tootsies onto a warm hardwood floor. Yummy. Not quite as lovely as sex, but damn near.
Sorry - here is my point. I can't imagine that Southern Illinois has more geothermal activity than Montana, I mean there is a damned hot spring every where you go. There is one only 30 miles from dear old Helena. How deep could it be? I guess I always figure that capitalizing folks will try to find a niche for themselves in a market such as this - maybe it is not possible, but then, maybe it is.
So, who wants to move to Jackson? It is near the Big Hole and not that far from Discovery. Hippie Fishing Skiing colony anyone?
but marc racicot said deregulation was a GOOD thing and he'd do it again if given the chance. i'm sure that the trickle down of the energy markets is going to hit us ANY DAY NOW - it's coming. I'm sure the ceo's of the energy conglomerates are writing us checks as we speak. THANK YOU Marc Racicot!!
-aj
(I hope the drip drip of sacrasm was loud and clear...)
For those of you who don't know. Racicot is pronounced Race-uh-cot. Not Roscoe. That is not how it is spelled and that is definately not how it is pronounced.
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