Complain to the PUC about time-of-use billing

I see that the Public Utilities Commission has once again seen fit to maximize the profits of the electric companies at the expense of the consumers with “time-of-use” billing. What a splendid idea. Charge customers more for using electricity during peak hours – when it is the hottest and we turn on the air conditioning. Surprise! I don’t turn on the lights at night to maximize my use of expensive electricity but because it is dark.

And it plans to reduce the number of tiers, another splendid money-making idea. Suppose, for example, there are 1 million users whose rates increase $2 a month; and another 50,000 whose rates go down $5 a month. I’ll take $2 million minus a quarter of a million any day. The PUC recognizes that there are way more people whose rates will go up than down. And I didn’t see anything in the Bee article which stated that to compensate for reducing the number of tiers, the baseline allocation would include an increase in the number of kilowatt hours.

I will write to the PUC to complain. You might consider doing the same.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 6:55 AM with the headline "Complain to the PUC about time-of-use billing."