05-16-2019, 02:59 PM
HELCO is a "cost plus" billing company. Their scam is that they will add 10% or whatever (10% number madeup for sake of simplicity, I don't know how high it is) markup to any services they contract out to bill us for.
So they would rather send 10% of 0.40/KWH to the shareholders than 10% of 0.11/KWH. The shareholders don't want LESS money, so the incentive is to keep electricity costs as high as possible. It's not just about electricity production, think about maintenance. Tree trimming, moving the poles over 5 feet one year for road expansion, and then another 5 feet over 3 years later, etc. Brand new trucks every few years when the old ones would do. Driving their trucks back and forth between Hilo and Kona every day over Saddle at 5-10 MPH below the speed limit for no reason, etc.
As a for-profit monopoly it is in their best interest to "find" the most expensive energy producers they can and wine/dine/bribe whoever is necessary to convince us that is a great idea and get the PUC to approve it.
HELCO doesn't want PGV to cost less than fossil fuels. They want PGV electricity cost to be as close to fossil fuel prices as possible. Soon they will convince us all that to combat global warming, we all NEED to pay more than fossil fuel prices for our electricity, and they will find companies to provide the higher prices for us.
Fortunately, they are nearing the end of their scam, because becoming grid-free is becoming more and more affordable.
So they would rather send 10% of 0.40/KWH to the shareholders than 10% of 0.11/KWH. The shareholders don't want LESS money, so the incentive is to keep electricity costs as high as possible. It's not just about electricity production, think about maintenance. Tree trimming, moving the poles over 5 feet one year for road expansion, and then another 5 feet over 3 years later, etc. Brand new trucks every few years when the old ones would do. Driving their trucks back and forth between Hilo and Kona every day over Saddle at 5-10 MPH below the speed limit for no reason, etc.
As a for-profit monopoly it is in their best interest to "find" the most expensive energy producers they can and wine/dine/bribe whoever is necessary to convince us that is a great idea and get the PUC to approve it.
HELCO doesn't want PGV to cost less than fossil fuels. They want PGV electricity cost to be as close to fossil fuel prices as possible. Soon they will convince us all that to combat global warming, we all NEED to pay more than fossil fuel prices for our electricity, and they will find companies to provide the higher prices for us.
Fortunately, they are nearing the end of their scam, because becoming grid-free is becoming more and more affordable.