The ONE political appointment I've always wanted is to sit on the board approving energy price increases.
Yawn. I know... why? Alliant and Mid-American are basically unregulated monopolies. It's true that they cannot raise rates without approval from an oversight board, but that board never denies them. It may trim their sails a bit but it pretty much green lights whatever request they receive.
That's why I'd like to sit on the five member panel. I wouldn't be a green light. I wouldn't reject rate increases out of hand. Sure the ice storms of 2007-2008 and the flood of 2008 increased their costs. And that cut their profit from $425 million in 2007 to $288 million in 2008.
That dent in profits paid for the repairs. They've been done. That's water under the bridge. Profits should return to their formal levels. But now Alliant wants to raise rates to help pay for the repairs.
Huh? You've already paid for them and it cut your profit. To ask for an increase based on that is to say, "We would just like really, really high profits next year."
A 17% increase is at outrageous as paying executives a retention bonus after they've left the company. I'll bet they get almost all they want.
Do I have any takers? It's a bet I'd like to lose...
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