Subsidy Transparency

Your utility bill does a lot more than simply pay for your electricity. It also saves the world, at least according to some. How could a utility bill save the world? When you pay for your utilities you also “contribute” to the Green Energy Fund, to expand what the administration considers renewable, non-harmful sources of energy, but that’s not all. Your utility bill also helps the poor. Part of your power bill goes to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to cover the cost for those that can’t afford their own utilities. Wait, there’s more! When you pay for your electric bill you are also helping to subsidize the clever people and companies that had enough money to buy solar panels for their house or business. Someone has to pay for those Renewable Energy Credits and that someone is probably you, unless you happen to be one of the winners on the receiving end. Not to mention, when utilities pay the homes and businesses for any surplus energy produced by their solar panels or wind turbines that money is also coming from your bill. Yet that still isn’t the end of the list of amazing things that your utility bill can do. It could also pay subsidies to massive companies like Bloom Energy that our Governor and Energy Secretary bowed down and begged, or perhaps bribed to set up shop in Delaware to produce fuel cells. That is a lot of work for a simple utility bill, and many people don’t know all the amazing things they are doing every single month with their payment. Currently state law requires that utilities publish an annual insert in your utility bill that outlines all of these things, but how many people actually read that? They are missing out. I have to admit that I tossed it out one time along with the little flyers and ads that are sometimes included. Well there is a new bill, SB 226 that proposes to add some more transparency to your utility bill. That way every time you pay it you will plainly be able to see the many amazing things that are being done with your money. If you agree with the Man Made Global Apocalypse movement than you will be able to see how you are helping to save the world. If you disagree with “solutions” to Man Made Global Warming, like I do, than you will see how much of your money is being taken from you to fund the winners of this con-game. I would say that this is a win/win scenario. This bill does not require utility companies to start tracking how much of your utility bill goes towards things other than your utilities. They already have to do that, as required by current state law, in order to produce the annual disclosure insert. All this bill does is make information more readily accessible and transparent. It may require a little retooling of the utility bill, and that could cost the utility companies a little. However, there is enough white space on my utility bill that it doesn’t even need to require additional paper in order to comply with this Senate Bill. Compliance should not create any undue burden on the companies. I am all for SB 226. Unfortunately, the bill was introduced by Senator Dave Lawson so the chances that it will pass are pretty low. We have one party rule in Delaware and as of yet there are no Democrat sponsors on the bill so unless momentum comes from outside the halls of our Legislature this bill is unlikely to leave the State Energy and Transit Committee. I want to know what I am paying for in my utility bill and how much. If you also want to know where your money is going, than consider contacting your Senator and Representative and asking them to support SB 226.