by Gary Meltz | Dec 5, 2023 | Uncategorized
The Virginia-Pilot Letters for Oct. 31: Thank you Centura College and Sentara Health for the medical assistant scholarshipprogram Letter writers express thanks to Centura College and Sentara Health for addressing themedical assistant shortage, recognize state Sen. Monty Mason for his vote for electric customers, and argue the Republican Party needs to purge non-statesmen. Way to go Recently, my organization sent mailers applauding state Sen. Monty Mason of Williamsburg forsupporting common sense legislation that will save Virginia residential electric customers $7-$14 on their monthly power bills while strengthening regulatory oversight of electric companies. Specifically, the law will save Dominion Energy customers $350 million by eliminating several “riders” —or additional project fees on a customer’s electric bill — and simplify the billing process. The legislation also prevents state regulators from having to add costs to electric bills to account forunanticipated cost overruns, like the recent increase in cost of steel and solar panels. This fix will help ensure people are paying for the electricity they use today — not getting hit with fees for something that happened in the past. This bipartisan legislation also allows for much needed investments in a secure and safe energy grid.Affordable and reliable energy will improve lives and create a stable business environment to spur jobgrowth. The mailers were sent to voters in the districts of Virginia lawmakers — a Democrat and a Republican — who showed leadership to pass this important legislation. With all Virginians coping with higher living costs, we should be grateful to lawmakers like Mason, who backed legislation to lower electric bills in the commonwealth....
by Gary Meltz | Dec 5, 2023 | Uncategorized
Globe Opinion Link: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/12/05/opinion/letters-to-the-editor-mass-electricity-market/ (Paywall) Claims of green benefits may be exaggerated Re “Giving consumers a choice when buying their electricity” (Opinion, Nov. 29): Columnist Scot Lehigh cannot be blamed for being somewhat swayed by paid advocates for the retail electric supply industry, who make a compelling case for letting customers pick where to get their electricity. After gobbling up half a billion dollars more from Bay State residents than they would otherwise have paid from 2015 to 2021, the retail supply industry may well have the best spin doctors money can buy. Lehigh asserts that calls to ban the industry in Massachusetts are an overreaction and that the state’s residential retail market should be fixed, not eliminated. After all, retail suppliers offer clean power from renewable sources to customers who are willing to pay more for electricity. Except, that’s not exactly true. Customers are only paying a retail supplier a fee to purchase clean energy credits. Recently, the Boston-based National Consumer Law Center was a signatory to a letter that consumer organizations sent to the Federal Trade Commission about “greenwashing.” Selling energy with exaggerated claims of environmental benefits only hinders efforts to address climate change through electrification. Finally, in support of legislation to protect residential electric customers in Massachusetts, NCLC staff attorney Jenifer Bosco testified in 2020 that the industry uses deceptive marketing practices to target “low-income consumers, older adults, and those with limited English language proficiency.” Gary Meltz Executive director Power for Tomorrow Washington, D.C. Power for Tomorrow is a national trade association that advocates for regulation of electric...
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