Holiday cheer is dimming

I saw The Herald’s Wednesday article “Electric bills may shock residents.” This coming rate hike simply incenses me. I’ve come to the conclusion that not all of us humans are playing from the same sheet of music. Our governor encourages us to cut back on our energy use by 5 to 10 percent. Many of us are turning down the heat, shutting off holiday lighting and generally trying to be good citizens and save water for the salmon run, etc. I read another article just the other day about the Reynolds Aluminum plant in Spokane. They contracted for electricity from Bonneville Power for something like $25 per kilowatt hour. Now, they’re selling that power (that they haven’t obtained yet, of course) back to Bonneville for $500 per kilowatt hour! Sure they find it more profitable to take advantage of the situation, shut their plant down and make far more money selling the power back than making their product!

Are we really wondering why our rates are going up with leaches like this out there? I find the whole situation completely dumbfounding. Everyone is out to make a buck, from Alex Rodriguez to Reynolds Aluminum, and it’s the general public that suffers – from the baseball fan paying for tickets to the general consumer trying to keep his house warm.

My holiday cheer for fellow humans is fading fast.

Snohomish

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