Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa

[Alan Klein]

I looked at some of the NJ fixed rate plans. Some lock you in for 6 months, some 12 months, and some 24 months. Within those three time periods, different suppliers have different fixed rates. The rates didn't seem all that far apart. I guess if you have a spreadsheet, you follow energy futures, and you are highly motivated, you can save some money. The next time I get my electric bill, I'll check my kWh usage and multiply that by 2-3 cents and see what I could save if I had a choice too.

Well, the selection available of companies keeps all of their rates competitive.  So you won;t find a huge difference between rates.  If it wasn't for that, the charges would be higher from the base supplier.  My plan saves me around $200-300 a year.  Not a lot.  But it's better in my pocket than theirs. Meanwhile, Comcast, the only supplier I can use for telephone land lines, cable, and the internet, just raised my rates another $25 a month/$300 a year for less channels.  You can't win. 

[Alan Klein]

I looked at some of the NJ fixed rate plans. Some lock you in for 6 months, some 12 months, and some 24 months. Within those three time periods, different suppliers have different fixed rates. The rates didn't seem all that far apart. I guess if you have a spreadsheet, you follow energy futures, and you are highly motivated, you can save some money. The next time I get my electric bill, I'll check my kWh usage and multiply that by 2-3 cents and see what I could save if I had a choice too.

I don't shop around.  I leave that to my township.  They get the best deal anyone is offering.  I just dovetail off their contract.

[faberryman]

Now everybody is pissed. Except AOC. I read she is now up to $5 million raised for Texas relief. About that paparazzi, if you stay at the Ritz down in Cancun and parade around in a red bikini, someone's bound to take your picture. I am not sure a red bikini is the best look for Heidi Cruz, but compassionate Ted said that she was "smoking hot". I bet she doesn't let him anywhere near her with that ridiculous beard. I'd say he looks like a homeless person, but that's not really being fair to homeless persons.

Cruz says his wife was ‘pissed’ about leaked text messages, paparazzi coverage

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/23/cruz-wife-pissed-leaked-text-paparazzi-471128

[faberryman]

I don't shop around.  I leave that to my township.  They get the best deal anyone is offering.  I just dovetail off their contract.

The question is what is the best deal? How do you know if the 6 month, 12 month, or 24 month lock-in is the best deal until it's all over?

[Robert Roaldi]

The article I read was that residents of Texas can select among over one hundred suppliers. That's pretty free.  Years ago, everyone was stuck with one supplier and one price, take it or leave it.  Then many states opened it up to the free market and allowed competition.  Competition brought prices down.  I save about 2-3 cents per KWH over the utility company that ordinarily serves my home. 

Hang on, not so fast. When you say suppliers, do you actually mean different real companies with dams or generating stations or solar farms that sell to the grid, and you are free to choose which ones among them to support. Or do mean middlemen type companies that buy electricity from the existing grid and sell it to individual home-owners, because those two things are not the same thing. The latter is just an office and a computer and an email list. When something breaks, who do you call and who does the electrician who shows up work for?

In electricity and gas delivery here in Ontario, we have a bunch of middlemen type companies who do the work that the previous utilities used to do. Some people sold this concept as a "private marketplace" where companies would compete for business, but any way I look at it, it looks like a shell game to me. In any case, it's not all at clear why I'm better off. I had a very minor gas leak in my garage a few years ago, faulty pipe connection probably due to wild temperature swings in winter, and it took several phone calls to figure out who I was supposed to call. I am not sure who showed up, but it wasn't the shell company that I pay my money to. One office I phoned asked is the leak inside the garage or outside, to which I gave a politer version of "How the f**k do I know?"  Another office I called told me to call the fire department. So far as I can tell, we went from a world-class utility who looked after all aspects of delivery to a bunch of useless middlemen whose contribution to my life is non-obvious, and I never detected any savings on my bill. It was a triumph of phoney deregulation, with M&A lawyers and investment banks reaping all the benefit. I'd very much like to be wrong about that, but everyone I've ever spoken to, including people working at those companies, essentially agree with me. In my biased and pissed off opinion, I think they all wanted to be Enron. That is, pocket the cash and deliver nothing to the consumer.

[faberryman]

I had a very minor gas leak in my garage a few years ago, faulty pipe connection probably due to wild temperature swings in winter, and it took several phone calls to figure out who I was supposed to call. I am not sure who showed up, but it wasn't the shell company that I pay my money to. One office I phoned asked is the leak inside the garage or outside, to which I gave a politer version of "How the f**k do I know?"  Another office I called told me to call the fire department.

I had a gas leak with some gas logs in my fireplace, so I called the gas company and they told me to run, not walk, outside and they would be there in 10 minutes. They got there pretty quick and determined that the leak was at the valve. So they capped it off, and gave me the name of the guys who actually fix gas logs who could install a new valve. The gas company just made the emergency fix. They didn't even charge me. I never got around to getting it fixed. That was about fifteen years ago. I guess I should tell my kids that when I die, they're going to have to get that valve replaced before they put the house on the market. You have to have a fireplace if you want to sell your house. Everyone wants a fireplace, but most people don't use them except as a place to hang up their Christmas stockings.

[Robert Roaldi]

I had a gas leak with some gas logs in my fireplace, so I called the gas company and they told me to run, not walk, outside and they would be there in 10 minutes. They got there pretty quick and determined that the leak was at the valve. So they capped it off, and gave me the name of the guys who actually fix gas logs who could install a new valve. The gas company just made the emergency fix. They didn't even charge me. I never got around to getting my gas logs valve fixed. That was about fifteen years ago. I guess I should tell my kids that when I die, they're going to have to get that valve fixed before they put the house on the market.

I think it's a miracle anything works properly. I think I mentioned before that I had to repair the cable company's junction box on my neighbour's lawn with Gorilla tape. When our civilization is dug up by future archaeologists, they're going to find acres of backup hard drives that no one ever accessed and Gorilla tape. Everything else will be dust.

[digitaldog]

Cruz says his wife was ‘pissed’ about leaked text messages, paparazzi coverage

And the paparazzi coverage of Ted in those speedos? 

[Alan Klein]

The question is what is the best deal? How do you know if the 6 month, 12 month, or 24-month lock-in is the best deal until it's all over?

The township gets bids from different suppliers for a one-year contract at a fixed KWH rate.  Once they settle on that, they notify the residents who can switch their supplier to the same one at the same rate.  You don't have to do the switch. YOu could stay with the prime supplier but their rates are higher.  I don't know if you can check with other suppliers.  I never bothered to check into that.  I figure I would let my township do all the hard work by shopping around and then making the best deal in town. 

[Alan Klein]

Now that I recall, you can go to other suppliers. I get invites in the mail from a few of them during the year to switch to their plan.  The few I've checked, I already have the best plan at the lowest rate.

[Alan Klein]

Hang on, not so fast. When you say suppliers, do you actually mean different real companies with dams or generating stations or solar farms that sell to the grid, and you are free to choose which ones among them to support. Or do mean middlemen type companies that buy electricity from the existing grid and sell it to individual home-owners, because those two things are not the same thing. The latter is just an office and a computer and an email list. When something breaks, who do you call and who does the electrician who shows up work for?

In electricity and gas delivery here in Ontario, we have a bunch of middlemen type companies who do the work that the previous utilities used to do. Some people sold this concept as a "private marketplace" where companies would compete for business, but any way I look at it, it looks like a shell game to me. In any case, it's not all at clear why I'm better off. I had a very minor gas leak in my garage a few years ago, faulty pipe connection probably due to wild temperature swings in winter, and it took several phone calls to figure out who I was supposed to call. I am not sure who showed up, but it wasn't the shell company that I pay my money to. One office I phoned asked is the leak inside the garage or outside, to which I gave a politer version of "How the f**k do I know?"  Another office I called told me to call the fire department. So far as I can tell, we went from a world-class utility who looked after all aspects of delivery to a bunch of useless middlemen whose contribution to my life is non-obvious, and I never detected any savings on my bill. It was a triumph of phoney deregulation, with M&A lawyers and investment banks reaping all the benefit. I'd very much like to be wrong about that, but everyone I've ever spoken to, including people working at those companies, essentially agree with me. In my biased and pissed off opinion, I think they all wanted to be Enron. That is, pocket the cash and deliver nothing to the consumer.

Maintenance here in NJ is by the owners of the infrastructure -  JCP&L Jersey Central Power and Light , not the company you buy the electricity from.  As I posted previously, there is a fixed monthly base charge paid to JCP&L for the lines that run into my house, the high voltage power lines, transformers etc. JCP&L owns that infrastructure.  They are responsible for getting you the electricity. So if there is a power failure let's say due to an ice storm that knocks over the power pole, JCP&L has to repair it.  The electricity you buy from the other company, I forget the name offhand let's say ABC Electric, is just for the consumed KWH electricity which is a second part of the bill.  Both costs are added together and I pay JCP&L the local utility who then pays ABC who furnished the electricity.  I've never had a problem that needed repairs.  But I would call the main utility JCP&L, not the company I buy the power from.

I assume that the company that supplies the electricity, ABC,  might be a middle man or another power company that generates electricity that goes into the common grid.  I don't know how that works.

Everyone seems to be getting in on the competition.  People with solar on their roofs sell power back to the utility when not needed.  I've even seen solar panels on street poles that pump power back into the system.

[faberryman]

And the paparazzi coverage of Ted in those speedos? 

Good idea. If I were better at Photoshop, I whip up some images myself.

[Peter McLennan]

How do they do it in Canada where you live in BC?  How much do you pay?

If you really wanted to know, you'd have Googled it.  But I did your homework for you.

From BC Hydro's website:
You pay 8.29 cents per kWh for the first 1,350 kWh you use over an average two-month billing period. Above that amount, you pay 12.43 cents per kWh — what we call Step 2 — for the balance of the electricity used during the billing period

That's in Canadian funds, of course.  So about 6.6 cents USD per KWH base rate until you hit the next level.

100% renewable energy, of course.  Zero emissions. Every day, all day, everywhere.

BTW, here's my experience with service from the local boys:

On Thanksgiving Day, an hour into the turkey's time in the oven, BAM! power failure.
Five of us sat in the dark, drooling with hunger waiting until the crew arrived in my yard with two huge trucks.
They quickly discovered that the disconnect to my residence had tripped, taking us offline.

Less than 90 minutes later, the oven was back at work.  Now, that's service.  A long weekend, right?

I asked the one of the crew if I'd caused it by watching porn on the Internet.
"Absolutely!", he said. "Happens all the time".

[faberryman]

I am a little baffled why CPAC would have invited this guy to speak in the first place. This conference isn't their first rodeo. Who would have suggested him? Who would have approved him.

CPAC Yanks Speaker After Anti-Semitic, Pro-Pizzagate Posts Surface

https://www.thedailybeast.com/featured-cpac-speaker-young-pharaoh-said-judaism-is-a-complete-lie-pushed-pizzagate-conspiracy

[MattBurt]

I am a little baffled why CPAC would have invited this guy to speak in the first place. This conference isn't their first rodeo. Who would have suggested him? Who would have approved him.

CPAC Yanks Speaker After Anti-Semitic, Pro-Pizzagate Posts Surface

https://www.thedailybeast.com/featured-cpac-speaker-young-pharaoh-said-judaism-is-a-complete-lie-pushed-pizzagate-conspiracy

Because they love these people until there is pressure not to.

[Robert Roaldi]

I am a little baffled why CPAC would have invited this guy to speak in the first place. This conference isn't their first rodeo. Who would have suggested him? Who would have approved him.

CPAC Yanks Speaker After Anti-Semitic, Pro-Pizzagate Posts Surface

https://www.thedailybeast.com/featured-cpac-speaker-young-pharaoh-said-judaism-is-a-complete-lie-pushed-pizzagate-conspiracy

Love this line, "....he’s also tweeted false claims about the Pizzagate conspiracy theory and that the COVID-19 vaccine changes your genetic makeup, which it does not. ..." Glad they added that qualifier, clears things up.

[JoeKitchen]

Because they love these people until there is pressure not to.

And because they always love these people even if there is pressure not to. 

House Democrats fail to condemn anti-Semitism, don’t rebuke Rep. Ilhan Omar

Last I checked, she is still serving on committees. 

What is that saying about living in glass houses? 

[digitaldog]

And because they always love these people even if there is pressure not to. 

House Democrats fail to condemn anti-Semitism, don’t rebuke Rep. Ilhan Omar

At least TRYING to and more than once:
https://www.npr.org/2019/03/04/700163118/democrats-planning-another-public-rebuke-of-rep-ilhan-omar

[digitaldog]

you have to be this bad shit crazy to get pulled off a committee:
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/04/963785609/house-to-vote-on-stripping-rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-from-2-key-committees

[faberryman]

And because they always love these people even if there is pressure not to. 

House Democrats fail to condemn anti-Semitism, don’t rebuke Rep. Ilhan Omar

Last I checked, she is still serving on committees. 

What is that saying about living in glass houses?

One relevant distinction is that Marjorie Taylor Greene wasn't censured and stripped of her committee assignments because of anti-Semitic remarks.

Other distinctions include, but are not limited to, severity of the offense, frequency of the behavior, extent of the nuttiness, and eleven Republicans joined the Democrats.

I'd just as soon the Democrats (and eleven Republicans) hadn't stripped Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments. The Democrats solved the Republican's problem.

Surely you could have found a better example of hypocrisy on the part of the Democrats. Why dig up an article from two years ago?