Another lesson from the liberal playbook, "Utilities to Add Conservation Fees: Regulators OK Plan to Subsidize Initiative Aimed at Reducing Energy Use," Baltimore Sun, 1 January 2009, by Gadi Dechter:
Maryland consumers will begin paying small monthly fees on electric bills this year to subsidize an ambitious energy-conservation initiative, under plans approved by resulators yesterday.
The plans are part of an initiative championed by Gov Martin O'Malley to reduce electricity consumed by utility customers at least 10 percent by the end of 2015. Within several months, Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. and other utilities are expected to begin marketing cost-saving measures such as rebates on energy-efficient appliances and "home energy audits" paid for by the new fees.
The surcharges will not be set until the spring, said Public Service Commission Chairman Douglas Nazarian, but preliminary estimates range from less than $1 to about $3 per month for residential ratepayers.
Despite the costs, consumer advocates heralded the commission's approval of utility conservation plans as long-delayed step that could help ratepayers shrink their overall bill, forestall the threats of rolling blackouts and eventually reduce the cost of electricity because of lowered demand.
But of course, there has to be a "mean-spirited Republican" who tries to rain on the liberal parade:
I thoughtt one of the cliams of this administration...was they were going to fight higher rates," said Del. Warren E. Miller, a Howard County Republican who sits on the House Economic Matters Committee. "Now what I'm hearing is they're going to issue an order to impose an additional charge, thereby making electricity more expensive."
Unfortunately, no one listens to Republicans anymore.
The next paragraph is perhaps the most interesting, important (and yes, frightening) part:
But [Public Service Commission Chairman Douglas] Nazarian issued a full-throated endorsement of the plan yesterday, arguing that utilities needed the authority to impose small fees on all customers to stimulate a broad "cultural change" of decreased energy consumption. He siad regulators are taking pains to minimuze the cost to consumers, noting that the commission in August rejected a more costly BGE proposal that would have been borne almost entirely by residential consumers.
"Cultural Change." The ultimate liberal goal to gain more control over our lives by ever increasing regulation and taxation. Remember the "gas tax" they tried to impose on us last year, the one that would increase automatically as the prince of gas went up? This is the same effort, just with electricity. The goal is not "conservation," but making electricity so expensive that we can't afford it anymore. Thus, government imposed "conservation." The beauty of it, from a liberal's point of view, is that we end up funding the very effort to make electricity more expensive.
