Electric Choice?

[talldean]

The last time I signed up for electric service, there wasn't any choice; Duquesne Light was what you were getting

Comments

[dabroots]

It's been about six years ago, but while I was living in Brooklyn NY I signed up with a different power company, one that basically bought units of electricity and resold them to consumers at a price lower than our monolithic power company, Con Edison. However, it soon became clear that Con Edison was not out the picture because I continued receiving bills from them for periods that I thought were supposed to be covered by my new power company, even getting to the point of receiving a disconnect notice for "non-payment." Whoops! The deal was that Con Edison owned the power lines and all other hardware necessary for delivering electricity to one's residence. They billed the alternative energy companies, and if the alternative energy companies were not passing onto them "x" dollars received from various accounts in a timely manner, Con Ed felt compelled to go ahead and bill those accounts, themselves. I got out of my contract with the new company because the headaches were not worth the few cents I was saving, and it turned out I was

[inkyblue2]

good effing luck. i have tried several times to sort through all of the "choice" bureaucracy and come to the same conclusion each time: if you live in pittsburgh, you get duquesne, and your only "choice" is whether to purchase wind power credits from a third party. not that wind credits are bad, but there seems to be no way to send a message with your wallet specifically to duquesne light saying "coal power can go to hell."

although, now that i think about it, i should probably just tell them that in a letter.

[lilostitch]

Duquesne light owns the only electric distribution system (lines, poles, etc) in the city, so even if you get electricity from another source, it has to go through Duquesne Light's system to get to you (which would probably add on an extra cost)