by Keryn

While West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin is focusing on West Virginia's energy past with comments like these:

More than once he lit into the Environmental Protection Agency, under constant fire from the coal industry over regulations it feels are too stringent and that are smothering production.

“This is West Virginia, where we appreciate the need for reasonable, open environmental regulations but understand the fundamental need for jobs and for low cost, reliable energy developed right here in the United States of America,” Tomblin said.

Calling it “a war on coal” by the Obama administration, Tomblin vowed to personally take on the EPA until it understands that a key to America’s future lies in the use of natural resources.

“It is a fight from which I will not shrink, and one that I fully expect to win,” he promised, evoking thunderous applause.

“Coal is, and always will be, a part of our future.”

And while West Virginia's Joe Manchin, Nick Rahall and Shelley Capito also focus on West Virginia's energy past with similar comments, there's one group that's actually taking action to support West Virginia's energy future.

The West Virginia Sierra Club is doing something about West Virginia's energy future.  At a community meeting in Preston County last weekend, Sierra Club representatives brought together residents, legislators and environmentalists to work together with utilities to craft coal-fired electric generation plant closure plans that take local needs into account.  Unfortunately, the utility was a no-show.  Perhaps they were holed up somewhere cozy with Tomblin, Manchin, Rahall and Capito crafting more crazy, coal-fired comments.

The Sierra Club has been successfully negotiating with energy companies in other states to give something back to their employees and the community when old, polluting plants close.  "Last year, for example, workers and local governments in Centralia, Wash., assisted by the Sierra Club, negotiated a 15-year plant closure plan with TransAlta. The plan sets aside $50 million for energy efficiency and clean energy projects — initiatives that will keep electricity bills down and offset the jobs impact of the closure."

FirstEnergy would prefer that their employees who will lose their jobs if plants close place the blame on environmentalists, however, the responsibility is clearly the utility's.  FirstEnergy has been aware that these plant closures were coming for years and should have been doing something to prepare for them that would protect jobs.  However the only thing employees are getting in exchange for years of loyal service is a trip to the unemployment office because that is the solution that makes money for FirstEnergy.  Money is the only thing that matters in the board rooms where decisions that affect "the little people" are made.  Even now, with plant closures imminent, FirstEnergy is a no-show.

"I think one of the challenges is to get the message across that, no matter how much you love it, the status quo is not one of the options," said Sconyers of this first meeting, aimed an  introducing the idea of entering a dialog with FirstEnergy.

Kotcon expressed frustration that little information has been forthcoming from the company.

"It is clear that economic forces are going to drive some very dramatic changes, but no one knows those data like FirstEnergy does," he said. "To get to a win-win scenario, FirstEnergy has to come forward with some discussion of what the market will dictate for the Albright plant and for plants like Rivesville and Willow Island."

And local residents will have to come together if they want a say in how this plays out, he said.

When push comes to shove is when you find out who your real friends are.

Here's the link, but it will go dead in a week.  So here is the meat of the piece:

"Byron Harris, consumer advocate of the Public Service Commission, says federal figures rank West Virginia home power usage as 12th-highest in America.

The reason, apparently, is that more Mountain State homes are aging, with poor insulation and drafty windows -- letting costly heat escape in winter and failing to block muggy warmth in summer. Many lack cost-cutting heat pumps. Older appliances and incandescent lightbulbs also waste power.

In California, where energy-efficiency efforts are intense, the average home uses a mere 562 kwh per month, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Two Kanawha Valley activists, Mike Harman and Cathy Kunkel, told a Charleston church group this week that preventing energy waste could save West Virginians millions in utility bills and reduce the need to build more power plants."

And:

"A crusading group named Energy Efficient West Virginia has created a website to push the war on waste. It can be found at www.eewv.org.

A couple of years ago, the federal stimulus program gave West Virginia $37 million to weatherize low-income homes. In the coming 60-day session, the Legislature should expand the struggle by passing stronger energy codes and prodding utilities to increase efforts against loss.

Wasting money is senseless. Saving is wise. Energy is too valuable to be squandered needlessly."

by Keryn

On December 21, the Maryland Public Service Commission fined Pepco in the amount of $1M as punishment for their unreliable electric service.  They were also voted by consumers as the most hated company in America last June.  In response, Pepco mucks their public relations barn and the b.s. starts to fly.

Does Pepco think that they can buy a semblance of "reliability" and consumer approval, instead of actually earning one, with the purchase of the PATH Project's hand-me-down astroturf front group?  Bad plan, Pepco, don't do it!!  The "Marylanders for Reliable Power" is nothing but a flaming bag of headaches that will cause their next corporate benefactor to end up with even more egg on its face.

This fraudulent "grassroots" group was created by a public relations firm to build advocacy for FirstEnergy's (formerly Allegheny Energy) and American Electric Power's ill-fated PATH transmission project.  It was not a spontaneous effort by anxious consumers to join together to improve electric reliability.  Allegheny Energy's purchase orders and contracts with The Artemis Group were made public last year at FERC as part of the Formal Challenge to PATH's 2009 ATRR.  In addition, the "coalition" and its expenses (which were wrongly recovered from ratepayers) is mentioned again in the recently filed Formal Challenge to PATH's 2010 ATRR.  This "coalition" has long since been exposed to the public as the fraud it is and the public relations firm that was its Dr. Frankenstein lost a big chunk of monthly income when the PATH Project was suspended by PJM (just like they did with Pepco's MAPP Project several months later).  Of course they would like to try to squeeze a little more blood out of this particular turnip by selling the pieces to some corporate stooge like Pepco as the solution to their reliability and reputation problems, but the Marylanders for Reliable Power are POISON!  Run, Pepco, runnnnnnnnnn!

Here's a novel (and free!) idea for Pepco that will go much further to assist them in rebuilding their reputation -- actually earning the respect of its customers through honest effort and sweat equity that will provide a reliable product for the public that Pepco is supposed to serve.  You cannot purchase respect!

by Bill

Here’s the story

As it turns out, most media estimates of the cost of installing solar panels on your home or business are wrong, because they are using out of date figures.  Read how in this latest peer-reviewed study.

Falling demand for grid power has paralyzed additions and innovations to the obsolete centralized grid just as reduced prices and increased solar panel efficiency are putting real reliable power within our grasp.

Think grid power will stay cheap?  Not in WV (This Charleston Gazette link will die in a week.)  Here’s the latest in a long line of WV electric rate increases:

"Nearly $20 million of the hikes aim to allow Monongahela Power and Potomac Edison to recoup spending on fuel, transmission and purchased power costs. The two utilities provide electricity in 37 of West Virginia’s 55 counties. The typical monthly residential bill will increase by an estimated $3.36 per 1,000 kilowatt hours consumed."

Rising rates and falling demand have killed investment in the obsolete centralized grid.  Now is the time for homeowners and small business owners to take control of their energy destinies.  Return on investment for small investors is at its lowest point in decades.  If you have some cash to invest, your future returns will be much higher if you invest in a solar power system.  If you don’t have money to invest, consider that interest rates for home loans are also at historic lows.

As always, the message for the new year, as I always say over at The Power Line is — Stop thinking like a consumer.