Who is watching the watchdogs?
No one was paying attention when London-based National Grid bought Niagara Mohawk. Customer service is nearly non-existent, our electric bills are among the highest in the state – not to mention the nation – and in addition to ridiculous surcharges upon surcharges, we are even charged to mail our billing statements to us. If you dig deep and read the company policies to investors and shareholders, only profits are mentioned, and “feel good” catch-phrases about efficiency, customer service and lower costs. There’s no basis to tie efficiency, customer service and lower costs to reality. National Grid is one of the largest investor-owned utilities in the world – it already owns roughly 6,000 miles of transmission lines in upstate New York, and about 3,000 miles in New England.
Interestingly enough, Iberdrola, based in Spain, uses “feel good” empty words and double-talk that echo National Grid’s. At the end of 2007, Iberdrola was the 4th largest electricity company in the world by market capitalizations – with a net profit of +41.8%. Customer care and satisfaction are not truly addressed. Iberdrola owns power in Scotland, Portugal and Bulgaria. Certain communications regarding investments in energy contain the following: “This press release may not be distributed in the United States, Canada, Japan, or Australia.”
With the proliferation of foreign-based conglomerates taking over our toll roads, our ports and our utilities, we, the American citizens, are losing the ability to make choices about the way we live. Our politicians are selling us out – quite literally. We are losing control of our basic needs, as well as losing control of our own country’s vital interests.
As far as wind energy, with its pastoral-sounding wind “farms,” the name of the game is subsidies. Subsidy payments sends huge profits to the owners and do little else… we, the consumers, are paying the freight. The extra costs involved for wind energy are being passed on to us, while the revenue is sucked up by the suppliers. If subsidies were not part of the “renewables” portfolios (another new catch word), wind energy would disappear.
Energy is vital to our national security, and to hand control of such important commodities to foreign countries, regardless of their present positions as our allies, is not only ludicrous, but dangerous to America.
Denise Como
Starkville NY
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