NCUC

E-mails from the edge:

A proposal to muzzle the Public Staff of the state Utilities Commission grew out of an email exchange between a staff attorney and noted climate change denier John Droz. The sponsor, Rep. George Cleveland, R-Onslow, a friend of Droz, didn’t mention that detail Wednesday in a hearing on the legislation.

Of course he didn't, because he knows Droz is several sandwiches shy of a picnic. It's not for certain when Droz wandered from the trail of reason into the land of make-believe where fossil fuels are renewable and Madison Avenue (for some reason) decided to trick us into believing that clean energy makes sense. But I'm pretty sure I know why Droz started tilting at windmills:

This ain't helpin' your image, pal:

Rogers repeatedly assured investors he expects N.C. Utilities Commission members to treat Duke fairly in rate cases and other issues despite current anger over Duke's surprise decision to oust Bill Johnson as CEO. And he said if Duke cannot get proper regulator treatment, “we might not be headquartered in North Carolina in the near future.”

"Fair treatment" is a subjective and relative activity, Jimbo. When a convicted felon is released from prison, his activities are both limited and monitored. By the same token, when a businessman takes a step that calls his integrity into question, he should expect closer scrutiny in the future. It may not seem fair, but it is.

Making me wonder even more about where Paul Newby's shadowy PAC money came from:

The N.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear Attorney General Roy Cooper’s claim that economic pain to customers wasn’t fully considered in Duke Energy Carolinas’ latest rate hike. Cooper is challenging a key factor in utility rates: Called the rate of return on equity, or ROE, it’s the profit margin utilities are allowed to earn on capital investments.

Highlighting another glaring contradiction between the faux-Libertarian John Locke Foundation and their supposed principles. The State guaranteeing profits for one corporation (especially during a recession) is the anti-thesis of a free market. They whine like puppies about the REPS, but don't make a squeak about this or CWIP (Construction Work in Progress), which allows utilities to charge us for power that isn't even being generated yet. Total ideological fail.

Too many uncomfortable questions:

Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers postponed a National Press Club event scheduled for Monday in Washington, D.C. A Duke spokesperson says Rogers is very busy because of recent events with the Progress Energy merger.

I'm sure he is busy, at least until he gets his Romulan cloaking device fixed.

During an NC Utilities Commission hearing:

Duke's request includes a 17 percent hike for all residential customer classes. The largest group of those customers, however, would actually pay close to 20 percent more. Typical bills would rise about $18 a month beginning in February.

Like many reading this, I got my (legally required) notice from Duke the other day. When I saw the % increase for residents vs businesses, I said several bad words in a row, then shuffled them around and said them again. The suffering this will cause is incalculable, and should be summarily rejected by the Commission.

And a big chunk is coming out of your pocket:

The chief executives of Duke Energy and Progress Energy said this afternoon their companies plan to seek rate increases soon to meet a deadline to recover severance payments that will be paid to employees who lose their jobs as a result of the utilities' merger.

Now, I can see the stockholders thinking this is a good idea, but the NC Utilities Commission should have torn up this request on sight. If they allow this fleecing, the Commission should be disbanded. And maybe a little tarring and feathering to boot.

And the unnecessary and overly-expensive Cliffside coal plant is partly to blame:

The increases are keyed to more than $7 billion in plant construction and other capital costs planned over that span. “We expect the next rate case to be smaller,” Carter says. That increase, which Duke would expect to see take effect in 2014, should not include as much for construction at Cliffside, for instance, although it will include the costs of another natural gas plant.

Another part of this (mismanaged) equation is proof positive that claims Cliffside opponents made, that the coal-burning monster wasn't needed, were correct:

There may be hope for ratepayers yet:

The public advocate for North Carolina utilities customers has reversed position and will oppose — at least for now — any proposal to make it easier for utilities to recover some costs for nuclear plant construction before plants are built.

Aside from the fact that nuke plant construction costs are prohibitive on an astronomic scale, our current power surplus is so large Duke Energy is desperately recruiting power-gobbling data centers to suck up that extra juice. Our baseload is just fine, thank you very much.

Varying shades of green:

ReVenture had asked the N.C. Utilities Commission to declare that the trash and yard wastes the plant will consume, and the gas it will produce, are renewable energy resources.

Blue Ridge opposes the use of biomass, a catch-all term for organic wastes, to make energy because burning it releases pollutants.

I'm going to try to avoid my usual (and probably painful to read) didactic approach to this issue, in the hopes that some of you readers will step up and do some trash-talking.

But definitely not forgotten:

“They were going to introduce (the legislation) this week,” Duke Energy Chief Executive Jim Rogers told the N.C. Utilities Commission on Tuesday afternoon. “The decision was made that this would not be the best week to do it, but it will be done before the end of the session.”

Just to be clear, the dangers associated with nuke plants is really a side issue, although it may seem like a big issue right now. The focus should remain on ratepayers being forced to pay dearly for a project that may never be completed, and that banks wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.