Last Week’s Question and Answer
Why will Mainers be paying more for electricity starting on July 1st?
A. The PUC approved rate hikes for CMP and Versant to cover the impact of inflation on their job of DELIVERING electricity including higher gas and diesel prices, higher wages, and higher prices for wire and equipment.
B. The PUC set a new, higher, standard offer price for SUPPLYING electricity because the very rainy weather in June has curtailed solar voltaic power production.
C. The PUC instructed CMP and Versant to add a new cost line to everyone’s electric bills. That line item is titled “Stranded Cost”. The Stranded Cost is basically a new tax that will raise money to pay for the NEB law passed by the Maine legislature.
D. All of the above
E. Both A and C
F. Both B and C
The answer is “E”: Your July electric bill will be higher for two reasons: 1) more money for CMP and Versant to cover increases related to DELIVERING your electricity (mostly due to inflation) AND 2) a new line called “stranded cost” added to your bill by the PUC. The “stranded cost” payment is intended to reimburse CMP and Versant for costs they incurred related to the NEB program (net energy billing) that are not otherwise covered by ratepayers. The NEB program was created by the legislature in 2019 to promote solar. However well intended, the NEB is now costing ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars
CMP customers will see a total increase of about $8/month ($2 for inflation + $6 for NEB). The increase for most Versant customers will be higher: about $15/month ($6 for inflation + $9 for NEB). With these new costs added to Maine’s already extremely high price for electricity, we may climb from number four to number one! As in, the state with the number one highest price for electricity in the entire continental United States!
This Week’s Question:
Simple question: What historic event happened on July 4th 1776?
A. Alerted by Paul Revere, the so-called Minute Men successfully engaged the British army, driving the redcoats out of Concord and back to Boston.
B. In Philadelphia, the Continental Congress declared the United States of America’s independence from British rule
C. In Philadelphia, Continental Congress approved, by a vote of 12-0 (New York abstaining), the Declaration of Independence
D. 56 Americans, including John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, signed the Declaration of Independence.
E. At Yorktown, the British army, led by Gen. Charles Cornwallis, surrendered to Gen. George Washington, ending the Revolutionary War and confirming the United States’ declaration of independence.
F. Gen. George Washington was elected as the first President of the newly independent United States of America
Randall Poulton
Why the CIA No Longer Works—and How to Fix It
The following is adapted from a talk delivered at Hillsdale College on October 3, 2023, during a conference on “U.S. Intelligence: History and Controversies.” We need the CIA, but we also need to recognize the uncomfortable reality that the CIA is not performing at the level we require. It is not keeping us safe. It
0 Comments