Why the Heck Are My Electric Bills So High?

Source: The Energy Show |By Barry Cinnamon

Barry: so if you’re wondering why your energy bills are so high, then I suggest you turn to TURN; my guest on this week’s show is Mark Toney, he’s the Executive Director of TURN.  I would characterize him as a thinking bulldog when it comes to solving the structural problems of high energy costs.  Welcome to the show, Mark!

Mark: one of the things we are looking at is 'what’s the energy affordability crisis look like?'  About 20% of all customers, five million customers in California are behind on their bills.  Another indication is how many families get shut off; in the past year, over 150,000 households had their electricity shut off because they fell behind on their bills.  Almost 40,000 were never reconnected.  A crisis also looks at what’s happening to small businesses that are shutting their doors because of electricity prices.  One of the things that TURN does is we have an alliance with large industries, agriculture, small businesses and other industrial sectors.  These businesses get hit double every month so the price of electricity is baked into grocery store prices so everyone feels it over and over again in everything we buy.