[AnonChick]

Originally Posted by adamz

JViello-

3. I agree with your point about greedy shareholders. That raises a question: what is an acceptable profit for a company? Is there such a thing? Should a power company be free to make as much profit as they want? Can there be limits imposed?

Something to ponder. Have a great day!

Northeast Utilities is a publically traded stock. That means, the more profit they make, the happier the stockholders are. Now, if you want to refuse to use their electricity, you have every right to do so. No one is stopping you from shutting yourself off of the grid, and in fact, there are many "homesteaders" in this country who do exactly that.

However, if you want electricity, you have to pay for it. Maybe you'll pay for it by paying a higher rent, to an apartment management company that includes electricity in their monthly rent. Maybe you'll pay it to a different company, if you live out of the area. Maybe you'll pay it in the form of having to buy a windmill to generate your own electricity. But - you -will- pay for it in one way or another.

And someone WILL profit from your payment. Did you know, that if YOU generate your own electricity on your own property, you can "kick back" some of that electricity to a special pool - and get PAID for it?

You too can profit from generating electricity. Generate it, funnel it to Northeast Utilities, and they will cut you a check. Or, use it for yourself and don't sell it to anyone, and get your electricity for only the cost of creating the source of generation on your property.

I'm a shareholder of a few stocks; if the companies I owned stock in, suddenly decided they were going to give their product away for free, I'd have to assume that their stock will tank, all the money owed to them will suddenly be demanded, and they will promptly go out of business entirely.

This is commerce; it's capitalism, it's basic high school accounting. If you want to buy stock in Northeast Utilities so you can get a quarterly dividend check, I'm sure they'd be delighted to sell it to you. Until then, you're not an owner and you don't have any "right" to decide what they do, or do not do, with their profits, or how much of it they make.

[adamz]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

Northeast Utilities is a publically traded stock. That means, the more profit they make, the happier the stockholders are. Now, if you want to refuse to use their electricity, you have every right to do so. No one is stopping you from shutting yourself off of the grid, and in fact, there are many "homesteaders" in this country who do exactly that.

However, if you want electricity, you have to pay for it. Maybe you'll pay for it by paying a higher rent, to an apartment management company that includes electricity in their monthly rent. Maybe you'll pay it to a different company, if you live out of the area. Maybe you'll pay it in the form of having to buy a windmill to generate your own electricity. But - you -will- pay for it in one way or another.

And someone WILL profit from your payment. Did you know, that if YOU generate your own electricity on your own property, you can "kick back" some of that electricity to a special pool - and get PAID for it?

You too can profit from generating electricity. Generate it, funnel it to Northeast Utilities, and they will cut you a check. Or, use it for yourself and don't sell it to anyone, and get your electricity for only the cost of creating the source of generation on your property.

I'm a shareholder of a few stocks; if the companies I owned stock in, suddenly decided they were going to give their product away for free, I'd have to assume that their stock will tank, all the money owed to them will suddenly be demanded, and they will promptly go out of business entirely.

This is commerce; it's capitalism, it's basic high school accounting. If you want to buy stock in Northeast Utilities so you can get a quarterly dividend check, I'm sure they'd be delighted to sell it to you. Until then, you're not an owner and you don't have any "right" to decide what they do, or do not do, with their profits, or how much of it they make.

Nice post. I really like the reference to high school accounting.

The issue here is that the power company has a monopoly on transmission lines, which distorts the usual free market capitalism arguments. Of course I can go off the grid, but I can't buy power from someone who doesn't use CLP's power lines. And I'm not happy with their service.

BTW, those power lines seem to run on public rights of way. Does that give the public some say in your opinion?

Finally, is there no ground between giving power away and making a reasonable but constrained profit in your mind?

Oh well, they got my power on yesterday, and I was thrilled.