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Since both of you have given up the monopoly privilege point, your arguments are weak.
In other words you have no rebuttal so you'll say the argument is weak. You are going to have to explain why they are weak. The infrastructure is expensive not mention all the other issues that would be associated with multiple distribution systems like environmental damage.
Explain how multiple distribution systems can be practical and how they would be implemented. It's simply not practical.
Quote:
Obviously company A has the ability to simply say, "Hey company B, if you want to use our roads you should pay for it. How about a 10 million dollars to use our roads!"
That is not the way it works. Company A that owns the roads charges me X amount of dollars for the use of the road whether they are delivering the goods or company B is. Company A is in direct competition with company B for the cost of the goods themselves.
Get it?
Last edited by thecoalman; 12-01-2015 at 01:17 AM..
So then you agree with me that there should be regulation on the power utilities since they own the lines.
I don't know how it is in the rest of country but here in PA public utilities that hold monopolies like gas, water and electric are most certainly regulated.
PPL who distributes power in my area has a profit margin of about 10%, thatis not much for large company. Apple for example might be 35%.
As a conservative and conservationist......here are my responses.
Yes, I believe in solar energy. I have a solar house. I use 10% of the electricity that folks on the grid use. So I do believe that EVERYBODY connected to the grid should ALSO reduce their electrical consumption to 10% of current use. Government should make this mandatory.
Conservation......I can see the lights of Seattle, a hundred miles away, at night. To rest my batteries...everything is OFF at night. No outside lights. Why do people in Seattle have the outside lights on at 2:00am!!! Really, put a motion detector on it!!
It is time for urban residents to CONSERVE, no more excuses.
Regulating power companies?? Since we are off-grid we do NOT qualify for all the government tax breaks granted large corporations and those connected to the grid. Really there are 1.5 million people in the US living off-grid and NONE of us get the tax breaks give urban residents. IS THAT FAIR??
There you got me started on the corruption in this country when it comes to electricity!!
You are far from a conservative. You're demanding the the government FORCE reduced energy use? How is that anything but more big government control?
What if I already use the barest minimum? Should I be mandated to reduce my use by 10%? That would be a complete hardship, and only punishes those of us that already conserve, and rewards those that haven't.
The fact that you have decided how everyone should live their life tells me you're a pretty hard core liberal.
Nope, last liberal I voted for was George Bush and man was that a mistake!!
Not reduce your electrical use by 10%.....more like 90%. Actually, all I am saying that given the Democrats insistence on solar and wind energy EVERYBODY should live like they live in a SOLAR HOUSE. That means for most people, the electrical use has to go down by 90%.
If you already conserve electricity you probably won't have to cut back at all. I probably use about one KW/month at my solar house. Why shouldn't everybody conserve to the solar standard if we are serious about getting rid of fossil fuels?
As I noted, the city of Seattle lights up the night sky for several hundred miles. Is that really necessary??
It is fine, we have CAFE standards for vehicles. Do you believe we should get rid of those?? This is just CAFE standards for homes.
It is fine, we have CAFE standards for vehicles. Do you believe we should get rid of those?? This is just CAFE standards for homes.
The problems with standards like that are many. For starters and probably at the top of the list is that one size fits all becomes problematic. For example they are stripping weight off vehicles wherever possible, generally that's a good idea however if I need a pickup too tow something the weight of the vehicle becomes a factor because a heavy trailer is going to push it around if it's light weight. That is regardless of the braking or suspension and I end up having to buy a lager truck anyway.
As another example new regulations will pretty much force any consumer wanting to buy a hot water heater larger than 50 gallons too purchase one that uses a heat pump. this is fantastic if you live in climate where removing heat from the living space is desirable, in a colder climate it will increase your energy usage and costs.
In other words you have no rebuttal so you'll say the argument is weak. You are going to have to explain why they are weak. The infrastructure is expensive not mention all the other issues that would be associated with multiple distribution systems like environmental damage.
Explain how multiple distribution systems can be practical and how they would be implemented. It's simply not practical.
That is not the way it works. Company A that owns the roads charges me X amount of dollars for the use of the road whether they are delivering the goods or company B is. Company A is in direct competition with company B for the cost of the goods themselves.
Get it?
First you clearly never understood what I said about the electrical T&D monopoly. I always said that electricity distribution was a monopoly and it should be. That is the entire premise to my point about regulation being necessary and the fact that you try to rebutt me by saying it is ridiculous. Seriously this is sad.
Second your argument about company A charing company B is EXACTLY what I stated! My point is that it is naive to believe that company B can have anything like a serious competition when company A can simply raise the price to kick his competitor out. If you don't think this is likely to happen then you must be naive. Much of the arguing over net-metering etc. is because no electric utility wants competition in their generation sphere. So of course they are going to complain and try to make it difficult to access the wires.
I don't know how it is in the rest of country but here in PA public utilities that hold monopolies like gas, water and electric are most certainly regulated.
PPL who distributes power in my area has a profit margin of about 10%, thatis not much for large company. Apple for example might be 35%.
Nice to see you DO believe in regulation. If you disagree that would be ridiculous. So then why are you even arguing if you agree that regulation should exist? You actually agree that there should be regulation for both reasons that I mentioned up front. So now the only real question is how they should go about doing it. You can't simply walk back and say the government shouldn't get involved.
The problems with standards like that are many. For starters and probably at the top of the list is that one size fits all becomes problematic. For example they are stripping weight off vehicles wherever possible, generally that's a good idea however if I need a pickup too tow something the weight of the vehicle becomes a factor because a heavy trailer is going to push it around if it's light weight. That is regardless of the braking or suspension and I end up having to buy a lager truck anyway.
As another example new regulations will pretty much force any consumer wanting to buy a hot water heater larger than 50 gallons too purchase one that uses a heat pump. this is fantastic if you live in climate where removing heat from the living space is desirable, in a colder climate it will increase your energy usage and costs.
Everything you say is absolutely correct.
But it is the system we have had for 40 years or more.
I would scrap the CAFE system myself, but every politician likes it. So why not extend it to homes??
Look both Bill Gates and Al Gore are concerned about man-caused global warming. Fine....both live in 50,000 square foot homes. In Bill Gates case, he gets much of his electricity from public owned dams. Why not limit his access to cheap, public electricity??
Does he have a right to waste public resources just because he is rich??
He can generate his own electricity once he get above 1 Kw/month. BTW, at that scale he also needs to meet environmental laws. NO GENERATORS using fossil fuels!!!
BTW...on a similar note. Our right-wing Public Utility District just said "no" to data miners. They were showing up to take advantage of the low rates in the county. On a similar note, they said no to additional data centers. No enough jobs generated for a limited public resource.
As another example new regulations will pretty much force any consumer wanting to buy a hot water heater larger than 50 gallons too purchase one that uses a heat pump. this is fantastic if you live in climate where removing heat from the living space is desirable, in a colder climate it will increase your energy usage and costs.
Just put the heat absorber unit inside your chest freezer, and it's all good.
I like it: a chest freezer / hot water heater combo. As long as there is sufficient space between the two.
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