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Community Heroes Series
From the
December 2006 issue of Alabama Living magazine
Frequently Asked Power Bill Questions
Also see our graphic on How electricity compares to other household expenses
With prices climbing in almost every avenue of living it is natural that we are asked about prices relating to energy bills. Over the course of the next several issues of this magazine we will cover topics relating to and aiding with the better understanding of energy bills, concerns, and tips on saving or conserving electricity.
Below is a series of frequently asked questions. If you have a question not covered in this article please email your question or concern and we will address it in a future article.
What has caused the rise in electricity prices?
Two areas have caused our wholesale power cost to rise.
(1) The overall energy price has gone up
(2) Power plants are now required to meet Clean Coal standards.
What is Clean Coal?
Clean coal is the name attributed to coal chemically washed of minerals and impurities, sometimes gasified, burned and the resulting flue gases treated with steam, with the purpose of almost completely eradicating sulphur dioxide and reburned so as to make the carbon dioxide in the flue gas economically recoverable. The carbon dioxide can then be captured and stored instead of being released into the atmosphere. However, the by-products of this treatment are very hazardous to the environment if they’re not properly contained. This is seen to be the technology’s biggest hurdle from both a practical and public relations point of view.
Clean Coal has been mentioned by President Bush on several occasions, including his latest State of the Union Address. Bush’s position is that clean coal technologies should be encouraged as one means to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil. Senator Hillary Clinton has also recently said that “we should strive to have new electricity generation come from other sources, such as clean coal and renewables. Through the continued deployment of existing clean coal technologies and research and development of next-generation technologies, further major improvements in the environmental performance of coal can and will be achieved.
OK, so how does that affect my power bill?
The costs of creating power cleanly involves upgrading existing plants so that they meet the requirements to be deemed a “Clean Coal Power Plant.”
Tombigbee EC gets its power from Southern Company which is currently in the process of meeting those requirements.
This process takes time and money. Southern Company must spend billions of dollars for these required upgrades in energy production.
These additional cost of upgrading to meet the Clean Coal standard influences the price of your electricity.
Any GOOD news?
You bet! As mentioned last month, roughly 60% of your Tombigbee power bill is for wholesale cost, which leaves about 40% of which we do have some control. We are happy to report to you that in that respect there have been no cost increases!
How electricity compares to
other household expenses
The pictorial chart below shows how other household expenses compare with the price of electricity.
This chart covers typical prices for Cable/Satellite TV, the CPI (The CPI is the Consumer Price Index, a measurement of prices for a range of consumer products and provides a scope of inflation within the country), Gas, Telephone, and Electricity.
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Kay
Marshall is the Internet Projects Coordinator and Editor for TEC |
