SPEAKOUT

Friday, April 17, 2015

Shocked by electric bill

I paid over $340 this month for electricity. I feel that new BMU and new police building are both being paid for by our high costs. I don't think this is fair. Do you?

The current billing period is for usage from the middle of February to the middle of March. We forget the cold, cold weather we had during that period, i.e.; the average daily temperature in February was 29.5 degrees and in March was 43 degrees. The usage for that period was higher than normal, especially for electric heat users, and a rate increase of 6.5 percent was implemented on March 1. The increase was approved by City Council in October of 2014. Now to clear up the building misconception. There is no debt on the BMU building and absolutely nothing in the rate base for any kind of payment. As far as the new DPS building, BMU makes no payment to that debt. The only transfer made to the City is for the funding of Economic Development in an amount equal to .01 percent of the Retail annual revenues. Please divide your dollar amount for electric by your usage and you will come up with an amount per kWh of 5 cents, one of the lowest in Missouri and in the United States. Let's talk about fairness. The new regulations on utility companies are ultimately geared toward "unfairness." For example, the New England states pay an average of 19.75 cents per kWh for their electricity and they don't think it is fair that you only pay 5 cents, thus the more stringent limits on the Sikeston Power Plant and a mandate for us to join a Regional Transmission Organization that does nothing but increase your costs. Fair my friend? You betcha. -- Ed Throop

Trash talk

I sure wish the city of Morley would have an ordinance that you have to have trashcans instead of just putting bags out. We have dogs roaming through town that are getting in people's trash, scattering it all over other people's property. Plus we have been having some windy days and people's trash is blowing in other people's yards. I think other cities have ordinances that you have to have trashcans to put their trash in. I think Morley should be one of those towns that has an ordinance like that. It's not fair to your neighbor to be picking up trash from someone else's yard. So Morley, can you bring that up in your next city council meeting that people have to put their trash in a trashcan?

He saw what you did

To the one who stole the green metal chair. Maybe no one here saw what happened, but the one above sees all.