Who Should Pay More – Residential Consumers or Industry?
Do you think corporations should pay less for electricity than small businesses and residential customers? In Missouri, they do. Right now, many large industrial corporations pay virtually half the rate for electricity that small businesses and residential customers pay. And those companies want to keep it that way.
Total electricity costs in our state are divided among different rate classes. Those include residential customers, small businesses and large industrial users. The government regulatory process through which the rates are established is often hotly contested – especially because when one class secures a lower rate, the other classes must make up the difference.
According to a recent statewide survey, there is strong public sentiment in our state for reducing this disparity: 68 percent of Missourians say that large industrial corporations should not be allowed to continue to pay half the rate for electricity that small businesses and residential customers in Missouri pay. Only 25 percent say large industrial companies should continue to receive the much lower rate.
The question of who should get the benefit of reduced electric rates and who should have to make up the difference is an important and legitimate public policy question that affects every household and business in Missouri. It has important implications in terms of energy policy, economic development and basic fairness. While MBEF has not, at this point, officially taken a position on this matter, we do believe it is a question that deserves greater attention and scrutiny.
The rate disparity issue has arisen in relation to the debate over the nuclear site permit bill because a handful of big corporations who are the chief beneficiaries of the reduced rates are the ones leading the opposition to a bill that could help keep electric rates low for everyone else. That is, these big corporations that already get low rates – some of which are not even Missouri-based companies – are the ones standing in the way of a bill that could help all Missourians.
What do you think about this issue? Are the rate cuts for big industrial corporations at the expense of families and small businesses justified? Or would it be more fair and would it create more jobs if the disparity were to be reduced by giving a portion of the rate break currently going to big industrial corporations to residential customers and small businesses instead? And how do you feel about the fact that the opposition to the nuclear site permit bill is being led by the corporations that are the chief beneficiaries of the rate disparity? Please click here to make share your opinion with legislators.
