Yesterday, the Halifax Chronicle Herald ran a story about the decisions that the provincial government has to make, about the 12% increase in rates that N.S. Power is asking for. . . It appears that there are not many options to save us from this increase, except possibly reducing the demands on reducing pollution, and increasing alternative power that the province and regulator have demanded of the utility. That is because neither newspaper nor government seems to perceive any alternative but to pass on the increase to consumers.
Since 1991 and the sell off (death of a public utility - short term gain for long term pain for everyone in the province) of Nova Scotia Power - the utility has made a bundle - not just in income, but in profit - certainly over a billion dollars and probably more.
You can see some financial info re: NSPI at the Globe and Mail here.
As you can see - they operate in the black and have a huge amount of equity. Last year they paid a .33 cent dividend.
Aren't shareholders supposed to be taking a "risk" when they invest? (OK I know that is no longer true and certainly NSPI would be considered, at least in N.S., "too big to fail".) Still - why can't the shareholders take some of the hit in terms of reducing "pollution" - it's a privately owned "public utility" - that is everyone needs it and there is no competition and it can be regulated publicly - I say - let the shareholders take some of the burden. I am not suggesting that they be put out of business with regulations (although I would buy it back for the public if I could . . . see Bruce Wark's editorial -- in the Coast - Utility Sales Never a Good Idea. ) but just that it be OK to reduce profit in the public interest.
Then today the province announces - see story in the Chronicle Herald - that they will push back the dates for reducing pollution for NSP - esp mercury - article says in part:
Premier Darrell Dexter said Thursday that the province will extend until 2014 the 2010 deadline for lowering mercury emissions to 65 kilograms a year, down from 168, in an attempt to reduce the utility’s projected double-digit rate hikes for next year.
That's so that they don't pass on a price increase to consumers - but couldn't the province regulate the emissions and refuse a rate increase? Why not? Somehow "corporations" and their profits, and the interests of their shareholders, are more important than the health or costs for the average consumer. How did we get here? And more importantly can we change it?
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Another item today. . . speaking of making change. . . something I just love and think could be emulated and serve as a model for organizing --
In Uttar Pradesh (UP) one of the poorest states in India there is a movement that few of us had heard about (Good facebook coverage the last couple of days!) that has had quite a bit of success over the last 4-5 years.
According to an article in Slate:
India is witnessing a rise of vigilante groups, the most sensational of which is the gulabi, or pink gang, operating in the Bundelkhand district of the Uttar Pradesh state, one of the poorest districts of India. Some gangs have started what Indian journalists describe as a "mini-revolution" on behalf of women. . . . . .The gulabis, whose members say they are a "gang for justice," started in 2006 as a sisterhood of sorts that looked out for victims of domestic abuse, a problem the United Nations estimates affects two in three married Indian women. Named after their hot-pink sari uniforms, the gang paid visits to abusive husbands and demanded they stop the beatings. When obstinate men refused to listen, the gulabis would return with large bamboo sticks called laathis and "persuade" them to change their ways. . . . . . Pal's group now has more than 20,000 members, and the number is growing. Making her way from one far-flung village to another on an old rusty bicycle, she holds daily gatherings under shady banyan trees, near makeshift tea-stalls selling the sweet Indian drink chai and other popular village hangouts to discuss local problems and attract new recruits.
Or for more click on pic below from an article on the BBC site:
Women practicing with laathi's - they chase and beat men and go after corrupt officials - hundreds even thousands of them - if only we could organize women to be so effective everywhere.
Most of the news in India is from the early days in 2006 but now there is a support website - set up in France: www.gulabigang.org. They also have a Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23654846769&ref=search
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