In the Oct 4 edition of The Dallas Morning News there were two stories regarding the deregulation of the electric market in Texas. The first was about the poor and elderly whose power had been shut off. One of the elderly died as a result. Of course, the immediate blame is focused on the evil, greedy, profit mongering electric company that knows no compassion for the sick, elderly or poor.
The other article was about the System Benefit Fund. What does one have to do with the other? The System Benefit Fund was established as part of deregulation to subsidize qualified low-income consumers. Every consumer is charged 65 cents per megawatt-hour.
As with all such “Funds” (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, tobacco lawsuit settlement, gasoline tax, etc) they somehow get robbed and money diverted to the general fund for other purposes. Of the $1.1 billion raised since 2002, less than half has stayed in the Fund and of that a small percentage has actually been given out.
Here we are again. Another government program designed to take money from everyone to give to another group and no one sees a benefit. So, who’s to blame for the death of that elderly person who had her electricity shut off? I say the same group that said they were going to help her.
When will we learn that our elected officials cannot help anyone except themselves?
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