New Laws and Rate Hike for Ike
http://www.aframnews.com/html/interspire/articles/729/1/New-Laws-and-Rate-Hike-for-Ike/Page1.html
Carmen Watkins
Carmen Watkins is president and CEO of the African-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston. By Carmen Watkins
Published on 08/3/2009
Just when we thought we had survived the last blow from the devastation of Hurricane Ike, new fees and new laws have been introduced that could mean more money out of our pocket by the time the next hurricane forms in the Gulf.
Just when we thought we had survived the last blow from the devastation of Hurricane Ike, new fees and new laws have been introduced that could mean more money out of our pocket by the time the next hurricane forms in the Gulf.
Choose to Stay and You Could Be Arrested
I am sure this new law, that takes effect Sept. 1, 2009, is aimed at saving more lives and provides thousands of stubborn folks, like many in my own family, a reason to get out of harm’s way. In the last legislative session, legislators granted police forces the power to arrest people who don’t leave town under mandatory evacuation orders. The law was passed this year and also applies to other disasters, such as fires or floods.
As we saw during Hurricane Ike, officials cannot make people evacuate, only warn that those who stay behind that they won’t have any emergency services available to them. The decision for many who decided to stay behind in the storm turned out to be a fatal one and even for those who survived they are still reliving the fear and horror they endured. The new law will gives county judges and mayors the power to authorize use of “reasonable force” to remove people from the evacuation zone.
Rate Increases for Ike
The folks over at Centerpoint Energy, that we all love to get angry with, are now calling on the Public Uitlity Commission (PUC) to approve a measure that will allow them to re-coup their Hurricane Ike-related cost. Those costs will likely be passed along to ratepayers. The City of Houston has threatened suit against CenterPoint Energy if the utility does not drop it.
The proposal calls for a monthly rate increase of an additional $1.83 on Houston-area bills to offset the $677 million cost of restoring power after Ike. The city’s claim is not with the entire bill, but is concerning charges for workers who would have been scheduled to work anyway, about $22 million dollars.
Mayor Bill White said the city doesn’t “pay someone’s salary that was going to show up anyway ... CenterPoint needs to back off.” Floyd LeBlanc, of CenterPoint Energy said, “Our employees were not doing regular work. They were working non-regular jobs and extra hours. We didn’t get revenue back for those costs and we’d like to recover that money.”
CenterPoint charges come at time when many consumers are trying to keep pace with increased costs associated with the soaring heat over the summer and recent depictions of a PUC that is out of touch with the reality of those costs on everyday consumers.
Choose to Stay and You Could Be Arrested
I am sure this new law, that takes effect Sept. 1, 2009, is aimed at saving more lives and provides thousands of stubborn folks, like many in my own family, a reason to get out of harm’s way. In the last legislative session, legislators granted police forces the power to arrest people who don’t leave town under mandatory evacuation orders. The law was passed this year and also applies to other disasters, such as fires or floods.
As we saw during Hurricane Ike, officials cannot make people evacuate, only warn that those who stay behind that they won’t have any emergency services available to them. The decision for many who decided to stay behind in the storm turned out to be a fatal one and even for those who survived they are still reliving the fear and horror they endured. The new law will gives county judges and mayors the power to authorize use of “reasonable force” to remove people from the evacuation zone.
Rate Increases for Ike
The folks over at Centerpoint Energy, that we all love to get angry with, are now calling on the Public Uitlity Commission (PUC) to approve a measure that will allow them to re-coup their Hurricane Ike-related cost. Those costs will likely be passed along to ratepayers. The City of Houston has threatened suit against CenterPoint Energy if the utility does not drop it.
The proposal calls for a monthly rate increase of an additional $1.83 on Houston-area bills to offset the $677 million cost of restoring power after Ike. The city’s claim is not with the entire bill, but is concerning charges for workers who would have been scheduled to work anyway, about $22 million dollars.
Mayor Bill White said the city doesn’t “pay someone’s salary that was going to show up anyway ... CenterPoint needs to back off.” Floyd LeBlanc, of CenterPoint Energy said, “Our employees were not doing regular work. They were working non-regular jobs and extra hours. We didn’t get revenue back for those costs and we’d like to recover that money.”
CenterPoint charges come at time when many consumers are trying to keep pace with increased costs associated with the soaring heat over the summer and recent depictions of a PUC that is out of touch with the reality of those costs on everyday consumers.