It is all so simple and all so expected. Pat McCrory worked
for years for Duke Energy and now he is governor. So what happened? First, not
too long ago Progressive Energy and Duke Energy proposed a merger. In the process,
they sold the idea of a merger of these two giant companies that a larger utility
company could and would supply energy at a lower cost to the People of North Carolina. Because energy companies have a government
franchise, which is equivalent to a monopoly, they are under the control of a
government regulatory agency to keep such companies honest. The State
reluctantly (Democrats against and Republicans supported) agreed to the merger.
The first thing this mega energy company did after merger was to fire the CEO
they led the State to believe would head the company. Then surprise of all
surprises and counter to their promise at the time of the merger, they applied
to the State Utilities Commission to raise the electricity rates a full 10%. Of course, the Commission refused to comply with
the request. Now the Republican Controlled State Legislature is preparing to
fire all the commissioners and Gov. Pat McCrory just happens to be the person
who will appoint all the new Public Utility Commissioners. I have no idea if it
is true or not but I would guess that this
is the first time a Company fired its State regulators. When challenge by a
Democrat with the demand that he excuse himself from making these appointments
because he was a long time Duke Energy employee and an investor in the company,
he flippantly shook off the suggestion with a smirk and dismissive remark about
not working for Duke Energy for 5 years—it looks to me like he is still fully
employed by them.
This is same person gave all the state officials he
appointed a huge raise and cut all unemployment benefits by a devastating 50%. This
is the economic elite under the label of Republican greed at work. Brace yourself,
because he is just getting started. You voted for him, so now you can live with
it. You cannot take your vote back!
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