I haven't written about Cleveland electric rates since last Fall. But I think the time has come.
Three or four of you might remember (well, I'm about to remind you, okay?) this post from last November, in which I rejoiced that my Cleveland Public Power bill had actually shrunk a little. That was the good news; the bad news was that the relief was a) probably temporary and b) wouldn't really change CPP's status as one of Ohio's most expensive electric utilities, right up there with its "competitor" First Energy.
Unfortunately, I was right on both counts. I just went through my last twelve monthly CPP bills, along with the PUCO's "Utility Rate Surveys" for the same months. Here's what electricity cost a household that used 750 kilowatt-hours per month, during the year that ended with May 2005:
As I've pointed out before, all these utilities are selling the same product to the same kinds of customers for the same end uses. Other than CPP, they're all large investor-owned corporations, all with unions, all operating under the same laws and PUCO regulation. There are dozens of smaller utilities across the state, mostly run by cities and villages like CPP, but all selling power much cheaper.
The extra electricity cost of living in Cleveland rather than Columbus or Cincinnati is as high as $20-25 a month for households with normal usage. If this was a cable bill increase you would hear our screams in Chillicothe. If it was a school levy... well, we'll soon see. If the extra cost to businesses was a tax, the Greater Cleveland Partnership would be up in arms. (The PUCO Rate Survey says that the electric cost differential in June between Cleveland and Canton, for a commercial customer using 300,000 kwh, was about $18,000 a month!)
So why do Cleveland voters tolerate this? Why is CPP, once the "third rail of Cleveland politics", now conducting its publicly owned business in a virtual cone of silence, as far as candidates for Mayor and City Council are concerned?
The Mayor and City Council are the CEO and Board of Cleveland Public Power. So here's the question I want to hear answered by any City candidate who wants my vote this year: If you're elected or re-elected, what's your plan to lower my CPP bills by at least 20% during your next four years in office?