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An update on the corporate ripoff of Montana energy consumers
The following is Exhibit 1,003,465,784 about what happens when politicians have more allegiance to their corporate overlords than the residents/citizens they are in theory supposed to represent.
In the past, Montana was damaged in so many ways by the Republicans professing to be representing the Big Sky State.
Take a look below and judge for yourself. Is the Montana Republican Party to be trusted in its bid to retain the U.S. Senate seat and House seat currently occupied by Conrad Burns and Denny Rehberg respectively? How about the Montana governorship? Who would you trust more, Brian Schweitzer or a corporate lackey?
Montana finds damage of deregulation almost impossible to undoThe following links provide even more background on a brand of Republicanism running Montana and Montanans into the ground:
Matt Gouras / Associated Press
March 4, 2006
HELENA, Mont. -- Almost a decade after the utility deregulation fad swept through Montana, the state is learning the hard way it isn't easy to rebuild the broken pieces of a stable, publicly regulated utility once it's gone.
Montana's plight is unique in some ways, but it is not the only state where resentment to electricity deregulation is growing.
When the old Montana Power Co. came to lawmakers in 1997 with a plan to offer consumers a multitude of choices for cheap power, deregulation was seen as inevitable. But power today isn't cheaper -- it's far more expensive -- and the other promises made that year now ring hollow.
California got all the headlines for its post-deregulation fiasco that was topped by energy market manipulation by Enron Corp., but it's Montana that some point to as the poster child for deregulation gone awry. Montana was seen as the only low-cost energy state talked into deregulation.
Montana Power sold off its dams and power plants, and then its utility business, to pursue an ill-timed pipe dream to become a fiber-optic company. It quickly went bankrupt. The company that bought the utility piece of Montana Power, NorthWestern Energy, filed for bankruptcy itself and reorganized.
Along the way, Montana went from having some of the lowest electricity prices in the country to among the highest in the region.
"It's almost an unbelievable story when you go through all the events that happened there," said Ken Rose, a senior fellow at the Institute of Public Utilities at Michigan State University. "It's much more of a soap opera than in other states."
Backlash, percolating almost from the day deregulation passed the Legislature, has grown and given birth to more efforts to undo the effects of deregulation.
Separate efforts, like one from a group of cities looking to buy the utility from NorthWestern, aim to rein in skyrocketing electricity rates and give public officials more authority. But they all face huge hurdles, big price tags or federal approval.
Read the rest, and do read the rest, here.
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