LETTERS: Obama delivers on energy promise

To the editor:

In response to the July 23 letters of Lewis Jennings and Gerry McNulty, and everyone else who is blaming NV Energy for the hike in electric rates:

Do you not remember that in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle in 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama proposed a cap-and-trade bill and stated flat out, “Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” He went on to say, “Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.”

Additionally, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a report titled, “Assessing the impact of potential new carbon regulations in the United States.” In the report, the chamber estimated that the new EPA power plant rules, based on the president’s policies, will raise a consumer’s electricity costs a total of $289 billion between 2014 and 2030 — an average increase of $17 billion per year. In other words, the rate hikes aren’t over yet.

Finally, businesses will also see their electric costs go up and, as such, will have to increase the cost of their products to recover those costs — which, of course, you and I will have to pay in the form of higher prices. And if you are not willing to pay the higher prices, then some businesses will close and the unemployment rate will go up.

The chamber report concludes that because of increased energy costs, the estimated loss of a quarter-million jobs and slower economic growth, there will be a loss of household disposable income averaging $36 billion per year.

I’m not happy with the rate increases either, but if you are going to point a finger, at least point it in the right direction.

RICHARD PULSIFER

HENDERSON

Misplaced energy anger

To the editor:

Lewis Jennings laments in his letter the effect that solar electric rooftop installations will have on the less affluent in our society (“Less affluent shortchanged by solar,” July 23 letters). If you look back at the history of technological innovation, you see that almost all great products developed were, of course, first used by those who could pay.

The first light bulbs, the first cars and the first cellphones were all first purchased by those who could afford them. It was their purchases that made those products cheaper as time passed so that eventually the masses could afford them.

We all need and use electricity. I am concerned about how it is produced, as well as the rising costs of it. My message is simple: Don’t direct your anger toward or impede those of us who are trying to use clean energy. Understand that through net metering, big energy companies will benefit from the energy that I do not use. They don’t tell you that.

The energy companies could easily return those benefits to their less-affluent customers in the form of energy credits. Mr. Lewis and those who share his concerns should put pressure on the big energy companies to do the right thing. You must understand the technology and what can be done with it for all of our benefit.

STANLEY NUDELMAN

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Stop rate increases

To the editor:

Why should I give a hoot about whether NV Energy can pay for anything when it is blatantly obvious that it couldn’t give a hoot whether I can pay for basic essentials necessary to live in this community? With the knowledge that electricity rates have tripled since 1985, why should I feel any compassion for NV Energy’s financial problems, when keeping my house within a livable temperature and figuring how I am going to pay for it is a matter of life or death for my family?

What the executives of this company have shown me over the years is that they couldn’t care less for anyone other than themselves. What they have shown me is that they couldn’t care less that even the smallest rate increase could mean less food on families’ tables. They don’t care that children are made to suffer because their parents have to cut back to pay power bills that skyrocket in the summer. They don’t care that seniors are literally made to suffer in order to pay higher summer electric bills.

NV Energy should be made to start caring and looking for any way to stop rate increases. But do you think that will happen anytime soon? There’s your morning laugh.

JAMES C. HAYES

LAS VEGAS