All that finger pointing at Texas is a “there but by the grace of God” exercise. To me, Texas is a cautionary tale for us all. Here’s a phrase that disturbs me on so many levels: “Largest electric utilities in the U.S. as of April 2020, based on market value(in billion U.S. dollars)”. The second largest on this list is my own power company, Dominion Energy, My state Senator, “Monty” Mason, is one of many legislators saying Dominion charges us too much and demands a refund for its customers. Clean Virginia says Virginians pay the sixth highest electric bills in the country. They say Dominion was also the largest political donor last year.
Stories like these are far too common across the country. Our utility services are provided, in the main, by profit driven monopolies that contribute to the very campaigns of those who are supposed to regulate them. Same as in Texas. And though they are raking in insane amounts of money, we all know our infrastructure needs a coast to coast overhaul. Extreme weather has caused blackouts across the country for decades now, Remember heavily regulated California cut power to customers to prevent wildfires last month. More than 21,000 Oregon customers were still without power in northwest Oregon this morning after ice storms in the region.
We need to get past sensitivity to that “socialist” label for all policies for the greater good. I’m all for folks making a buck but only after all the basics are covered. It’s not just the infrastructure that needs an overhaul, so does our society.