update: centerpoint energy executives, vampires or bastards? or vampire bastards?

July 31, 2009 @ 03:04 pm Blogged, Current Events, Politics, Texas,
Tagged as: texas,hurricanes,houston

in what has to be one of the most asinine things i’ve ever heard, centerpoint energy is asking the houston residents to reimburse it for $677 million in hurricane ike repair costs... INCLUDING $22 million in executive salary pay. 

hurricane ike left over 2 million (estimates range from 2.8 million to 4.5 million) without power for weeks / months and 100,000 without homes.  at the time, the city of houston agreed to support whatever rate hike would be necessary in order to restore the electric grid.  that seems fair.  they brought in people from all over the united states to help get the grid back online.  i don’t mind shouldering that cost.  (well, not all by myself.  i’ll need everyone else to chip in, kthx.)

however, um.  HELLO?  the city was hit by a natural disaster.  we are LUCKY that it was only a category 2 hurricane by the time it got to us.  the sheer number of trees felled by the storm was staggering.  and.  *ahem*  many of those trees had been allowed to grow along the powerlines, because centerpoint never cut them back.  surprise!  those trees took out the powerlines.  *gasp*  *shock*  but that’s okay.  the city was hurt as a whole and, as a whole, we’ve to do what we can to get back on our feet and that includes paying for the restoration done by centerpoint.  (btw, much love and kudos to all the contractors and centerpoint employees who worked their tail ends off to get power back to the city.  it was NOT an easy job.)

the centerpoint fuckwit spokesman, floyd leblanc, says that the $22 million is a necessary addition, because it was money that would have normally been earned through regular billing, but like, see, there was this hurricane, y’know? and like, they weren’t “recovering hardly any revenue for nearly a month”.  like, dude.  the hurricane hit in september.  consider those funds recovered during the january to august and november to december billing periods.

and let me reiterate…

IT WAS A HURRICANE.

businesses all over houston were closed for weeks, either due to damage to the businesses themselves or due to damage to their owners’ / employees’ homes.  the first week, the majority of the city was shutdown.  people had to tighten their belts and try to make do without salaries, without electricity, without running water, without homes!

yet centerpoint, somehow, is above all that.  they shouldn’t have to take a hit when a NATURAL DISASTER lands in their own backyard and due to their LACK OF PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE does them serious damage.  after all, they’re centerpoint ~executives~.  it’s not like they’re peons.  hurricane hits them, they go stay in a nice hotel.  y’know.  really roughin’ it. 

they’re executives, they can pass on the burden of the costs to someone else.  if you’re a worker bee, you’re just screwed.  you’ve no one to help you share that burden and everyone above you on the ladder, including centerpoint energy, is going to try to bleed you just a bit more.

but wait.  mayor bill white to the rescue.  he says he’s not going to let them get away with it.

“There is right, and there’s wrong,” White said. “I don’t see how CenterPoint can explain this with a straight face.”

White made the comments at the start of a public City Council meeting Wednesday, in a clear attempt to pressure CenterPoint to back off its request.

“If we’re going to have to fight CenterPoint about paying the salaries of people who would be going to work anyway, then we can fight that in public,” he said.

go bill :D

update 07/31/09: somewhat good news, the city and centerpoint have reached a tentative agreement…

CenterPoint Energy and the city of Houston have reached a tentative agreement to reduce the proposed monthly fee the local power distribution company hopes to add to customer bills to pay for repairs following Hurricane Ike.

CenterPoint will reduce its $677 million request by $15 million and fund a new position to monitor its implementation of recommendations from the Mayor’s Electric Reliability Task Force, which were released this year. The recommendations include deploying “smart grid” technology throughout the city, creating a centralized database of customers and facilities that should receive priority in power restoration and changing tree trimming practices.

(one does wonder why a business that “owns and operates the wires, poles and other equipment that distribute electricity sold by unregulated retail providers” didn’t already have these recommendations implemented.)

On 08/03/09, Jason R said...

I do not understand how they expect US to pay for the damage? That is the cost of doing business in their field. If they are not adequately saving money to fund disasters than it is their (Centerpoint’s) own fault. Does the City reimburse small businesses when one is sick and can not open their store? Likewise for everyone that got flooded during the hurricane is the City going pay them for their repairs?

On 08/03/09, arin721 said...

i agree… mostly.  i are of the share and share alike mentality.  i’m all good with everyone pitching in and helping out to get things going again, especially an essential service like *power*, water, etc. 

somehow, though, the lil guy always seems to be on the hook for all the expenses, while the ceos/executives bleed them dry.  it’s not right. 

though it does seem to be the only time “trickle down” ever works: privatize profits, socialize losses.

Check out arin721's latest entry: ed brayton on rachel maddow show

Next entry: healthcare reform brought to you by the people who've caused the problem

Previous entry: this week's collection of ZOMG I LOVE THIS STUFF