Two Slippers are Better Than One

Well I did it! Took my friend Joe's advice and got a set of studded tires. I thought he should know being an ex-highway patrol how safe they would be. Could hardly wait till the snow would fly. Finally it snowed and out I went to try my new tires. The snow was fluffy and deep, about six inches, and sure enough those studs really held. I went right through that soft stuff like anything. Not needing to travel till a few days later when the snow was packed down, out I went, and sure enough those studs really held again. Although when I looked at the pattern in the snow on the street outside my house I could see that the studs were just digging out a divot and not really getting a grip at all. Oh well, those studs really work because I had no trouble on that surface.

Who are these naysayers? Where is the heart of this city. Bend is now a city.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I read about Pacific Power's proposed 20-percent rate hike. Cry because that's a heck of an increase for a lot of people already struggling with bills, and laugh because they will probably pull it off. Rebuilding a company's infrastructure by buying new equipment, for example, is usually transparent to a customer in any competitive business. Upgrades are performed to meet increasing customer demands (and revenues) and to find ways to reduce costs (since volume usually means lower cost). More times than not the result is a reduction, not an increase, in customer prices.
According to Pacific Power, the 20 percent increase equals $470 million that Oregon customers will have to cover for investments (wind farm, coal cleaners, and transmission towers). I'm guessing that a large part of that is for the wind farm (which includes the transmission towers) and I'm guessing that this new source of electricity is being considered because of additional demand, or to cut electricity generation costs. (Wind is far cheaper than nuclear and probably cheaper than hydroelectric).