Saving Energy Costs Money in Missouri // 07.06.2009 at 1:47 PM

If you live in Missouri and are interested in conserving energy in order to save money, be ready to be charged to save. The new fee is effectively for advertising efforts to promote energy conservation. The argument is that the energy companies will charge you less to save than if they had to charge you for building a new power plant.

While on some levels this argument makes sense, it makes me wonder... why is it in utilities you are charged for every nuance of running their businesses? In most businesses, a cost like this is absorbed. Or I guess more accurately, it's already included in the lump sum of fees charged. So, maybe in the end it doesn't matter.

Some Missouri residents and businesses soon could see a new charge on their electric bills — a fee for using less energy.

Though it might seem illogical, the new energy efficiency charge has support from utilities, most lawmakers, the governor, environmentalists and even the state’s official utility consumer advocate. The charge covers the cost of utilities’ efforts to promote energy efficiency and cut power use.

The assumption is that charging consumers for those initiatives ultimately will cost less than charging them to build the new power plants that will be needed if electricity use isn’t curtailed.

Read the full article here.