Community Perspective
All Alaskans need immediate energy cost equalization
Published Sunday, May 11, 2008
Like a man dying of thirst in the middle of the ocean, Alaskans are adrift in a sea of state cash while our residents drown in a tidal wave of unjustified costs for heating oil and electricity for homes and businesses.
Money pouring into Alaska from oil at $119 brings benefits for future generations such as capital improvements and Constitutional Budget Reserve savings. Does a bigger budget reserve put bread on any Alaskans’ table today? No, tragically, a large segment of our population may not enjoy these benefits if they are bankrupted and foreclosed upon by unbearable energy costs.
Families could soon give up and leave Alaska.
Energy costs are destroying Alaskan lives. Rural residents living off the road system have the Power Cost Equalization Program. PCEP provides assistance to communities and residents in rural Alaska where the kilowatt-hour charge for electricity can be three to five times higher than the average kWh rate in Anchorage, Fairbanks or Juneau.
Alaskans are paying the highest energy costs in the U.S. while supplying 16 percent of the nation’s oil. No Alaskan should pay more for energy than an average resident of Seattle, Portland or San Francisco. Interior energy costs are higher because it’s colder and transportation costs are higher. Add the cost of oil as dictated by the Saudi Sheiks, and you understand the reason for Alaskans’ cash shortage.
It is time for a simple but radical change!
When the price of oil exceeds $55 per barrel, we should subsidize energy costs for heating or providing electricity to every person in Alaska. We are the rightful owners of the resources of Alaska. Let’s cut our energy cost, (heating and electricity) with an all-Alaska energy cost equalization amendment to the existing PCEP enjoyed in rural Alaska.
It’s time to:
1. Expand the energy program to treat all Alaskans equally. Simply calculate rebate amounts based upon equalization of ‘degree days’ to accommodate statewide temperature differences and BTUs to equalize energy sources available.
2. Provide immediate relief to all Alaskans with the huge surplus earned from the progressive oil tax. This is so simple, it could be implemented tomorrow.
3. Connect the reward of oil and gas in Alaska to all the people.
This is not a tax increase on oil companies, utilities or residents. We can dedicate a portion of our progressive tax surplus to reduce our energy costs. We are the owners in this owner state and can reduce the cost of living for all our residents.
We should equalize our energy costs to the West Coast average. Think of the impact on families, businesses and jobs in Alaska. Our petro-dollars, such a cash cow to the state, could provide a substantial and regionally fair return that maximizes the benefits for all Alaskans.
Instead of fighting over regional scraps, if we lower the overhead of each business, we become fully competitive with Outside companies and create Alaskan jobs.
Let’s petition the Legislature and governor to treat all regions of the state equally in energy matters. Ask your friends and neighbors, in fact, all who pay an energy bill to sign. Just put the following petition heading on a page and you’re ready to go:
“We request the expansion of the Power Cost Equalization Program to include all Alaskans and then to reduce Alaskans’ heating and electricity costs to the West Coast average. Respectfully submitted by:
“Name, Address, Registered voter?”
Light the bonfire. Make sure your petition is up at every blog, grocery store, library, post office and public place in your town. Email this to every Alaskan who wants to lower his energy costs and ask that they gather signatures to share with each legislator and the governor.
Ask your legislator to put PCEP on the agenda for the special session.
Our fuel tanks will be empty and pipes frozen long before a large or small gas line is built! So, insist our legislators grant energy cost equalization statewide now. Our fellow residents need help before next winter hurts even more people and communities.
Denny Schlotfeldt and Jim Crawford are both life-long Alaskan friends with experience in the Alaskan home heating business. Denny, dennyschlotfeldt@hotmail.com, is a Fairbanks business manager and Jim, C21jcrawford@aol.com is an Anchorage real estate developer and commercial mortgage banker.
Denny Schlotfeldt and Jim Crawford are both life-long Alaskan friends with experience in the Alaskan home heating business. Denny, dennyschlotfeldt@hotmail.com, is a Fairbanks business manager and Jim, C21jcrawford@aol.com is an Anchorage real estate developer and commercial mortgage banker.
Community Discussion
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This is a good starting point for an important discussion.
Need to add: the state should immediately design and build a small diameter "bullet" gas line to serve the energy needs of the railbelt.
Snowy,
From reliable sources in the loop there has been a flurry of people associated with the "B" line over in China doing some tire kicking and shopping in this regard.
Denny & Jim ~ Where do we sign the petition for the Power Cost Equalization for all Alaskans? Believe you'd have no trouble having almost all Interior and rural Alaskans willing to sign if someone would get a petition going and I'll be the first to offer soliciting signatures. This has been the ONLY suggestion so far to alleviate our high cost of energy that makes any sense and gives immediate relief. The State giving the borough $9 million to provide money for more insulation, windows and energy saving projects is just another band-aid approach that will only save a small amount of heating oil and line the pockets of our already fiscally irresponsible borough government and in no way will help us when we go to fill our fuel tanks this coming fall.
I, and I'm sure others, have already done as much as we can to conserve energy by only keeping our houses heated to 55-60 degrees, unplugging our appliances when not in use, etc. and we in no way can keep up with the ever increasing cost of heating oil. Would have been nice to see you two up there at the Town Hall meeting at the Carlson Center on April 30th spearheading the meeting instead of the same ole bureaucratic leaders who bungle an easy and solution to solve the problem.
Don't forget, the cheapest energy is the energy you don't ever use.
Adding insulation, replacing old windows, covering windows in cold weather, buying higher efficiency heaters, and all the other ways to reduce energy needs is the only real way to go.
Trying to spread all this extra money around in any kind of fair and equal manner is a tough job. Just because my house is already highly insulated and smaller than average should not mean my neighbors with huge poorly insulated houses should get some handout when I don't.
Next I suppose we'll be considering ways to subsidize gas prices for everyone who just has to drive a pick-up or SUV and not give me any help fueling my small car.
We'd be better off using the money to connect the railroad to Canada so we'll be able to travel when AK Air goes under.
If you cut your energy use by 30% and the cost goes up 30% you are still paying the same amount of money. I agree that conservation is the first step, but many have already done this and question what the next step is going to be.
I like the idea of a fair share for everyone instead of the natives and rural dwellers getting it all for nothing.
Even with the equalization program in the bush, the natives do not pay any share of the cost much less a fair share. They don't even work and are totally supported by tax payers. It would be a great day if we too could share in the wealth instead of just providing it for others to enjoy!
Where do I sign. I'm all for it. Alaska's Oil for Alaskans, stop this insantity of letting Big Oil just to keep walking away and bragging on how much they made this quarter, probably another $10 Billion in just profit, and that's just one of the companies.
Bottom line is someone needs to make decisions and get things moving. I have done the maximum I can to keep my house as winter proofed as possible. We kept the house at 60 degrees to help keep the energy cost down. I have even used all energy efficient bulbs abd so on. Of course if the goverment gives out more money then people are going to want more hand out. I agree that I am not happy at the cost of my fuel bills this winter. The state and goverment needs to look at what will help instead of there constant worry about re election. This is everywhere. I do feel that the state could use some money to help off set the burden of fuel prices like stop wasting our money!
Fuel prices today, whats next? More than likely it will be food lets just get it over with and ask the government for everything, FREE,,,, I think CUBA did that years ago,
James,
What an absolutely creepy, racist statement to make.
You don't sound well enough informed to be speaking with adults.
Another time and place you'd be the white trash saying shiftless, watermelon eating.....
Stop contemplating that booger on the end of your finger, just eat it please.
I agree with Copper_River, James should keep his ignorance in a private place. When one is clueless regarding an issue, its best to ask questions not make ignorant racist statements.
PCE is a noble effort, but a flawed one. It should be nothing more than an interim solution to well thought out resolution to this entire issue. It is unfortunate that it takes a crisis to bring a search for solutions for all. I applaud the thoughtful, ideas being raised by two lifelong Alaskans.
PCE has merely allowed rural communities to exist, not prosper. It is not a solution, only a balm for a much deeper wound. Well thought out, long term solutions are what we need.
Folks are really being burned with the cost of energy this is the downside of high petrochemical prices. The state has thus far failed in putting together an ongoing energy policy for Alaskans. I think all of us were to blame, but it's not time to act - not point fingers (although it sometimes helps vent frustrations), but to pull up our sleeves and get involved in solutions.
The governor is calling a special session on energy - it's time to let our thoughts be known. Get out and tell them to put together a short and long term solution.
Juneau residents are being burned too. We can use their numbers as well to demand solutions.
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