Bitcoin_LYFE on Nostr: Bent Measuring Stick Sometimes the bill arrives before the thing it is supposed to ...
Bent Measuring Stick
Sometimes the bill arrives before the thing it is supposed to pay for.
Recent reporting shows millions of Americans are already paying charges on electric bills for power plants, transmission lines, and other grid projects before those projects are finished or delivering benefits. At least 40 states now allow some version of this financing, up from fewer than 20 a decade ago.
A utility bill used to be easier to understand: power was used, power was billed. This adds another layer. In some cases, the bill also becomes a way to finance infrastructure still being built, with households carrying part of the cost and risk before the promised value arrives.
Power infrastructure can take years to approve, finance, build, and connect. Those delays create costs, and the costs do not disappear while everyone waits. The question is who carries them.
Utilities are not ordinary businesses in a fully competitive market. Most households cannot simply shop for another grid when approved costs move into rates. The customer is not only buying electricity; in some cases, the customer is helping finance future capacity inside a system they have limited ability to leave.
There may be good reasons to build this way. It may speed up needed infrastructure or lower financing costs in some cases. But it also moves part of the burden from investors and utilities toward the ratepayer earlier in the process.
The project remains unfinished. The payment is already monthly.
#Electricity #Infrastructure #EconomicDrift
Published at
2026-05-09 13:21:35 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Bent Measuring Stick\nSometimes the bill arrives before the thing it is supposed to pay for.\n\nRecent reporting shows millions of Americans are already paying charges on electric bills for power plants, transmission lines, and other grid projects before those projects are finished or delivering benefits. At least 40 states now allow some version of this financing, up from fewer than 20 a decade ago.\n\nA utility bill used to be easier to understand: power was used, power was billed. This adds another layer. In some cases, the bill also becomes a way to finance infrastructure still being built, with households carrying part of the cost and risk before the promised value arrives.\n\nPower infrastructure can take years to approve, finance, build, and connect. Those delays create costs, and the costs do not disappear while everyone waits. The question is who carries them.\n\nUtilities are not ordinary businesses in a fully competitive market. Most households cannot simply shop for another grid when approved costs move into rates. The customer is not only buying electricity; in some cases, the customer is helping finance future capacity inside a system they have limited ability to leave.\n\nThere may be good reasons to build this way. It may speed up needed infrastructure or lower financing costs in some cases. But it also moves part of the burden from investors and utilities toward the ratepayer earlier in the process.\n\nThe project remains unfinished. The payment is already monthly.\n\n#Electricity #Infrastructure #EconomicDrift",
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