Tom Curtis to AG Dann: How can electricity bill soar when usage doesn't?

Tom Curtis to Attorney General Marc Dann, March 14, 2007
031407 Curtis To Att Gen Dann, Thank You To You And Your Staff

Attorney General Dann,

As an STRS retiree, I would like to thank you and your staff for representing all of the Ohio pension fund membership by helping to bringing about a reasonable recovery of funds from AOL to be returned to our 5 pension systems.

Hopefully this settlement will send out a strong statement to individuals that devise such schemes to defraud their stakeholders. Human greed has become such a pervasive part of our society throughout this land. This has to stop!

Why are the CEOs of these companies paid millions of dollars? They possess no special talent, or skill that deserves that kind of remuneration. Who really does? This kind of blatant disregard for a reasonable wage for services rendered is unfathomable. These corporate people are simply gifting one another with outlandish employment contracts that are breaking the system and ultimately results in the loss of jobs to foreign countries or labor.

Today I received a letter from my electric utility, American Electric Power. I was told about the process for determining my monthly budget. They told me they reviewed my account and were going to adjust the monthly amount to align it with my actual usage. Therefore, they are changing my budget amount from $135/mo. to $186.00/mo. This is unbelievable to me. How can my bill increase that much per month? I have not changed my usage habits and we conserve electric more then most as I was a technology education teacher and taught conservation of not only electricity, but also all types of utilities and materials.

Why is the gouging of the cost for our utilities, gasoline, medical expenses and everything else continuing to spiral up? The profits for some of these companies are huge and the executives are paid way more then would seem within reason.

The 3% COLA I receive each year is based on the amount I received at retirement and is not compounded. The buying power of my pension (ret. 1998) has shrunk enormously since retirement. The cost for health care for my wife and I currently exceeded one third of my pension in 2004, and has grown ever since. Things are really getting out of control and it appears that the number one reason is simply due to GREED!

Thomas Curtis

North Canton, OH