You regular readers know how much I love numbers. They're black and white and they never lie to you. I needed a certain number today for insertion in something I was writing. I needed the total amount PATH has collected from millions of ratepayers in PJM's multi-state region (all or parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Delaware, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and the District of Columbia) through its annual transmission revenue requirements from the inception of its formula rate in 2008 through the end of this year, 2012.
I'm not sure why I didn't have this number already at hand, it's just never had a use before, I suppose. Are you ready to know how much of your money has been wasted over the past 5 years on a transmission project that was never constructed, was never permitted, and will never provide the smallest benefit to the electric consumers who financed it?
Ninety-five million dollars. That's right $95M! PATH has poured $95M of your hard-earned money down a rathole attempting to promote, site and permit a project that was never needed in the first place. What an incredible waste! How many other uses for $95M can you think of that would have provided some benefit to society? Instead, the only benefits have been the financial ones that ended up on corporate profit statements.
Separate and apart from that $95M of your money that PATH has already collected and spent, they have also invested over $130M of their money in the project's rate base. You will continue to pay them 12.4% annual return on their $130M investment until the project is officially abandoned. When abandonment finally happens, the $130M will be fought over and eventually an amount will be set for recovery from ratepayers over a set number of years.
If we add the $130M investment PATH is going to want back to the $95M they have already collected and spent, we've got a total of $225M, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars of our money, that has been wasted by American Electric Power and FirstEnergy on a get-rich quick scheme to build unneeded transmission infrastructure.
Thanks for nothing, fellas!
I'm not sure why I didn't have this number already at hand, it's just never had a use before, I suppose. Are you ready to know how much of your money has been wasted over the past 5 years on a transmission project that was never constructed, was never permitted, and will never provide the smallest benefit to the electric consumers who financed it?
Ninety-five million dollars. That's right $95M! PATH has poured $95M of your hard-earned money down a rathole attempting to promote, site and permit a project that was never needed in the first place. What an incredible waste! How many other uses for $95M can you think of that would have provided some benefit to society? Instead, the only benefits have been the financial ones that ended up on corporate profit statements.
Separate and apart from that $95M of your money that PATH has already collected and spent, they have also invested over $130M of their money in the project's rate base. You will continue to pay them 12.4% annual return on their $130M investment until the project is officially abandoned. When abandonment finally happens, the $130M will be fought over and eventually an amount will be set for recovery from ratepayers over a set number of years.
If we add the $130M investment PATH is going to want back to the $95M they have already collected and spent, we've got a total of $225M, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars of our money, that has been wasted by American Electric Power and FirstEnergy on a get-rich quick scheme to build unneeded transmission infrastructure.
Thanks for nothing, fellas!
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