Customers of FirstEnergy subsidiaries Mon Power and Potomac Edison came away with useful information from last night's customer education meetings in Morgantown and Charles Town.  Another meeting will be held tonight in Arnoldsburg.  The meetings, hosted by the Coalition for Reliable Power and affiliated organizations The Mountain Institute and the Jefferson County NAACP, provided advice and suggestions for how customers can protect themselves from paying badly estimated electric bills that snowball out of control this winter.

The Coalition recommends that customers learn how to read their meters and take a reading as soon as possible after receiving their monthly bill.  If the billed usage varies from the recorded usage by more than 100kwh, the customer is urged to call the company at 1-800-686-0011 to provide an actual reading and request a re-billing.

Customers were also surprised to learn of a $5.00 flat monthly charge per customer included in the "base charge" line item of their bill.  This "customer charge" pays for meter readers, billing, distribution system maintenance and other fixed costs.  However, if the company doesn't spend the full amount every month, whatever is left goes into the utility's pocket as extra profit!  Potomac Edison and Mon Power never have to account for how that $5.00 is spent, therefore they may trim expenses, such as cutting their meter reading staff or failing to perform right-of-way or line maintenance, in order to pocket the difference.  These FirstEnergy companies serve approximately 500,000 customers in West Virginia.  Half a million customers x $5.00 every month equals $2.5M paid to FirstEnergy every single month.  Whatever the company doesn't spend on services for us is theirs to keep.

Customers were also upset to learn how much the recently approved Harrison Power Station purchase is going to cost them.  More than $800M must be repaid to the company over the next 27 years, plus an additional $240M for needed pollution control upgrades.  Customers don't feel that they are being adequately protected by the WV Public Service Commission or the WV Consumer Advocate.  Who's looking out for residential ratepayers?  The meeting attendees think C4RP and its partner groups are doing a better job than appointed officials!

The Coalition was joined by Senator Herb Snyder last night in urging customers to attend the WV Public Service Commission Public Comment Hearings next week to tell their stories.  The PSC needs the help of every customer who has been affected by the company's shoddy business practices to provide evidence by telling their story.  Only if enough of us step up to tell our stories and corroborate each other will the PSC have the evidence it needs to properly punish the company for its deliberate injury to customers, as well as to order remedies to get things back on an even keel.  The Coalition is recommending that customers request that the PSC require the company, at its own expense, to read every meter, every month, for one year in order to develop accurate base line data for future estimates.

The Public Service Commission Public Comment Hearings will be held:

October 23, 2013       5:30 p.m.    Shepherd University Frank Center, Shepherdstown, WV
October 24, 2013       9:30 a.m.    Shepherd University Frank Center, Shepherdstown, WV
October 24, 2013       5:30 p.m.    West Chester Village, Stafford Room, Fairmont, WV
October 25, 2013       9:30 a.m.    West Chester Village, Stafford Room, Fairmont, WV

You must sign up with the WV PSC clerk in the lobby in order to make a comment to the Commissioners.  Comments may be limited in length, depending on the number of commenters who show up, so that everyone gets a chance to speak.  Commenters should not expect to engage in dialogue with the Commissioners or the company.  You may provide your comments without receiving feedback.  The PSC has ordered that the first 30 to 60 minutes of the hearing will consist of the company discussing:  the circumstances that gave rise to the current customer meter reading and billing problems; how the merger and severe storms in 2012 affected customer meter reading and billing; changes implemented to improve customer meter reading and billing; planned changes to improve customer meter reading and billing; and services available to customers continuing to experience meter reading and billing problems.  If you arrive a little late and miss FirstEnergy's infomercial of excuses, that's okay.  The hearing will continue as long as people continue to arrive and sign up to speak.

In addition, the PSC has ordered that the company arrange for its representative(s) to have access to customer records at each hearing and be available to speak with customers individually after the completion of public comment.  So, if you have a question about your bill(s), bring it along and get in line to talk to a representative.  There's no guarantee that  your in-person wait will be quicker or marginally more pleasant than the endless hold queue you are routinely placed in over the phone, but hopefully it will be a lot harder for those customer service representatives to be snotty and unpleasant when they are face-to-face with real people.  It's nice for the PSC to provide the company's staff with this little reminder that they are supposed to serve real people, so let's all do our part to help them cast this production.

And remember -- tell the PSC -- EVERY METER, EVERY MONTH!

Cross posted from The Coalition from Reliable Power Blog.  If you have questions or need additional information, email The Coalition.

Dear EUCI,

I've come across another one of your conference agendas recently.  After drying my tears of laughter, I shared it with my friends in "Mayberry."  They are not impressed.  In fact, you could call them downright miffed at your arrogant, condescending and inaccurate attempt to pretend you understand them, their communities, and their lifestyles.  How dare you!?!

The cause of the current consternation is your 8th Annual Public Participation for Transmission Siting conference.  While this conference has historically been an annual source of amusement to transmission opposition leadership, this time you've gone too far.

Perhaps all that crisp, green sponsorship gets in the way of your better judgement, but should you take a few moments to reflect on the veracity of your conference speakers, as well as the accuracy and effectiveness of their presented material, you might find something amiss.

Keynote speaker Jimmy Glotfelty's presentation is touted as:

Jimmy Glotfelty?  The same Jimmy Glotfelty with the orange shirts and bribe money?  The same Jimmy Glotfelty who had to be told by the police to stop harassing high school students and offering them money to testify in favor of his project?  That Jimmy Glotfelty??  We've heard of him.

First of all, we don't believe that Jimmy has successfully developed any transmission projects during his "career."  We consider him a wanna be.  Secondly, we wonder if Jimmy will be giving away orange t-shirts, hamburgers, gas money and rides to the conference to demonstrate how he "overcomes" challenges?  Jimmy's deliberate, completely avoidable, behavior at a recent Illinois Commerce Commission Public Hearing was reprehensible and probably did more damage to Clean Line Energy's public and regulatory image than any number of truly unavoidable challenges ever could.  We fear that if other transmission developers begin to adopt Jimmy's methods, transmission building is going to come to a screeching halt and the lights are going to go out.  Jimmy should be considered transmission's public enemy #1.

Next, we'd like to discuss your burgeoning interest in social media.  Just so you know, social media allows the public to express opinions that drive rejection or acceptance of an idea or proposal.

Did you even bother to look at Clean Line Energy's Facebook real estate before agreeing to this presenter's version of social media mastery?  Probably not, because Clean Line Energy no longer has any Facebook properties!  Clean Line shut them down because real people kept getting in and posting their honest thoughts and opinions that Clean Line couldn't control. Clean Line also likely discovered that Facebook is just a little too transparent, exposing a lack of public support for its proposals.  Keeping an army of sycophantic sock puppets active on numerous Facebook properties can be just so tedious.  It seems to us that Clean Line itself has plenty to "understand" about social media, before it is qualified to teach others.

Let's address the elephant in the room now, shall we?  It's the real reason for your educational conference and unhealthy fascination with us.  It's what makes us rock stars.  You are clueless about our formation, hierarchy, motivation and determination.  Sun Tzu once said, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”  He'd be a great speaker for your conference, if he wasn't dead and all.  Maybe you can buy his book?  I hear it's a real page-turner.

So, you want to develop our relationship with attempts to be clever using outdated, supercilious names constructed from your industry's weird obsession with acronyms?  I'm truly hurt, EUCI.  As if labeling us as members of unacceptable groups would somehow help you develop a better understanding of us, one that will allow you to "handle" us all the way to permit denial?

Do tell how assigning people to silly fruit acronym name groups, and then disparaging them, accomplishes effective public participation in transmission siting?  Where we come from, that's just not polite, and won't win you any cooperation from the fruitbowl.  It's actually sort of insulting.  We don't really get it, but have been considering giving you all a fruity name of your own, and would like to know the rules of the game.  We've already come up with MIMPSY (Money In My Pocket, Screw You) to describe you, but fear it might not be quite fruity enough? 

As I'm sure you've heard, our favorite activity is holding bake sales.  If you ever find yourself overrun with overripe bananas, I'd be happy to share my kick-ass recipe for banana bread with you.  There's just so many things you can make from the clever and versatile banana!  Maybe you could hold your own bake sale, instead of a training conference, to raise cash!  Do let us know EUCI.  We'd be happy to fly to Houston to buy your cupcakes!

I do wonder though, since this is an educational workshop, what experience your instructor has organizing or strategizing with community-based opposition groups?  My guess would be none.  Last time I looked, SCE got it's butt kicked in Chino Hills.  The power companies are usually the ones on the outside of our groups, desperately trying to see inside.  You all have NO IDEA how sophisticated our organization and strategy has become... and that's the way we like it.  Expect the unexpected, transmission developers!

And if being called a fruit isn't insulting enough to "the public," you further besmirch us as "Mayberry" in your "Marketing to Mayberry" segment.

If this wasn't so blatantly insulting, it might be fun to sit through.  What do you do, run the movie Promised Land and hand out Matt Damon masks?  Or maybe you simply try to teach these jerks some honesty and humility?  It's really not that difficult to communicate with "Mayberry."  What is difficult is getting away with lies and bad behavior in small towns, right, Jimmy?  Right, Clean Line?

You've simply outdone yourself this year, EUCI!  Since your conferences are fully accredited for continuing education credits by the International Association for Continuing Education & Training, we'll assume there must be some educational standards your conference content is required to meet.  We're concerned that you may be risking your certification and credibility by promoting professional failure as a "successful" best practice!  It's because we worry about your reputation that we'd like to help you out, EUCI.  We believe we could provide valuable assistance with this conference activity:

We graciously offer to provide a cast of crack "actors" to play the parts of the community, land owners, stake holders and public officials at your mock open house. We've been mocking these guys at their open houses for years, so we're quite experienced!  We feel this will add just the right touch of hard-to-replicate realism to the exercise and will guarantee a tangible, useful, hands-on education for your conference participants.  And, besides, nothing says fun like ignorant country bumpkins bearing torches and pitchforks!  They're just so unpredictable!

In all seriousness, EUCI, we're not sure how you're going to educate transmission developers to succeed when your teachers have failed the subjects they are attempting to teach.  You'd do much better with instructors from the community groups you are targeting for attendance.  But then again, why would we give away our secrets?  They're working so well to alter, delay, and cancel unneeded transmission projects.  We have made you our bit*subservient groupie*ch.  When we have our annual continuing education get-togethers, you're probably not going to be invited.  Sorry.

Best Regards,

America's Transmission Opposition
Bigger, Badder, Scarier
and Smarter... oh, so much smarter than you give us credit for...

The Coalition for Reliable Power, the Jefferson County NAACP and The Mountain Institute are partnering to host three educational meetings for Potomac Edison and Mon Power customers across the state this week.

The meetings are a prelude to the WV Public Service Commission public comment hearings on meter reading and billing practices of the FirstEnergy affiliate companies scheduled for October 23-25.

The educational meetings are designed to:

1.    Bring you up to speed on the PSC's General Investigation.

2.    Inform you about the structure, process and participation at the public hearings.

3.    Explain a typical FirstEnergy electric bill and how you can become a proactive customer to protect yourself from future billing problems.  Bring a copy of your most recent bill so you can participate in our group exercise to find out how to calculate exactly how much you should owe, and what to do when your bill isn't accurate.

4.    Provide an opportunity to ask questions and share your concerns with others who may be experiencing the same issues.

Listen in on Monday morning, October 14, at 9:45 a.m. when the Coalition's Keryn Newman will be discussing the upcoming meetings on WRNR Talk Radio.

And be sure to attend the meeting closest to you!

Charles Town, WV
October 16, 6:30 p.m., Fishermen Hall, Corner of South West and Academy streets 

Morgantown, WV
October 16, 6:00 p.m., Morgantown Public Library, 373 Spruce Street

Arnoldsburg, WV
October 17, 7:00 p.m., Arnoldsburg Community Building, Arnoldsburg

See you then!

LET’S GIVE THE PSC AN EARFUL ON ELECTRIC BILLS in Advance of PSC “Public Comment” on Meter-reading, Billing Practices!

The West Virginia Public Service Commission has announced “public comment” hearings will be held in Shepherdstown Oct. 23-24 and in Fairmont Oct. 24-25, to give citizens a chance to speak about problems they have been having with their electric bills.

We are asking ratepayers to turn out in force to hold Potomac Edison and Mon Power accountable for their failure to read meters every other month – as required by the PSC – and the resulting problems ratepayers have had with bills.

But first we are asking citizens to attend our meeting, to hear the problems that the PSC has turned up in its general investigation of FirstEnergy (the owner of the two utilities), the explanations and excuses being offered by the company, and how ratepayers can use their own bills to identify problems.

Two meetings, you say? Why is that necessary?

Because the PSC has decided that before it listens to any citizens about their problems, the citizens first have to wait through an hour-long presentation by the utilities. We want ratepayers to have the knowledge to decide for themselves if the presentation provides answers – or excuses.

Our training meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. (doors open at 6) at Fisherman’s Hall in Charles Town. We will explain what the investigation has uncovered so far, go over a sample electric bill and show how you can spot the problems you have experienced, and invite meeting participants to identify any new problems that have come up. For instance, there have been reports that Potomac Edison has been contacting some long-time customers and requiring a security deposit, even when the customers have been prompt in their payments.  Or perhaps you're still having problems with too many estimated bills?  Maybe you're one of the customers whose current bills are being over-estimated based on prior year incorrect data?

We will give ratepayers information they can use to prepare to speak at the PSC hearing.

Where:     Fisherman’s Hall
                Corner of S. West and Academy streets
                Charles Town, WV

When:       6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16th (doors open                 at 6 p.m.)

Sponsors:  Jefferson County NAACP
                The Coalition for Reliable Power

Please bring your most recent electric bill for use in our electric bill interpretation group exercise.

See you then!

Download a meeting flier to share or post

The anticipated WV PSC Order scheduling public comment hearings on the Potomac Edison/Mon Power Billing Bungle case was issued today.  Mark your calendars as follows:

But... despite being promoted as public comment hearings, the PSC has ordered FirstEnergy to pump you full of koolaid and quaaludes before allowing you to speak:

So, you must first drink the koolaid (listen to a FirstEnergy public relations spokesflack make excuses and tell you that you don't have a valid complaint for at least one hour), and then swallow the quaaludes (talk one-on-one with a FirstEnergy representative to remove any lingering doubts about how you deserved to be treated like that).  If you still have something to complain about after your dose of FirstEnergy "happy," then you can make a public comment (but the PSC and FirstEnergy bet that you won't!).

Fortunately, several citizen/consumer organizations will be distributing special enrapturement resistance tools called "education" and "citizen action" at a community meeting BEFORE the PSC and FirstEnergy's magical mesmerizing road show.

Mark your calendars to attend a Jefferson County community meeting on the evening of Wednesday, October 16.  More information will be coming before the end of the week, so check back here soon!

It appears that FirstEnergy and its apologists at the WV PSC believe that our legislators are dumb and forgetful.
That's the only explanation I can come up with for that regurgitated pack of lies legislators were fed during the Gov. Org. discussion of the study regarding electric utilities' billing practices on Monday afternoon.  I do realize that it was late in the day and our legislators wanted to go home, instead of grilling the company and its regulators.  However, only a few legislators managed to ask questions, and they could have done a better job with more information.  Nobody expects legislators to have read all the documents in the case, but a little preparation would have been nice.  It's up to each one of you to get your legislators up to speed here so that they can do a better job following up on your concerns next time.

Next time?  Although Chairman Snyder made noises that  the committee "may not pick it up again," let's not kid ourselves.  The people haven't lost interest and, in fact, a whole new wave of billing problems is beginning to form.  Ut-oh!

Karen Short, PSC attorney, began the festivities by apologizing and making excuses for FirstEnergy again.  Her litany of excuses was almost verbatim to those offered by by PSC Communications Director Susan Small back in May.  When Small's list of excuses for the company was read aloud at the Citizens' Public Hearing, Senator Snyder went ballistic, shaking his fist and proclaiming that making excuses for FirstEnergy "wasn't their [the PSC's] job!"   It must have been the delivery, because I didn't hear Senator Snyder object to:

1.    FE had billing problems related to its merger.
2.    FE made bad decisions about these changes.
3.    Storms!  Storms!  Storms!
4.    Renumbering.
5.    Last winter was 30% colder than the one before.

Here's what Short told legislators the PSC was doing or had done to remedy the problems:

1.    Ordered FE to make monthly data filings.
2.    The General Investigation will evaluate the systemic problems.
3.    FE has changed its collection policy to be more customer-friendly.
4.    The Commission will render an Order setting public comment hearings.
5.    The Commission can order the company to meet specific metrics.

She also asserted that the Commission is concerned about new estimates perpetuating last year's errors.  Great... but is she going to read my meter every month now to correct this problem?  No.  Your "concern" is greatly appreciated, Ms. Short, but why not make the company correct its previous errors and estimation routine to keep it from perpetuating this winter.  It's already begun, and we're hardly into the heating season.

Short says FirstEnergy has been "responsive."  Maybe that's what it looks like from a seat on the Commission's bench, but the view is so much different from my house.

Byron Harris, Consumer Advocate, stopped by on his last day of work to be congratulated and thanked by the legislators.  Even with all that going on, Byron was the only presenter who tried to stick up for you, however, he admitted that he has no data on your complaints because that is handled by PSC staff, and not the Consumer Advocate.  The Consumer Advocate has asked for public comment hearings in Charles Town, Martinsburg and Morgantown.  If you want one in your town, you need to call the new Consumer Advocate, Jackie Roberts, at 304-558-0526 and let her know. 

Byron touched on topics such as pay for performance, making the problems an issue in a future rate case; that the company should have internal controls to flag an account with too many estimates; that he would have to go to hearing to get any remedies the Consumer Advocate might suggest, or FirstEnergy could fight improvement and take the case to hearing.  He mentioned that the company has hired a consultant to analyze their billing program, and Byron hopes it will be an independent and honest process.  He was asked what the customer remedy would be for the company's  failure to follow the tariff and responded that the customer could file a complaint with the PSC.

Byron said the public hearings will be very important.  The PSC and the Consumer Advocate needs to hear from you!

Excuses made for FirstEnergy:

1.    The company spends $6M/year on meter reading.  Having good service will cost too much.
2.    Customers can read their own meters.
3.    FE "works with customers" and is responsive.
4.    There has been some improvement, but there is a long way to go.

In response to Senator Snyder's questioning about an effective legislative remedy, Byron wasn't very helpful, except to shoot down Herb's suggestion to add the meter reading frequency to statute (and perhaps with good reason).  If Herb wants some real suggestions, he knows who to ask... or maybe he'll just get told ;-)

FirstEnergy trotted out WV "Director of Operations" Holly Kauffman.  Where has this woman been?  Nobody has seen or heard from her since this debacle began.  Maybe she's just a do-nothing figurehead whose job is to run boring power point presentations and use up valuable discussion time?

Anyhow, Holly said she takes pride in how FirstEnergy supports "our customers."  Well, I guess that explains it then.  Holly went on to say that FirstEnergy will fix their problems "as a company."  Then she made all the same old, tired excuses as Karen Short.  Do you think they rehearsed this together while exchanging recipes and doing each other's nails?

Holly wants us to believe that FirstEnergy launched its own "internal investigation."  Was that before or after they blew off the Citizens' Public Hearing in Charles Town?  Let's save Holly some embarrassment and admit that we sent her a personal invitation.  She never responded.  Instead, lobbyist Sammy Gray merely "respectfully declined" the invitation for a second time.  I guess Holly just does what Sammy tells her to do.

Holly says FirstEnergy's estimation process is fixed!  You believe her, don't you?  No?  Okay then, she also admitted that the EPRI analysis of FE's billing system has not yet been completed... but why should they bother, when it's already fixed?  And, one more point to ponder -- who is paying for this study?  Surely not the ratepayers, since the problem was caused by the FirstEnergy merger.... and no merger costs are billable to customers.  Well, at least that's what the merger stipulation says, but it also says that FirstEnergy's merger would be a huge benefit to electric consumers in West Virginia.  We're still waiting, FirstEnergy.  Your merger has been nothing but misery and agony for your captive customers.

FirstEnergy did one good thing!  I know... shocking, isn't it?  Supposedly they have hired 7 roving meter readers to fill in during absences and help the meter readers catch up on those impossibly heavy meter reading schedules.  Wow!  Did they call in Sherlock Holmes to figure out that they need some sort of back-up system because life happens?  They have also supposedly begun calling customers to alert them in advance of a renumbering double billing event about to happen.  Is that because that tiny line of text on the bill just wasn't effective?  Right.

But then she got carried away and insisted that FirstEnergy is responsive to customers and that no customers had their power disconnected due to the billing fiasco.  This is just plain NOT TRUE!

A few legislators asked questions, but Holly batted them all away as insignificant or unworkable.  A very unintelligent discussion of smart meters ensued, but Holly's bottom line was that we could either have cheap electricity or good service, but not both.

And make note of this... in the event that you overpay the company due to an over estimated bill, you can call and request that they send you a check instead of being stuck with a huge credit.

To sum it up, FirstEnergy is a company that "continues to improve" and "continues public outreach."  After all, when you've hit rock bottom with customer service, the only direction to go is up.

Please write to your legislator and let him/her know that you are not satisfied with Monday's performance.

Watch this video to find out what offer Jimmy Glotfelty made to a group of high school students.

Jimmy, you're a creep!

Take your monopoly money and go back to Houston.

Lots of stuff to catch up on today now that I'm back in this time zone, but the most important thing going on today is the legislative discussion of the study regarding electric utilities' billing practices being held at 3:00 p.m.  You may listen live at this link.  When it's time for the meeting, the location will change to a "Listen Live" link.  I  hope you have already called or emailed the members of Gov. Org. to let them know about your concerns regarding your electric bill.  If not, here's a link to committee members.

Please do your part to inform the legislators about your concerns.  "Someone" isn't going to take care of it for you this time.  "Someone" has been busy helping other people for the past week, and "nobody" stepped up to fill the void.  It's "do-it-yourself" this time.

It was standing room only last night in Mendota at an Illinois Commerce Commission public forum on Clean Line Energy's Rock Island "Clean" Line project.  The forum was held at the request of affected landowners and intended to provide a venue for the landowners to have an opportunity to comment on the proposal.

Instead, the arrogant Texas snake oil salesmen attempted to hijack the forum and disenfranchise the very folks the forum was intended to hear from.  Does "Clean" Line think the ICC was fooled?  Do they think they changed anyone's mind last night?  Or, more likely, did they simply demonstrate their arrogance and lack of morals to the Commission and the community?  One thing is certain, "Clean" Line made no friends, only enemies.  Ut-oh, "Clean" Line!

Read about the forum in The LaSalle News Tribune (pictures and video, too!)

"Clean" Line's problems began well ahead of the forum, when its hired public relations "team" arrived and insisted on setting up a table in the lobby.  Meanwhile, out in the parking lot, other "Clean" Line agents set up a gigantic sign next to their gas-guzzling SUV that was to serve as a check-in point where the company's imported supporters could get their "Clean" Line t-shirts, talking points and other party favors.  Soon, numerous white vans arrived and disgorged the classic contingent of union guys and students, who were suited up in the ugly orange t-shirts and hustled to the front of the speaker sign-up line.  "Clean" Line also attracted the usual gaggle of government and business interests who paraded before the hearing officer to state that they supported the project because they believed they could profit from it.

The ICC sign-up table was manned by two local volunteers.  "Clean" Line personnel appointed themselves as monitors of this activity, certain that "the locals" would stack the deck (and they weren't particularly nice about it either).  Citizens were told that sign-up would not begin until 6:30.  However, someone apparently tipped off the hearing officer that the crowd was much larger than anticipated and that sign-ups should open earlier.  And isn't it really coincidental that "Clean" Line managed to shove their union, government and business guys to the head of the sign-up line before it even opened.  Why, it's almost like they knew that sign-up would open earlier than the citizens had been told, and maybe intended to stack the deck with their own imported speakers so that the real people the forum was intended for were shut out.

You've got to get up pretty early in the morning to fool "a bunch of farmers" though, and the citizens quickly rallied and got in line.  Later, groups of students from the university arrived to be suited up in orange shirts and hustled into line, but it was much too late.  The line stretched well outside the school.  The students were disrespectful (and several appeared to be chemically altered) and the police were asked to intervene to keep students from harassing citizens.

And speaking of harassment, I've gotta give a "big man" award to "Clean" Line Executive Vice President Jimmy Glotfelty, who thought it was a good idea to get into a shouting match with the high school FFA members who were greeting folks at the door and handing out BlockRICL literature.  Maybe Jimmy didn't realize that the kids didn't write that (although he was told) but since when is it okay to harass kids?  Jimmy's arrogance was not appreciated by the adults watching this spectacle, and when an adult stepped in, Jimmy got even more irate until the police were summoned.  It's notable that the citizen is the one who was big enough to disengage and walk away.  While "Clean" Line showed their true colors last night, the citizens refused to be baited and behaved like the ladies and gentlemen they are.  Bravo, BlockRICL!

Because so many citizens showed up to speak at the forum, the crowd soon overwhelmed the 500+ seat auditorium and people were standing in the aisles.  When the auditorium couldn't hold any more, and most of RICL's orange shirts were relegated to the lobby, Clean Line implemented a plan to replace citizens in the auditorium with orange shirts from the lobby.  A "Clean" Line rep. was observed complaining to one of the police officers that the fire marshall needed to be called to enforce the occupancy limits of the auditorium.  Sure enough, folks were soon told that if they couldn't find a seat, they would have to leave.  While unlucky landowners who failed at this game of musical chairs were filing out of the auditorium, "Clean" Line reps. were busy shoving their orange shirts INTO the auditorium and escorting them to any empty seats they could find, causing further human traffic jams.  Nope, nothing underhanded about that little scheme.

The performance of "Clean" Line's Texas executives at the forum was quite revealing.  Despite being given several minutes at the beginning of the forum to make his case, VP Jimmy Glotfelty scooted out of the auditorium as soon as he was done speaking, like his shoes were on fire.  After he was done harassing people outside the auditorium, he deigned to sit among us, but his actions clearly demonstrated that he was totally bored and not listening to any of the citizen comments.  He stretched out and feigned sleep, after he got bored playing with his iPhone.  And the people are supposed to believe that this demonstrates an earnest effort to work with landowners to appease their concerns?  Jimmy clearly couldn't be bothered with "the locals."

In a classic case of pointing the finger at someone else, "Clean Line" accused the opposition of line jumping by signing up people to speak who were not present.  "Clean" Line was the only one who had the nerve to do that, and they got publicly slapped down by the hearing officer for it.  A woman from Morris County development something-or-other appeared in a different speaking order than citizens had seen her sign up.  That was confusing... until it was recognized that she had also signed up as another woman, who did not get up when her name was called.  Instead, "Clean" Line pushed one of their imported speakers to the front of the auditorium to "speak for" the woman who didn't answer.  The audience objected, and the hearing officer was told that the woman whose name was called had not even signed herself up.  The hearing officer asked the woman (who it turns out was present) if she had signed herself up, and she had to admit that no, someone else had signed her up before she arrived.  The hearing officer made him sit down.  The man who attempted to line jump finally got another turn at the microphone, when his name finally appeared in the order in which he had arrived.  And then... poetic justice intervened.  Just as he was about to open his mouth and begin his spiel, the hearing officer looked at his watch and announced that it was now 10 p.m. and the hearing was over.  Foiled again!  Turns out that he was some vice president at Southwire, flown in from Atlanta just to speak in favor of the project (because it will make money for his company).  And he failed.  Just like "Clean" Line.

The only thing "Clean" Line accomplished last night was to ruin their own credibility with the ICC with their desperate attempts to silence affected landowners and stack the deck in their favor.  Arrogance isn't the recommended posture for out-of-state snake oil salesman.

Industry-funded front groups.  Every transmission developer uses them.  Nobody is fooled, but that never stops them from trying to influence regulatory approvals with an astroturf appearance of public support.
I've written plenty about the seven common propaganda devices and how they're used by transmission developers to facilitate regulatory approvals for their project.

Here's a quick and easy blog post.

Here's a longer, more technical explanation with real life examples from the PATH project that were part of the 2010 ATRR Formal Challenge that FERC granted and set for hearing (propaganda discussion begins on page 15).

Would it come as any surprise that Clean Line Energy is busy sending out promotional information to unsuspecting patsies via its own astroturf front group just days before the Illinois Commerce Commission public hearing?

No.  I wish I had a dime for every time I correctly predicted what some transmission owner would do next so that opposition groups could get there first and set an appropriate trap.  Me and my Magic 8 Ball would now own our own private island somewhere warm and transmission line-free.

Meet Clean Line Energy's astroturf front group.  This group falsely claims:

Where are the residential consumers?  They're not on CEA's membership list.  Those are commercial and industrial business groups.  However, Clean Line Energy Partners is listed as a "member" under the category heading "Energy Providers and Suppliers."  This organization is registered with the IRS as a C35 (Energy Resources Conservation and Development).  Does that sound like an organization run by "consumer voices?"  It apparently didn't to the IRS, either.  See CEA's very informative IRS Form 990 for tax year 2011 here.  It seems that a lot of money was spent "expanding dialogue between energy and consuming sectors."  Although, this organization can't seem to make up its mind whether it is advocating for clean or dirty energy.  Any port in a (revenue hungry) storm, I guess.

I give this an 8 out of 10 on the boldface lie scale.  It's only topped by the time one of PATH's front groups illegally claimed that it was a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

FAIL, Clean Line, F-A-I-L!