The name of this blog is Phoenix Smooth Jazz & Beyond. Well, here is a posting for the "beyond". One of the big concerns for most residents in the Phoenix area is the cost of their electric bill. From the looks of things (unless I'm severly mistaken) there are two (2) companies providing major service to the area.
SRP: Salt River Project and APS: Arizona Public Services Co.
I can't say that I know many people on SRP, but I do know quite a few individuals that use APS. So, what am I getting at? I know that I'm very unhappy with my bill and everyone else that I speak with is unhappy with theirs. There are supposedly many factors that determine how much someone pays each month.....
- Location of the home
- Age of home
- Size of home
- Type of roof
- Number of pets
- Number of people and their age
I think you get the idea!! The list can go on for days. I actually can accept that these factors cause my bill to fluctuate. But, I cannot accept the fact how APS nickel and dimes me each month with bogus and unnecessary fees. Here is a list of the total charges per month an individual pays that has service with APS.....
- Basic service charge
- Delivery service charge
- Environmental benefits surcharge
- Federal environmental improvement surcharge
- Competition rules compliance charge
- System benefits charge
- Power supply adjustment
- Metering
- Meter reading
- Billing
- Generation of electricity on-peak
- Generation of electricity off-peak
- Transmission and ancillary services
- Transmission cost adjustment
- Regulatory assessment
- State sales tax
- County sales tax
- City sales tax
- Franchise fee
Do I understand all of these charges and why I have them? No, and not surprisingly neither does anyone else I know. To top it all off, APS gives you a minuscule discount if you use the AutoPay feature. It's their way of saying "Here are a few pennies back for all the thousands of dollars we're stealing from you". To be quite honest, I personally believe that the majority of residents in the greater Phoenix area are being taken advantage of by APS and probably by SRP as well. Here's the big question....What can be done to dampen the activities of these thieving giants? This is definitely one of the areas where our local elected officials are not doing their job, but that's an entirely different topic.
One thing I do know is that I now know what the acronym "APS" stands for....
ARIZONA POWER SUCKS!!!
For those of you on APS, be advised that they have requested a rate increase.
Please feel free to comment......
