Following more than a week of one financial shock after another, Americans are feeling drained, defeated and defiant, all at the same time. As Congress debates the merits and potential downside of the biggest financial market bailout in history, deciding how much the middle class taxpayer will fork over for the mistakes of those on either end of the socioeconomic spectrum, those same taxpayers continue to face blow upon blow to the family budget.
Mortgage and credit card payments, the cost of commuting to jobs, college tuition, putting food on the table and, now, as the cold, dark days of fall and winter begin, heating homes, have backed middle class Americans to the economic wall.
Whether homeowners heat by oil or natural gas, reality has really hit home. Projected increases in the cost of staying warm this winter are now on paper, the invoices in the mailbox or slipped under the door. Most people know that any salary increase they received — if they were that fortunate (and many have not been) — has been more than absorbed by the increase in fuel costs.
And these increases follow on the heels of the announcement of another year of record profits for America’s energy delivery companies. No wonder Americans are ready for a change in their government. The status quo has got to go.
Locally, Norwood residents took another hit this week as the municipal electric company announced yet another rate increase, this one to cover the cost of an unexpected transmission charge from the regional grid operators. While smaller than other recent rate hikes, including a staggering 12.4 percent increase in July, the new electric bill spike will continue to add to the total against which subsequent increases are computed.
The most disquieting aspect of this electric rate increase is the sense that, like the country’s financial system on the larger scale, local government officials have also lost control over events that impact their constituents’ lives.
Most telling were the words of Norwood Light Department Superintendent Malcolm McDonald in explaining that the latest rate increase could fluctuate throughout the year and rates will be adjusted automatically if it changes.
“We don’t have a good idea right now whether this is going to go up or down,” McDonald said of the transmission rate charged by local grid operator ISO New England.
This lack of predictability undermines the confidence of ratepayers, who must now be resigned to the fact that there is no way to budget for their energy costs. Even when the thermostats are set at uncomfortably chilly temperatures and the lights are switched off rather than offering a homey glow, the monthly bills continue to rise at an alarming rate.
Perhaps there is little that can be done at the local level. The energy markets clearly have the upper hand. But the state and federal governments have done nothing to even attempt to control the unregulated greed of energy suppliers and financial market predators.
In a little over a month, Americans will go to the polls. The No. 1 issue in the voters’ minds is the economy. Those politicians who have demonstrated that they are part of the problem, not part of the solution, will find themselves on the job market with a growing number of their former constituents.
Voters are feeling financially drained, emotionally defeated, and defiant enough to want to revolt against the status quo. Those who govern who have demonstrated that they care more about special interests than the American people may find that the middle class taxpayer will make the changes that they have refused to make.
Norwood resident Candace Leary’s Midpoints column appears Mondays in the Transcript.
