While Exelon works the halls of government in Harrisburg for a $500 million annual handout it says it needs to keep its Three Mile Island nuclear plant open — which will be paid through higher electric bills by residents and businesses — the Fortune 100 company just reported $907 million in net income during the last quarter alone.
A recent article in Seeking Alpha, “Exelon has hit the regulatory jackpot,” details the company’s efforts in securing handouts from states. It notes a recent $300 million windfall handout from New Jersey and two more potential wins in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Instead of letting the free market determine winners and losers, bills have been introduced in the Pennsylvania House and Senate to do just that at great expense to working families, schools and small businesses.
It will affect everyone and everything. When electric bills go up, the increased costs for business are passed on to customers. Everything from the price of a pizza to school pencils to machinery will go up. School districts will have increased costs that may affect their taxpayers. And residents dealing with higher electric bills will have less money to pay for those tax increases.
Meanwhile, Exelon is already laughing all the way to the bank.
Kathleen Duffy Bruder
Harrisburg
The writer is executive director of the Pennsylvania Energy Consumer Alliance.