Now the debate begins on who is going to pay it. The company has even laid out a plan that calls for a 10 percent rate increase to start chipping away at that mountainous deficit. There is also discussion that taxpayers or the companies that generate and market electricity should share the pain. The prospect that the utilities could fall into bankruptcy because of the high wholesale price of electricity and the utilities' inability to pass those costs on to consumers has been raised. That certainly gets our attention.
Critics say the utilities are exaggerating their problems.
Heller said the utilities and their parent companies have made enough money to cover losses over the past six months. It is unclear what else the commission will take up at that time, but by adding the TURN item to its Thursday agenda, it has left the door open to begin looking at rate increases. Throughout 1999 and the first half of this year, that was OK because the company was paying around 3 cents or 4 cents for every kilowatt-hour it purchased. Then in May the wholesale price jumped to 16 cents, where it hovered until last month. It jumped again to nearly 28 cents over the past four weeks.