If this practice is allowed to continue, large industrial ratepayers will continue to transfer the true costs of electric power generation to smaller residential customers. These rates and contracts have been structured to avoid uneconomic bypass. Retaining customers at rates which recover a portion of the utility's fixed costs keeps rates lower for all customers than would be the case if the utility lost the customer entirely. It is the Company's policy to avoid uneconomic bypass now and in the future. The NC Utilities Commission should prohibit this practice and make fair pricing the rule for all customers.
Fair pricing requires all customers to share the same cost of electric power.
If this rule was applied to all utilities, large industrial and commercial electric customers would find ways to reduce their power bills. Homeowners have done this for decades by a variety of methods, for example, shifting to fluorescent light bulbs. The higher costs of such energy-saving appliances is borne entirely by the homeowner. Fair pricing would require similar initiatives from industry.