The Rocky Mount City Council voted to create an office to help residents cope with high utility bills.  Check out Mike Hixenbaugh’s article in the Rocky Mount Telegram.  Probably the most interesting paragraph is the comparison: Rates by comparison Rocky Mount’s electric rate is about 36 percent higher in the winter than Progress Energy and…

…If we truly wanted price stabilization, we’d stop wasting time at local city council meetings and NCEMPA meeting.  We’d ask the Governor to get the NC Utility Commission involved…. The N.C. Eastern Municipal Power Agency board approved a 2010 budget nearly identical to this year’s spending plan on Wednesday. The board unanimously voted for a…

The board approved the $705 million 2010 budget Wednesday, according to Olson. Nearly 39 percent of the budget — $274 million — will be used to retire debt, Olson reported. “Based on the assumptions the Agency utilized, there should not be a need for a wholesale power rate increase in the next five years,” Olson…

Murphy wins Kinston mayor’s seat by nose November 03, 2009 9:55 PM The Free Press B.J. Murphy, a 29-year-old businessman who ran and lost the race for Kinston mayor four years ago, ran and won Tuesday, finishing a mere 61 votes ahead of the second-place finisher. Murphy collected 1,337 votes to edge out retired businessman…

List of local agencies around Rocky Mount that can help in some situations with your light bill. Nash County Dept of Social Services  459-1451  contact person is Helen Curry. Edgecombe County Dept of Social Services 985-5086  contact person is Sherwood Pitt. Salvation Army-446-3939 ext 201  Ron Dyson. Christ-CAN Network: 442-0887 Debra Wheeler CBP: 446-0030 contact…

Utilities Working Group Peoples ‘Assembly Outreach Organizing Committee c/o P. O. Box 1339, Rocky Mount, NC 27802 252.977.6834 • 252.442.8123 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For Immediate Release: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009 Contact: Cynthia Jahi 977.6834. or Shafeah M’Balia 442.8123 Light Bill got you down! Do you want answers why your light bill is so high? Come…

Elizabeth City is calculating the effects of Profit from adding a premium to city utilities.  In there study only $15-17 dollars would be saved on average if they did away with the profit motive. Elizabeth City is like all the other 31 towns and cities that buys electricity from ElectriCities.  They sell it at a…

Edwards, CEO of ElectriCities doesn’t lie, he just doesn’t always tell the whole truth. The chief executive officer of Elizabeth City’s electricity supplier acknowledged this week that his recent dire warning about the potential costs of proposed federal “cap-and-trade” legislation didn’t account for offsets that would be available to some residential customers. Graham Edwards, CEO…

As he made his case to voters for what has been termed “the Super Bowl of mayor races,” Republican candidate B.J. Murphy invoked a political superstar: Ronald Reagan. “The question is, sure we’ve got a lot of great things going but you personally, are you better off right now than you were eight years ago?”…

If Fayetteville were starting over, with all the chess pieces right where they are today, there would be no justification for charging some residents for street lights, but not others. That’s why it makes sense for the city to even things up. This is not a good guys vs. bad guys situation. The motives were…