Some guy from some power company came to the door today. He got three words into his script before I said no thanks and shut the door. Not interested in execising my right to choose where I get my electricity and power from. Since we’re living in a vibrant market economy it’s safe to say that (cheap + poor service) = (expensive + good service) and that (my time spent dealing with poor service) = (expensive – cheap). In other words there’s no point. Bye-ee.
But it got me thinking about how you could introduce some choice into this farce. Howabout a power company that charges you a lower rate if you use less and a higher rate if you use more, rather like how the income tax system works. Say a unit of electricity costs 10p at the moment and the average household uses 150 units per month. (I’m making this up btw). If you use 100 units you pay 5p per unit, for the next 100 units you pay 10p per unit and any units above that 15p per unit. This would encourage people to insulate their houses, have shorter showers, turn off lights in empty rooms and (ahem) not leave their computers on all night ripping DVDs. Of course living in this modern age it’s hard to economise on electricity so the power company shouldn’t loose out too much. Maybe some kind of government subsidy might be in order.
And of course it doesn’t fit in with the prevailing consumer culture where people are encouraged to buy more to earn discounts, but maybe that’s the point. Choosing between a discount for using more or a discount for using less – that’d be real choice.
