If utilities are regulated by the government on what they can charge

[Winterblues]

How can they pass on to consumers the Carbon cap tax unless the Government okay's it? There was a guy on the Rachael Maddow show a couple nights ago saying utilities would just pass the tax on to consumers which would cause their electric bills to jump over forty percent. Rachael asked him why he thought consumers should foot the bill for their pollution. He didn't answer other than by saying consumers will have to suffer if the cap is passed. I don't buy his argument for one second..

[tangent90]

1. They virtually always get the increases they request from state corporation regulators.

Actually they ask for more than they expect then "settle" for less.

[sandnsea]

2. Then people better organize

and make sure they implement the changes so that they don't have to pay the tax. They alway say the consumer has the power when the government wants to regulate on the other end.

They always have an argument to do absolutely nothing except kill us.

[Spouting Horn]

3. Of course they're

going to pass this tax on to consumers, like every other business.

Does anyone really think the electric co's have such fat margins that they could eat a huge tax like this, and continue to operate profitably?

[Winterblues]

5. Just how huge is it?

What do you know about it that is not available to the general public? As far as I can tell they can buy and sell their pollution allotments, If they are a responsible company they should be able to sell their Carbon offsets and actually make money. If they continue to have a huge carbon footprint they will have to pay for that excess. Why should consumers pay for their negligence?

[elifino]

4. Either the customer's pays or the taxpayer will subsidize

They will pass on the cost of this misguided concept, somebody is going to end up making a lot of money on the carbon trading concept and I guaranty it will not be the general public.