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This is on my natural gas bill, Research and Development (R&D) Adjustment. the description states “The R&D Adjustment provides funding for R&D programs.”

Hmmm, what R&D is NYSEG doing for gas delivery? What other business can break out their R&D charges? In most businesses, R&D is considered a cost of doing business and not directly charged to the consumer, instead it is part of the business’ normal fees. Why is this different for energy companies?!?!

The electric and gas companies have started to charge a “Bill Issuance Charge”. For my local supplier, NYSEG, the charge is 76 cents per month. when I questioned this, I was told that this fee is charged to every customer regardless of whether they get paper or electronic billing and the only way to remove this charge is by selecting an ESCO.

Their reasoning is “Charge to cover the cost to produce and send a bill and to process payment.” Ummm, if I tried to charge this fee to my customers, I’d be laughed out of business! So, why are we just sitting here taking it up the rear!

The Revenue Decoupling Mechanism is yet another electricity charge that is a below the line profit center for the electricity utilities. Here are the statements from the NYS PSC:

On May 2, 2003, the Public Service Commission
initiated a proceeding to investigate potential electric delivery rate
disincentives against the promotion of energy efficiency, renewable technologies
and distributed generation as part of an overall state program to facilitate
customer access to existing and developing technologies for the clean production
and/or conservation of energy. Subsequently in 2006, the Commission established
a separate proceeding expanding its inquiry to include the gas utilities.

on April 18, 2007, the Commission today determined that properly designed
utility revenue decoupling mechanisms are needed at this time to address
potential disincentives to utilities’ promoting and implementing more efficient
energy use. The utilities will develop mechanisms that true-up forecast and
actual delivery service revenues resulting in significantly reduced or
eliminated disincentives caused by the ongoing recovery of utility fixed
delivery costs via volumetric (per kWh) rates and marginal consumption blocks.
The true-up would include, among other things, any net lost revenues
attributable to the achievement of more efficient energy use. The true-up would
be considered no less frequently than once per year.

So, because consumers have been buying the more expensive energy efficient CFLs and other Energy Star rated devices at the insistence of the electric companies and government, the electric companies petitioned the PSC to create a new fee that recovers their loss of profits. This is total Bulls$%t and should not be allowed. No other business is allowed to charge consumers because their product is being used less, why shoudl the electric companies? 

The FUSF is a federal fund managed by the FCC that all phone companies pay into. The goal of the fund is to make phone service affordable and available to all Americans, including consumers with low incomes, those living in areas where the costs of providing telephone service is high, schools and libraries and rural health care providers.

From the FCC’s description:

Although not required to do so by the government, many carriers choose to pass their contribution costs on to their customers in the form of a line item, often called the “Federal Universal Service Fee” or “Universal Connectivity Fee.”

The current incarnation of the FUSF was introduced into tax law created by United States Congress, via the FCC in 1998. Title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 36, 54, and 69.

The Regulatory Charge that you see on your cell phones is actually imposed by the Cell Phone carrier itself. Some carriers included the cost for Local Number Portability in this charge.

There is no solid documentation as to what the regulatory charge funds go to and the cell phone companies require you to call customer service for more information. It is widely noted that the money colleted with this Charge simply goes to the cell phone company’s bottom line.

There is no Government requirement for this fund.

This fee is paid to the states. The states charge cell phone companies a “Franchise Fee” and is levied on all intrastate telephone services. The telephone companies pass that fee on to its customers through the use of a Gross Receipt Surcharge or Tax.

It must be nice to be able to add a line item for your customers to pay for your normal business expenses.

This is also known as the Competitive Transition Charge (CTC), depending on your state.

The difference between the market price of electricity and the price of your electric company’s long-term electricity supply contracts (may be positive or negative). Whether you pick your electric company or an ESCO for your electricity supply, you may see a transition charge line item on your bill. The transition charge may be fixed or variable depending on the electricity supply pricing option you choose.

This is a state regulated charge.

The idea behind this charge is to offset the actual cost of the market value of electricity vs the price you agreed to pay.

A state-mandated charge per kwh. The SBC is used to fund energy efficiency programs, assistance for low-income customers and energy research.

A state mandated charge per kwh. The RPS is used to fund renewable energy projects to achieve the RPS targets established by the Public Service Commission.

This fee “moderates” natural gas bills during any extreme weather between October 1 and May 31 (in NYS). If temperatures during the billing period are colder than normal, customers typically receive a credit; if temperatures are warmer than normal, customers receive a charge.