Tarboro's 2nd Monday

The second Monday of every month is the date of the monthly Tarboro town council meeting.

I go simply to be informed. I don't have an agenda, just a curiosity and an interest in the town.

At last night's meeting there was a presentation by Jesse Tilton of ElectriCities.  To tell you the truth, I know very little about the organization or the man, but there are a few people who post comments on this blog and who seem to have definite issues to take up with the man AND the organization.  In any case, apparently his reason for being at last night's meeting was to get the town council members to voice their support for some specific legislative issues.  I guess he was doing what would be called "lobbying".  He talked a lot about rising costs of this and that and how the lending industry is all screwed up which in turn has affected the pocketbooks of many other industries. 

I tried to listen closely to everything he said to be certain I was understanding his (and ElectriCities) position.   Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but what I gathered was that Mr Tilton was very concerned about monetary costs and not so concerned about environmental costs.   In one breath he was asking people to "think globally" to understand how the costs are being affected by trade with China, and yet that global vision seemed to peter off when it came to understanding the mess of an environmental legacy we are leaving our children and grandchildren if we don't bite the bullet and start fixing our energy use problems NOW.   When you talk about keeping costs down for the customers I want to know that everything is being taken into account. I want to know that the "cost" you refer to is more than just dollars and cents in our pockets today.

All in all, his presentation gave me stuff to think about and a reason for further research.

Comments

[Dan]

The ElectriCities Rate Committee will meet June 27 and send its recommendations to the group's board of directors, which will vote on the final wholesale rate. Customers' new rates will take effect this fall. The operators of the coal and nuclear plants who supply power to ElectriCities' 90 members in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia must pass their wholesale materials, production and transportation costs along to their customers. "All the elements needed to generate power are on the rise, and on top of that you've got transportation charges to get them from point A to point B," La Grange Town Manager John Craft said Monday.

Attend this meeting june 27 in rocky mount at the braswell library. John Craft, Sam Noble, Bruce Rose, Scott Stevens, Adam Mitchell, Fred Turnage were all told that fuel costs are increasing AND that Jesse Tilton did a bad refinancing of the debt that is costing us millions, he withheld the information and now it is in the rates. AND he jacked up operational costs there,also in the rates. Call these managers and board members on the carpet and make them tell the WHOLE story. Jesse Tilton was spouting bs at the meeting. There is an active group researching this issue. Read BlueNC and TalkingAboutPolitics and WilsonTimes blog for full research. The entire situation is a travesty. jesse tilton is blaming everyone but himself for the problems and he is the cause.

[JJ, Teresa]

Wilson Times -

jj wrote about the pending electric rate increase in MARCH!! It is under the posts to the paper

teresa wrote in the category "off topic" about Bruce Rose and high rates

[Many]

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/tarboro-nc/TDQ7TPUKC0GTUO9BU

[Craig]

"In any case, apparently his reason for being at last night's meeting was to get the town council members to voice their support for some specific legislative issues. I guess he was doing what would be called "lobbying". He talked a lot about rising costs of this and that and how the lending industry is all screwed up which in turn has affected the pocketbooks of many other industries."

Jesse Tilton was trying to impart to you why your electric rates are going up so dramatically, And will go up even more, putting this town at a competitive disadvantage. The reason it did not click with you is he spins things and talks down to confuse because he is covering the simple truth. Yes, there is pending climate change legislation that DID NOT pass in Congress yet, but more importantly, he refinanced the debt of 32 cities - the almost $3 billion debt for the coal and nuclear plants not due to be paid until 20205 - in a swap and the variable rate rose quickly and started costing millions each month. So, he found out in October, sat around while millions were raking up and then told Sam Noble and his board in March. Now your rates are increasing 3% because of all those interest costs. Just as if you had borrowed on a credit card with an increasing interest rate and saw it happening but did not tell your spouse until it was out of control. So Electricities had to go refinance again and spend more money. You and me and the other tax payers will now pay for it. He was spinning his tale of the home loan industry affecting others like our electric industry instead of telling you straight up what he did. If you don't believe me, ask Sam Noble. Call Ken Raber. Call Bruce Rose.

But if you ask Jesse Tilton you will never get the truth, just rehtoric. And if you don't believe that, ask any legislator.

[Janice]

attend the rate meeting for the 32 eastern cities in rocky mount at 10 am on june 27 at the braswell library and ask for the truth.

[Doris]

http://bluenc.com/jesse-tilton-and-electricities-attempt-to-cover-and-justify

Tarboro gets coverage. Insightful

[Julie]

Smug and arrogant describes Jesse Tilton who treats women employees VERY badly

[Deb]

excellent post today on BlueNC

[Chris]

We need to ask Sam Noble to address this situation with mismanagement.

[Lisa]

Tarboro is a great community. We really need to address this electric rate issue. Mismanagement will ruin our ability to grow in the future.

[allison]

The only oversight for this entity which sets the wholesale rates that get passed to our cities is its Board of Directors, made up of town managers, utility directors, mayors who know very little about the tecnicalities involved in energy policy, economics for the electric industry, trends, regulation. Just ask specific questions and you will see what I mean. This is meant as no offense to them but they are relying on the staff. And what if the staff is not on the up and up with them? That is the case with Jesse Tilton and some of his staff.

So while the other electric providers are regulated by NCUC and the General Assembly for legislation, this group has no expert oversight and clearly some is needed. The board approved a synthetic swap that was a bad decision and has come back to haunt us all with soaring rates.

Attend the rate committee meeting so you can see all of this first hand. Protect Tarboro and its future. Participate and join the call for management change.

[Kevin]

Here is the list of the Board members. If you are progres energy, or duke, would you put any of these folks on your board?

Fred Turnage and Ron Elks could possibly make the cut.

Sam Noble, Town Manager
Strib Boynton, City Manager
Bruce Rose, Mayor, Fireman by profession
Mark Williams, Town Manager
Ron Elks, Utilities Manager
Fred Turnage, Former Mayor, Lawyer
Lacy Wilson, Utilities Board
Bill Seamone, Utility Director
Bob Smith, Council Member, Former Duke Employee
Richard Thomas, Former Mayor, CPA
Jennie Stultz, Mayor, employee of Keep America Beautiful
Linda Story, Town Manager
John Craft, Town Manager
Jerry Cox, former Town Manager

[jj]

I would add Bob Smith since he worked for Duke. He should have a broader understanding.

[William]

Does anyone think it's odd that each of these posts came from the same IP address, yet they each were written by different authors? All of the comments relating to electric rates in the past have also come from this same IP address. Either something fishy is going on here or there is a house filled with electric rate enthusiasts.

[Grassroots of Tarboro]

I, too, had noticed that ALL of the posts came from the same IP address.
This is not the first time that postings on this website regarding ElectriCities appeared to be a "discussion" but on closer examination came from the same IP address. What's up with that?
Although I do desire to be informed about important issues and appreciate it when readers here share what they know, but I can't help but wonder "Why the need to appear as though many different people are posting?".
Perhaps the author of the posts will read this and explain.

[TAEC]

We are an organized group meeting together. Taxpayers Against ElectriCities

[William]

Who is in charge of this group? When do you meet? Where do you meet? I would love to be informed about our community's increasing rate situation and attend a session. Please share more about the group.

[Tom/TAEC]

Several members were together and they were copying the comments the group members made on other sites so they were giving credit to the conversation the members had previously which is how we build interest and gain members.

[Al M.]

I am a retiree from Scotland Neck, Al Manning, I started getting people together in 2006 and we meet in small groups at libraries in about 15 cities. We became more concerned when present employees told us of interrogations, super spending and legal issues.We will be together on the 27th at the electric rate meeting.

[Grassroots of Tarboro]

Thank you, Mr Manning. I will try to be at the Rocky Mount meeting on June 27th and I encourage others interested in the doings of our local energy service provider to do the same.
I appreciate you identifying yourself as it gives a great deal more credibility to the postings. Just one more thing. As TAEC (Taxpayers AGAINST ElectriCities), I know what you are "against", but what are you "FOR"? What are the solutions you are suggesting to fix the problems that now exist?
Perhaps as TAEC, you can also be Taxpayers' Alternative Energy Consortium. If that were the case, I'd be right onboard with you.

[jj]

Hi. I am Janice and I too am part of TAEC and live in Wilson. We are against ElectriCities because of mismanagement over the last 10 years. Mismanagement leading to higher rates. Mismanagement leading to legal settlements that cost us.

We are for comprehensive energy reform, renewable energy technology development and deployment (but a phase in for the cities requirements so we can pay off the debt ElectriCities got us into), energy efficiency.

We will have a comprehensive handout on the 27th.

[Paul Terrell III]

I have to work on the day of the meeting at the library in Rocky Mount. But I am willing to talk to any media that would be willing to talk about ElectriCities.

Paul Terrell III
Terrell III for State House
Republican nominee for the 33rd district-North Carolina State House
4549 Tollington Drive
Raleigh, NC 27604
919-523-0304 Cell