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CAT Tracks for October 8, 2009
KEEP THE CHANGE |
With the exception of the impending floods...
The past couple of days have been sloooooooooooooow in the news department. Ever so often, these respites occur by the grace of the cyber-gods...allowing you a rare opportunity to catch up on your reading and empty your over-flowing e-mail box.
Then, out of the blue (or the gray overcast) comes another story of the absurd that I am always compelled to share...
The big headline on the KFVS Breakfast Show today..."Ameren Gives Back".
I hope - for the sake of Missouri Ameren customers - that there is something missing from this story, or that I am misreading it.
FORTY CENTS per month...for three months!?
Maybe...hopefully...that forty cents per month is forty cents PER GALLON, forty cents PER KILOWATT, forty cents PER SOMETHING. Surely it's not simply forty cents PER MONTH.
Can you imagine what it has/will cost to generate that refund?
On the other hand...
Just a few months ago, Aflac sent me a letter informing me that I had not cashed a check that they had sent me a couple of weeks prior...a check for $0.61. I shook my head and tossed the kindly notice. Two weeks later, another letter arrives...reminding me once more of my failings.
Think about it...in this time of teeth-gnashing over exploding health-care costs and a controversial government solution to the millions of people without health insurance...
FORTY-FOUR CENTS to send me a $0.61 refund. FORTY-FOUR CENTS to nag me for not cashing the check. FORTY-FOUR CENTS to harass me into "clearing their books". Do the math...
Happily for me, I got the last laugh!
I honestly did not cash the 61-cent check, because I didn't remember the check...did not know where it was or if it even existed.
HEY, my (retired) time is worth more than 61 cents...thus my failure to jump when Aflac spoke.
HOWEVER, one thing I cannot abide is harassment...especially over petty crap. So, I went digging...
Damned if I didn't find their 61-cent check. They were right...all along! My bad!! BUT, REALLY...talk about your much ado about nothing!!!
The answer to one question gave birth to another. Since my pension is direct deposited, am I really going to drive to the First National Bank and cash a 61-cent check...AND get laughed at???
Been there, done that...
Got some other refund a few months back...for like $1.17.
One bright, sunny Friday afternoon, I got my daily dose of cabin fever. Climbed into the car, drove down to the First Bank, entered the drive-through lane, and put my $1.17 check into the little plastic container and hit the send button. Next thing I know, the teller is laughing...brazenly bringing into her comic relief the teller at the other window. I did not have to wonder for long at what prompted this moment of gaiety. As the teller carefully inserted the envelop containing my $1.17 into the plastic container, she laughingly blurted "Evidently YOU have a BIG weekend planned!"
Ha, ha, ha...
Yes, I digressed.
To complete my "Happily-Ever-After Story"...
After setting the treasured 61-cent check aside, I decided to use the opportunity to finish organizing the stack of medical documents that had contained the prize.
Well, lookey here...ANOTHER uncashed check from Aflac...this one for $60.00...sent to me like 6-months earlier!
Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!
I gleefully endorsed the TWO checks (totaling $60.61), drove to the First Bank, and cashed them...with nary a snicker from the tellers. I cackled all the way home.
Footnote...
You know the one thing that I didn't find during my search?
Well, make that two things...
There were NO REMINDERS for the $60 check!
Two reminders for a 61-cent check...none for a $60 check.
As they say, the Lord works in mysterious ways...
From the KFVS TV Channel 12 Website...
AmerenUE Electric Customers Receive Credit for Lower Fuel Costs
Fuel Adjustment Clause Lowers Customers’ Electric Bills
Starting this month, AmerenUE’s Missouri electric customers will see a credit on their bills due to the company’s first billing adjustment factor under the Fuel Adjustment Clause (FAC).
On an annualized basis, the average credit for residential customers is expected to be approximately 40 cents per month. However, the exact amount each customer receives will vary based on the customer’s energy usage. The credit will appear on customers’ bills as a new line item, shown as the “Rider FAC Adjustment.” The FAC will change three times a year—October, February and June.
The adjustment is made with MoPSC oversight and is not directly associated with any full rate-case process. Had net base fuel costs been higher than those in base rates, the line item would appear as a charge instead of a credit.
Approved by the Missouri Public Service Commission (MoPSC) in January 2009 to be effective March 2009, the FAC allows UE to respond to changes in net base fuel costs by seeking recovery of higher fuel costs or by crediting customers if fuel costs drop—as they did between March and May of 2009, the period on which this adjustment is based.
In contrast, UE’s pending rate case reflects higher net base fuel costs for the full test year in the case—April 2008 through March 2009, as updated through January 2010. The level of net base fuel costs in base rates is reset every time UE files for an electric rate case.
AmerenUE, founded in 1902, provides electric and gas service to approximately 1.2 million customers across central and eastern Missouri, including the greater St. Louis area. UE serves 57 Missouri counties and 500 towns. The company's electric rates are among the lowest in the nation. For more information, visit www.ameren.com.
