Beginning today it will cost Nashville residents more to turn on their lights than ever before.

Here, let me kick you in the arse while you're on your knees after  being kicked in the cajones - repeatedly - by the last 8 years of failed Republican "leadership" has brought to us....

Higher electricity bills start today

By MICHAEL CASS and MARIA GIORDANO • Staff Writer • October 1, 2008

Beginning today it will cost Nashville residents more to turn on their lights than ever before.
Nashville Electric Service customers' utility rates will go up 15 percent, which will add $12 to $15 to the cost of every 1,000 kilowatts of energy, said Tim Hill, an NES spokesman.

The rate hike couldn't come at a worse time as consumers are already struggling. NES will "just try to encourage our customers to conserve wherever they can," Hill said.

The NES Web site, www.nespower.com, gives tips for saving electricity.

The power bill increase is the result of a 20 percent rate hike passed down from the Tennessee Valley Authority, which supplies power to parts of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.

Fuel costs blamed

It is TVA's largest rate increase in three decades and will affect businesses, factories and almost 8.8 million residents. Skyrocketing costs for coal and other fuel are being blamed for the increase. Drought has also cut back on power from dams, one of the utility's cheapest sources.

Connie Johnson, who sells real estate in Nashville, said the double-digit rate hike is "outrageous," especially at a time when the price of gas, food and other items is also rising quickly.

"It's one more thing," said Johnson, who lives in the Rivergate area.

"There's not going to be any middle class anymore. It's just going to be the wealthy and the rest of us that are barely able to get by."

Metro Councilman Michael Craddock also criticized the increase, saying it would result in more people getting their power cut off because they'll be unable to pay.

"TVA can cut back just like we cut back at home," said Craddock, who represents part of Madison. "People can't take much more of this."

States try to counter hike

To help counter the rate increase for consumers, three Southeastern states will hold sales tax holidays on certain energy-efficient and water-efficient products, from compact fluorescent light bulbs to refrigerators.
Georgia's fourth annual tax holiday starts Thursday and runs through Sunday. North Carolina and Virginia also are participating, said Alex Tapia, program manager for the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance.

Legislation to do the same in Tennessee has been introduced in the General Assembly each of the past two years and will be introduced again next year, Tapia said. State budget constraints have held back the proposal so far.

"Wherever you live, energy costs are going up," Tapia said. "We want to see this across the Southeast. It's not the be-all, end-all, but it's a great piece of the puzzle."