In the last few years the citizens of Lubbock have been the victims of a hostage taking. We unabashedly gave away the freedom, which can only be found in the free enterprise economy. We stepped quietly aside, while our elected officials took a pro-monopolizing standpoint, when it came to the LP&L/Excel merger. We allowed LP&L to mobilize a propaganda campaign in our community, as if they were a private entity, and slowly marinate our minds in all of the great things that LP&L has done for us. This is a lie. LP&L has received a great deal of money in the form of subsidies and tax incentives. This means that anything LP&L has done for you personally, quite honestly, you have paid for already. After all isn't this company owned by the citizens of Lubbock? In the wake of the merger between LP&L and Excel energy locally, the service seems to have taken a serious dive.
I have lived in Lubbock for six years and dealt with LP&L for only about half of that time, thankfully. However, those three years, I can honestly say have absolutely been some of the most stress filled dealings that I have ever had with any company. On one occasion in particular, I had been on hold for forty-five minutes and right when I'm ready to hang up the phone, someone answers. I think to myself , "finally I will be able to put this to bed.", but alas my hope was shattered when a voice crackled over the line only to respond to my relief with a hateful, " What?! " , not hi, my name is ---- how may I help you today, or even just how can I help you. Now this did not put my angst at ease after the lengthy forty-five minute wait and listening to their absolutely retched recordings of classical music. No, it made my blood boil and that day I began to ponder over many of the issues concerning LP&L. In many cases they treat people as if they are there for nothing more than constantly refreshing the piles of money that they spend on new vehicles, and other perks. This company is little more than a government shill.
Now, what do they really mean when they say that LP&L is owned by the people? Well basically there is really only one thing they can mean, socialism. I mean isn't that the very definition of socialism when the people own the means of production. Over the decades I think we have learned one thing, if anything, these Utopian ideas while sounding great do not function well and are easily corrupted. Do not be mistaken, corruption is a disease, one that must be met with action. One of the things that I have learned in my life is this, where corruption exists so shall hubris. In my mind hubris is a symptom of corruption, and typically follows an infection like a fever. At this point in time, I personally believe that the city of Lubbock and her citizens are being held captive by an entity of our own making. A beast that has grown and will continue to grow too unimaginable proportions and wields an unchecked power.
I propose, simply this. We take LP&L, and over the next few years we audit the books, with an independent auditing firm of course. This would do a few things; it would give us an idea of what an earnings statement really looks like for the year, and give us a truly honest, and up to date, value for the company. At which point I believe every citizen should have to make a choice. That choice would be this; to take the company and at the very least split it back up to foster some competition; to sell it off to private entities and attempt to make a profit, or at least to regain the losses to the taxpayers.
This company while well intended has become a big, blue and white, ball and chain dragging Lubbock into an endless abyss of economic despair. It is a never ending crisis for them, even though they are the only game in town. Remember that when there was a proposed tax increase, our city officials chose to raise your rates instead, but really is it not the same thing. Have you had enough? I have...
Chad Rice from Facebook entry
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