Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Public utilities and price discrimination: the need for non-promotional electric rates in Detroit Edison's domestic service classification. Testimony and exhibits before the Michigan Public Service Commission, January 19, 1972

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:7320229

The document includes the testimony and exhibits of J. Musial before the Michigan Public Service Commission in support of Detroit Model Neighborhood citizens and the Consumer Alliance of Michigan, January 19, 1972. This study identifies a need for non-promotional rates in Edison's ''domestic service'' rate classification. The present promotional block rate schedules are highly regressive, with Detroit inner city residents paying excessively high per unit rates to fund the quantity discounts of the relatively well-off. These promotional block rate schedules were instituted several decades ago, at a time when it was considered advisable to promote the use of electricity to increase utilization of the company's capacity and thus reduce unit costs. Today, however, unit costs are adversely affected by the continuous need for new plant capacity to keep pace with growing demand. Promotional pricing schedules only aggravate this cost spiral. These papers constitute what should be considered a ''citizen study.'' The ''vested interests'' represented in this study are the concerns for equity, justice, and environmental quality held by the citizens of Detroit's Model Neighborhood and low-income, low-electricity-consuming families throughout the thirteen-county region served by Edison.

Research Organization:
Detroit City Plan Commission, MI (USA). Social Planning Div.
OSTI ID:
7320229
Report Number(s):
NP-22168
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English