So here is how utility rates actually work - they only raise rates when their costs increase. The model favors capital investment in infrastructure because once they are in the “rate base” they earn on the asset until it is retired. This is a public process. It’s not a back room deal where they hand “more and more profits”. And those infrastructure assets aren’t public. They are owned by the corporations that build, maintain and operate them.

Government utilities are the ones that underinvest - the politicians don’t want to raise rates until it’s way too late and things are falling apart.

And the corporations don’t win anything. Their stockholders do. And lots of utility stocks are owned in retirement funds due to the stability.

Please read what I wrote. The PUC caps the profit any given utility can make as part of the rate making process. Electric rates are high because most of our electricity is generated with natural gas. Natural gas prices, like all fossil fuel prices, have risen dramatically recently.

As I’ve stated elsewhere in this thread, utilities pass the commodity through at no markup according to state law. They make no money on the gas or the electricity itself - they pass it through at cost. Their income generating opportunity comes from fixed monthly fees and generation/transmission charges which are priced per quantity used.

There is one additional complexity. PA has not passed tort reform for medical malpractice. As a result, awards are basically unlimited and up to jury discretion.

That makes malpractice insurance for private practices VERY expensive. Large conglomerates like UPMC and AHN pool the risk and may even self insure to some degree.

Local doctors just can’t afford it. I have a buddy that was a urologist. He was paying over 750K a year for malpractice insurance in PA for a 5 doctor private practice group almost 10 years ago. He moved to a midwestern state that had reasonable tort reform in place and paid $400K for a 7 doctor private practice in the same field.

Those malpractice insurance costs are driving a lot of doctors to sell.

The CEO I know made significantly less than the figures you quoted. One of the largest electric utilities in the country - Southern California Edison - their ceo made $3.16M in total comp in 2021. That CEO ran a $14.9B company that year. Doesn’t seem out of whack to me.

Only 629K of that 3.16M was base salary.

All non-government owned utilities are regulated by the Pennsylvania public utilities commission, which is an arm of the state government. That’s better oversight than most industries get on fees. Your local bank can charge whatever it wants for your checking account. The free market will determine whether they’re successful or not.

Your local utility does not have that same freedom. Every rate change is scrutinized in a public rate making process the plays out in Harrisburg. As a customer you have the right to attend the hearings if you choose. I realize most won’t ever go. But it’s available. Which is more than most industries have in terms of price oversight.

It will vary by company. The larger the company, the higher the comp. Same as any other industry. I do know one utility CEO personally. This CEO’s compensation is 40% salary and 60% bonus and stock awards at the discretion of the board based on annual and multi year goals. These goals include not just financial measures, but measures of safe operations (employee injury counts) as well as reliability and customer service/satisfaction metrics.

I work close to this industry. The minimum monthly charge and the commodity usage charges work together to provide the revenue for the utility. The rate of return is capped by the Pennsylvania public utilities commission. It’s a package deal.

Alternative viewpoint - minimum fees for things like utilities are rising because as energy efficiency and conservation rises, commodity use is falling. The pipes, wires and other infrastructure still need to be built and maintained and utilities collect money one of two ways - flat monthly charges and usage fees based on metered consumption. As metered consumption falls, the fixed fees will rise.

Europe has had structures like this for years and their utilities are better maintained and funded as a result.

There is unfortunately no free ride here. We’ve under invested in our infrastructure for so long, it’s time to pay the bill.

Except all of the privately owned utilities and investor owned utilities are regulated by the PA PUC, which sets a maximum allowable return on the invested capital (fancy way to say - max profit that can be earned).

The local govt owned utilities are all so woefully behind on maintenance and upkeep since the politicians never want to raise rates (both parties guilty here). So when they are forced to sell or raise rates dramatically, prices rise as the new owners make the required investments.

There are two components of a gas or electric bill. One portion is the commodity itself - by PA law the utility makes no money on the commodity - it’s a pass thru. Natural gas prices have surged due to a number of factors including the war in Ukraine. Since quite a bit of our electricity is also generated by natural gas, the gas cost increases impact electricity too. There is a quarterly adjustment to the price that the PUC approves to make sure the utility is making no money on the commodity.

The remainder of the bill is a flat fee (approved by the PUC), as well as transmission and distribution charges (also approved by the PUC). Utilities have massive investments in the pipes, wires and other infrastructure that delivers the commodities to your homes. That infrastructure costs money to build and maintain. The providers of the capital to build that infrastructure are guaranteed a rate of return in order to invest due to the long payback period on the investment (20-30 years in some cases). That rate of return is set by the PUC and managed through a public rate making process - you can literally attend the hearings in Harrisburg if you wish.

Utilities rarely get everything they ask for in a rate case and often settle for less - resulting in less than optimal maintenance of this vital infrastructure.

Unfortunately we are paying for years of under investing. No one is getting rich on this - in fact quite a bit of utility stock is held in retirement funds by unions and other group investors due to its stable steady return.

Source - I work close to this industry.

Not true. You can transfer the old plate to the new car. There are certain ranges of plates that are being retired due to the peeling issue and Harrisburg won’t approves a transfer for those ranges. But if the old plate is not in those ranges, it can be transferred. It’s cheaper to transfer than get a brand new plate.

Pensgear at the UPMC Lemieux sports complex in cranberry township will be open all weekend - there is a huge youth hockey tournament up there this weekend and the womens professional hockey teams are playing there Saturday and Sunday too.

Imagine the military grade equipment the PSP could buy when they divert the weed tax to them.

If you are transferring registration into PA from out of state, you have 7 days from the time the vehicle is registered in PA to get the inspection. You have to do the registration first - they need it to do the inspection.

OP said “renewing registration” though, so this likely doesn’t apply.

Doesn’t have to be a crash scene or an emergency. One pickup truck with a flashing light on top that belongs to a highway worker who stopped to pickup a shredded tire is enough to trigger it.

Move over, slow down. The signs are everywhere.

They challenge the races where they lose. But the same ballots and processes are used for the races that they win. Odd how the fraud is only limited to the parts of the ballot used to defeat republiturds.

/s