A Bargain at Twice the Price—but Not at More Than Twice

The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.

NOTE: The excerpt below is from the Oct. 9 BOTW archives.

A Bargain at Twice the Price–but Not at More Than Twice
Great news if you get your electricity from Ohio Edison. FirstEnergy Corp., its parent company, “is sending two energy-efficient light bulbs to all of its residential customers.” Oh, but there’s a catch:

The utility will charge customers about 60 cents a month for three years in exchange for delivering the compact fluorescent bulbs to the door or mailbox.

The average residential customer will pay $21.60 over three years for the two 23-watt CFLs, which are equivalent to 100-watt incandescent bulbs.

Retailers sell the CFLs for about $9 a pair.

Ellen Raines, a FirstEnergy spokeswoman, said the utility is permitted to recoup the cost of the bulbs, their delivery and the power that the customer would have used if they didn’t install the bulbs.

This sweet deal for FirstEnergy was of course approved by the state Public Utilities Commission. It’s a win-win, saving energy while swelling company coffers. The only losers in the deal are the ratepaying public.

Oh well, at least it’s not as if they’re forcing people to buy insurance or anything.

For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.