Oklahoma State House passes bill that would require people who put up solar panels and wind turbines to be energy independent to still pay a fee to the energy utility companies! Seriously, WTF? Has this become a big enough issue in Oklahoma that it’s seriously hitting their profits?

Yet, we are in an economy where the government can tell us that we must buy certain products whether we want to or not. Combine that with companies that use armies of lobbyists for rent-seeking, and this is what results. Markets are supposed to force innovation through seeking a better product to sell to more people. Corrupt markets destroy innovation unless through carefully controlled oligarchies of companies.

It’s worse when the consumers are getting punished for doing what they’ve been told is responsible behavior. Here in Florida we have Water Management Districts. The one responsible for where I live is the Southwest Florida Water Management District, colloquially referred to as SwiftMud (and that should tell you a great deal). About a decade ago, when we were in a severe drought SwiftMud kept telling the residents to conserve water. We did it so well, that they had to raise water rates to maintain the proper revenue streams to the utility companies/organizations.

Please tell me again how giving monopolies to utilities makes things better?

H/t Jay G