Oh, Look, Cleco Is Giving Rebates to Somebody (Not Alexandria)

Reading Bret McCormick's Cleco to speed up rebates to its customers, we couldn't help but feel a little dissed.  What about us?  We wanted a rebate from Cleco, now Jacques M. Roy wants us to pay ourselves for a rebate.  Well, that's kinda how it worked for these Cleco customers too:

The Public Service Commission on Wednesday approved an expedited refund of approximately $160 million in financing costs incurred in the building of Cleco's Rodemacher III power plant in the Boyce area.

Originally, the commission directed Cleco to rebate $33 million the first year, but Wednesday's decision increased that to $78 million.

So let us get this straight.  Holloway is asking Cleco to speed up the return money that they already took from their customers.  We bet those Cleco customers are gonna be really excited to hear that.  Why not return it all now?  Cleco is making billions of dollars.  Cleco executives are making millions of dollars.  Will the rates be any lower?  Doesn't sound like it to us.  Sounds like Cleco is using money that they were supposed to return to make their bills look lower because they lied about lower rates.

"(The) refunds will have a greater impact on customers until Cleco's promised fuel savings of Rodemacher III are evident in monthly bills," which should begin in June, Holloway said.

"The refunds will be adjusted to ensure a larger percentage of the refund to customers in the peak usage months of January, February, June, July, August and September."

For the following three years, Cleco customers will see the rebates only in the peak-usage months, rather than every month.

Then Holloway made an entry into the contest for world's most obvious statements.

Holloway said expediting the refund and condensing the rebates over a shorter time frame will benefit Cleco customers.

Hey, Clyde, why not give Cleco customers back all of their money on the next bill?  What would really help is if Cleco would lower their rates, but instead we get this BS:

"We are pleased to work with the LPSC and particularly Commissioner Holloway to get these refunds in the customers' hands faster than was originally anticipated," Crump said. "This should help our customers in this economic downturn."

Holloway said he had received assurances from Cleco that the implementation of Rodemacher III would give the Pineville-based utility provider the best retail rates in the state.

"Cleco has told me they will have the lowest rate at the end of the year and the cheapest in five years because of Rodemacher III," Holloway said.

One word:  Chump.