When I drive downtown, I pass an intersection near the WVU basketball coliseum. There is a large sign in front with the words, HOPE COLISEUM. Hope Gas bought naming rights for a lot of money to advertise their natural gas which does not need advertising because we have no choice when we use natural gas in our homes. Hope is the only gas company in our area with no other competition. It is great that they wish to support the athletic teams but at whose expense.
This last Winter we had a couple of very cold months. We have had colder but not lately. My gas bill for those two months was over $900.00, which is the highest I have ever paid. I could afford the bill but have many friends and others that had to give up something like groceries or medicine to pay their gas bill. We have new gas wells everywhere and the fracking water trucks are traveling constantly to service them. With all of the drilling and new wells you would think that gas should be cheaper but apparently, we are being asked to pay for all of the new drilling as well as the gas we use.
Our Public Service Commission has approved raise after raise for both the gas utility and the electric companies causing our home use to become an expense of owning a home too much for many. We see the same with the water and sewage rates doubling in a very short time asking users to pay for their expansion into new developments. Years ago, I recommended to a county commissioner that the county assess infrastructure fees for each new building lot sold to cover the costs that we, the users are being asked to cover. People that are building new homes or business structures are getting a free ride for the utilities they are hooking up to. Of course, the politicians might have a problem with donations from the developers and builders if they add a new tax to new construction but forgetting about the tax paying users of the same utilities doesn't seem to bother them.
There has to be a point in time when needed utilities are brought back to the time when they were affordable and regulated as nearly nonprofit. Home ownership has fallen because of the housing price increase and the cost of new construction. But when you add the cost of utilities and taxes it moves them even farther away from many. Politicians and those appointed to commissions have to rethink their responsibilities that they are working for the working public and not for the elected officials and developers. We need a change in direction for the cost of utilities now and not letting them give large amounts of our hard-earned money for naming rights on a sport's arena.
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