ComEd For Dummies
I just got a letter from ComEd today trying to sell me on a rate deferral plan. This pisses me off. They are playing off the consumer culture that has permeated the USA and this idiotic notion that paying later is a fine way to be able to afford something that you can’t afford now. If you can’t afford the extra $14.40 a month now, you WILL NOT be able to afford the extra $80.00 come the end of the year. I suppose if you were to take a little extra money each month and stick it into a money market account that made more than the 3.25% interest that ComEd is charging you for your loan, you could do ok. But make no mistake, ComEd is giving you a loan. You are increasing your bill even more by taking advantage of it. They make it look like they are giving you $8.40 off your bill, but you still have to pay it… with interest.
This is a self serving ploy on the part of ComEd to take some of the heat off themselves for increasing rates 24%. And then to have the gall to charge interest on top of it. The only people who are going to fall for this ploy are the ones who can least afford it. If they really cared about their public image they would have amortized their total rate increase over the next 5 years. Of course maybe this is the amortized rate… now that would be scary.