Trend of "Inclining Block Rates"

[ers]

I just got a rather disturbing email from my local city rep. In it the following text stood out and literally made me ill:

2) Inclining block rates in the summer: With most goods and services, the more you buy the less you pay per item. This promotes consumption. We flipped this concept on its head because we don't want to encourage you to buy more energy! We have a progressive structure now in place for energy usage - the more electricity you consume, the higher the rate you have to pay for the additional consumption.

Apparently this trend has been sweeping municipalities for a while now. This statement above, especially the text I've bolded, and the way it's stated so simply, so casually, really alarms me. It reminds me of this Rand quote:

"When men reduce their virtues to the approximate, then evil acquires the force of an absolute, when loyalty to an unyielding purpose is dropped by the virtuous, it’s picked up by scoundrels—and you get the indecent spectacle of a cringing, bargaining, traitorous good and a self-righteously uncompromising evil."

Here's to looking forward to a higher electric bill.

[softwareNerd]

I think our utility company charges this way too. Every month, there is a certain number of Kwh @ 10.8 cents and another number @ 12.1 cents. The size of the base (lower rate) slab changes each month, so I guess it might be adjusted seasonally.

I lived in one city (outside the U.S.) where the utility company charged a lower rate if you could predict what you would use. They had a flat-rate option. Then, they had another option where you could tell them how much energy you were going to use in the year. At the end of the year, they would give you a rebate if you came close to that number. In other words, you paid a slightly higher rate if you underestimated and also if you overestimated. I don't the reasoning behind it. My guess is that they were trying to tie up long term supply contract and were pricing with a premium for deviating from that contract.