This post is about my home being disconnected from the electric grid. Everyone misunderstands why I disconnected, so first a few words for context.

I’m not an environmentalist. Environmentalists make my skin crawl. I disconnected for a few reasons.

First, I don’t want to hurt people without their consent.

Polluting and depleting hurt people without their consent, therefore I try to avoid polluting and depleting.

Second, polluting and depleting violate the Constitution by depriving people of life, liberty, and property without due process of law, as well as the Declaration, which says that for a government to be just requires the consent of the governed. This nation has a cancer alley, death mile, and other sacrifice zones, as well as many other ways people are deprived of life, liberty, and property without their consent. They also violate property values as understood by the founders, ratifiers, and public.

Third, just because this nation doesn’t enforce its own Constitution and Declaration doesn’t mean I don’t honor these founding documents. We as a nation and species can stop polluting and depleting, the only way to “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” or the equivalent in other countries. To enforce the Constitution and Declaration after over a century of promoting the opposite means changing our culture, which requires leadership. You can’t lead others to live by values you don’t live by yourself. So I’m living these values.

Come to think of it, I say the above enough that I’ll copy it into a post of its own.

Money returned from allegedly fraudulent overbilling

People complain about high costs of electricity, which I hear is rising on account of artificial intelligence increasing demand. Those of us who honor the Constitution and Declaration, which I understand is mostly me in the US, don’t have electric bills. As an aside, do you know who else didn’t have electric bills? A few names that come to mind: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Abraham Lincoln. Even Benjamin Franklin, who advanced the science of electricity and magnetism didn’t.

Paying zero dollars per month fits my budget, all the more when combined with the savings on food and buying appliances. As if that savings weren’t enough, out of the blue, I received a check with an explanation that several electric companies settled with New York State for overcharging customers.

So not only have I not paid an electric bill in years, I received money back!

If they overcharged, the money back would seem to be my own money, so not a windfall, but I enjoyed depositing the check. I also note that simplifying my life reduces ways government and corporations can defraud me or otherwise mess with me. That’s more liberty. That’s more freedom.

From the NY State Government:

The New York State Public Service Commission entered into a settlement agreement with nine energy service companies (ESCOs) affiliated with NRG for alleged violations of the state’s Uniform Business Practices and a 2016 Commission order limiting ESCO service to low-income customers.

The settlement requires the nine affiliated companies to collectively pay $50 million in billing adjustments to approximately 278,000 current and former residential and small commercial customers and over $900,000 in bill adjustments for certain low-income customers who were allegedly mistakenly enrolled in ESCO service.