POWER IN CITY HALL, AND POWER IN YOUR HOUSE

I take back all the nasty things I said about Tampa Electric Company being expensive when I lived in Winter Haven. I thought that I was getting robbed every month when receiving my electric bill then, but that's nothing compared to the screwing that comes from Lakeland Electric, our city-owned utility service.

Lakeland Electric is one of the most expensive utilities in Florida, and it's fiscal management practices leave much to be desired.

There are two stories in today's Lakeland Ledger dealing with Lakeland Electric: A scenario of "good news/bad news" in regard to rates for customers, and the Utility Committee which is appointed by the City Commission is being expanded to include one minority and one female representative...but the Commission squawked about it and ended up approving the idea in a 4-3 vote. They had recently added four men to what had previously been a committee made up of the seven City Commissioners.

Maybe two or three regular folks could provide some well needed representation to this Chamber of Commerce offshoot...