Residents in the Charlotte area have been dealing with drought for some time now.  And a credit to these people is that when faced with water shortages most people have done their part to conserve water for the greater good.  In fact, they've done such a good job that the local water utlity is facing a $15 million drop in revenues becuase people are using less water.

Their solution?  Why, to jack-up everyone's monthly water and sewer rates of course!

There's something worse as well.  See, utilities make money from two major sources: monthly service charges and penalties.  Actually, they make a lot of money from penalties.  So with the drop in revenues they are going to institute a new multi-tiered penalty system to help them make more money.

The whole situation is shocking.  Step back an look at the big picture.  A community faces a water crisis and takes action, then are rewarded with higher water rates.  And be honest, who will bear the burden of the stricter penalty system?  The poorest segment of population who already had trouble paying their bills.  By increasing rates and penalties the water utility can easily make-up for lost revenues out of the pockets of Charlotte's low-income households.

How charming.

So why should we care?  Well, this may very well be an example of what we can all expect in the future.  Save too much water: pay more.  Save too much electricity: pay more.  Knowing that more extreme weather patterns are likely to become a reality, many parts of the world will be facing drought/flood resource management issues.

People should be ecouraged to conserve water, energy and fuel.  Give them a discount on their water bill.  The utilities should be receiving funding to offset the loss in revenue.  Tax every new SUV with a $5,000 environmental charge and use that to offset utility losses.  Hit the pocketbooks of the rich with an SUV tax, not the pocketbooks of the poor with a multi-tiered penalty system.

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