That's the egg producer, not the restaurant.

Yes, egg prices are insane.

Except if you look back at 2020, their net income was down what, 25%? I bet a whole lot of maintenance got extended during that time, a whole bunch of really experienced people got let go, and ton of work fell behind. Looks like the cause of the crash might be a failed wheel bearing on one of the cars. They have about 6.5 million rail cars (Wikipedia), with at least 8 bearings each, so 52 million bearings. It takes a week to change a wheel, so I imagine a bearing takes that long too. Looks like some rail wheel bearings last 50 years (per Timken bearings), with reconditioning every 10. So that means that every year, 10% get at least reconditioned or 5.2 million bearings should have been serviced that year. Something tells me they fell behind, and this is the result. Maintenance failures aren't instant - they accumulate over time like skipping oil changes in your car. It's fine until it isn't.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

No not at all. I've worked for companies that cut "culture" events or stick two traveling managers in the same EconoLodge room when traveling to save a buck. You know what happens when those sort of cost cutting measures are implemented? Corners get cut on safety next when they try and squeeze their dollars by stretching maintenance windows, and people get hurt or killed. I've seen it twice working for big companies, and its the first thing I look for to start sending out resumes. It's a spiral that is extremely difficult to pull out of.

Who do you want to do it? What should they get paid? You don't like this guy, but I bet you didn't like the last guy either and he raised a rate that actually went to their profits. The January rate increase was strictly COGS.

Egg prices go up = omelette prices go up. Doesn't mean the restaurant made more money. At least with the regulated utility, there's transparency in the rates via PURA.

Edit: a word

Yes. Last year he got paid around $14MM, and they have 4.4 M customers.

$14,000,000 yearly salary / 4,400,000 customers = $3.18 per customer per year. $3.18 / 12 months = $0.265 per customer per month.

He doesn't get paid separately for electric, gas and water customers in 3 states. It's his total salary to run the 358th largest company in the country.

>there need to be regulations in place that cap the profits these companies can make

There is. There are. Ever notice that their net profits are almost exactly 12% of revenue every single year? Companies that are raking it in are above 20%, and struggling companies are around 5%. They're a nice, happy medium. You don't want your power company struggling to pay their bills, it's how people get killed like with PG&E or Columbia Gas.

Revenue is almost exclusively tied to usage (they have some investments that are outside rates). When you use more, they make more. What direction are all consumer goods going? Electric cars instead of gas, electric lawnmowers instead of gas, electric heat pumps instead of propane or oil, the entire economy is becoming electrified. What did you think was going to happen?

MBA student. He's doing exactly what he's paid to do.

Their earnings per share last year was $2.55. Start buying shares and you can pay your electric bill with their money if it makes you feel better.

Misleading title for anyone who bothered to read the article. His pay as CEO did not double. His pay is double from what it was in his prior job as not-CEO. He's only been in the job a year.

Something to think about while you all are sharpening your pitchforks, his paycheck going to zero means you save $0.25 per month.

https://www.eversource.com/content/ct-c/residential/outages/estimated-times-of-restoration

>I’m a little confused. So what exactly are we protesting then?

Exactly the point, there is none. Save the protests for when the delivery rates go up like 2020. They aren't allowed to make a profit on supply costs by law. (IIRC)

That's not how it works. The supply rate (cost of electricity that Eversource/UI buys) is a pass through cost. By regulation, power companies purchase electricity every 6 months from the power generating companies. That rate went up for a variety of reasons. The delivery side (the part they make money on) didn't change.

The cost of electricity went up following the global impacts of the Ukraine war and the northeast's reliance on natural gas, which was the primary export of Russia. Europe is dependent on Russian gas, and when they cut the supply the gas had to come from everywhere else. This limited supply and raised prices, and the capacity bottleneck in the northeast further exasperated the problem. The utilities have been warning this would happen for months. Eversource's CEO sent a public letter to Biden asking for help: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/eversource-ceo-seeks-emergency-order-by-biden-to-ensure-gas-supplies-as-new/635356/

Switching suppliers makes absolutely zero impact to Eversource. Supply rate is a pass through - no profit.