Fair Share Speaker Urges Support for Flat Rates

Voting yes on Question 7 on the up-coming November ballot would result in lower electricity costs for homeowners and small businesses and "begin to set a precedent for the redistribution of wealth in this country," Michael Ansara '68 told 16 students in Lowell House last night.

Ansara, a former organizer of Harvard SDS and associate director of Mass Fair Share, a state-wide consumer action organization, said Question 7, if approved, would establish a flat rate system of charges for electricity.

He said that change would abolish the current rate structure which favors large consumers including big industry.

A uniform rate system, he said, would raise rates for large consumers, thus encouraging them to conserve energy and result in a yearly savings of $30 to $48 for homeowners.

Industry opponents to a flat-rate system charge that higher electricity rates for large businesses would weaken the already depressed Massachusetts economy and eliminate thousands of jobs.

Ansara cited figures that show electricity costs for large consumers account for only 1 to 2 per cent of their overall budgets.