Local Man Sticks It To THE Man

By Sam Bakken in News on Jun 23, 2005 12:25AM

We fucking hate ComEd. They've cut power to the Chicagoist offices five times in the past three months; a couple times while we were in the middle of writing especially for you. And yes, we'd paid them every cent for which they'd asked. Evidently our meter is somehow mixed up with the tenant's next door. He owes ComEd a lot of money (a contractor showed us his bill). The first time it happened we pulled out our financial records and donned our green visor to make sure we'd paid our bill. Then we had to walk down to a payphone to call ComEd because our phone uses electricity. They turned the juice back on within a couple of hours, but with each subsequent shut-off we've had to immediately run outside and explain the situation to a contractor who then turns our power back on and assures us it won't happen again. It hasn't happened lately, but we're sure it will again soon.

Anyway, because of our staunch anti-ComEd monopoly stance, reading this article from the Tribune brought a tear to our anti-corporate eye. John Burton, from the city's North Side, has panels installed on his roof that collect enough solar energy to provide power for his entire home—and then some. He collects so much energy that he sells some of it back to ComEd (apparently 53 homeowners in the city do the same thing). He only makes about $7.50 a month selling electricity to ComEd (and spent approximately $30,000 on his home-energy system), but he's still sticking it to the man.

We don't have the time, expertise or capital to set up a system of our own, but we would if we could. We think any thing that increases self-sufficiency is sexy. So if you want us to lay you, go here to learn how to set up your own solar power system. And go here to find out about incentives available to solar energy users/providers in Illinois. You can use that extra money to buy us breakfast in the morning.