In response to:

This Company is Harnessing the Cheapest Energy on Earth

Roger116 Wrote: Feb 23, 2013 5:12 PM
Well...maybe and maybe not. I had a friend who was after me to go geothermal as I was saying it was time to replace our old, high efficiency system. It would take 4, 50 foot wells based on our energy usage, BUT even with out the wells the payback was nearly 50 years or about twice the lifetime of the system. A second contractor came up with pretty much the same figures. When asked how much our gas and electric ran, the one wouldn't believe it until he wet over a whole years worth of bills. In the end the conclusion was that geothermal, although "slightly cheaper to run (it'd save us around $140 a year, the overall cost would be far more than conventional. This is a very efficient home for insulation, windows, and water heating.

I just wrote a check this morning for my monthly power bill, made payable to American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) in the amount of $260.02. 

I'm not alone. AEP serves five million residential and business customers in 11 states. 

Rain or shine, that's five million checks that pour in each month. They add up fast. AEP's utility segment collected $14 billion in revenue in 2011. But on closer inspection, the company only retained $2.8 billion in operating profits.

Where did the other $11 billion go?

Well, nearly half ($4.4 billion) was spent on...

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