[RFI] BPL -- copy of letter to st. URC

[Tom Cox]

I sent the following e-mail to the Indiana Utility Regulatory 
Commission, just as a preemptive strike. The Cinergy news release struck 
close enough to home to get me motivated.

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I would like to know what role, if any, the IURC has in the entry of 
electrical utilities into the broadband Internet access market via 
"Broadband over Power Line."

I am concerned that this service is being oversold to the FCC and state 
regulatory entities as a way to provide Internet access in rural areas 
that are not now served by Cable TV or DSL (telephone) broadband access.

Besides being a serious source of radio interference to public and 
private users of the electromagnetic spectrum, I am concerned that 
electrical utilities will enter into BPL without sufficient knowledge of 
the real costs and profit potential, and suffer significant economic 
losses when they disover they are not competitive with cable or DSL.

If such losses occur, will the utilities be allowed to make rate payers 
help them recover their investments? Since the majority of existing 
electrical customers will not be likely to buy BPL, either because they 
already have cable,  DSL, or  another form of Internet access or because 
they are simply not interested in Internet access, it does not appear 
they should be forced to help the electrical utilities pay for it.

Given my experience of several outages a year, along with some impulses, 
sags and surges, I hope my electrical utility, AEP, will concentrate on 
improving the quality of power they deliver, and leave Internet access 
to others.

However, AEP has invested significantly in Amperion, a company that is 
producing BPL distribution hardware for use by the electrical industry. 
It is reasonable to expect AEP to want to recover some of this 
investment by deploying such equipment, so my concern is not purely 
academic. As a ratepayer, as well as a consumer of services that use the 
electromagnetic spectrum BPL can be expected to pollute, I am very 
interested in how AEP and other Indiana electrical utilities will be 
treated by the IURC in this area.

Please reply by e-mail (tomcox at iquest.net) or by US Mail (Thomas D. Cox, 
4920 W. Caleb Ct., Muncie, IN 47302) with any questions or comments.

Thank You,
[etc.]
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73,
Tom, KT9OM