Chapter 58 - THE POWER PLANT THAT CHARGED THE POOR.
Claire ordered Bennett Community Energy closed before opening.
The board resisted. The facility supplied low-cost power to neighborhoods abandoned by private utilities.
Board chair Samuel Greene accused her of protecting her reputation at the expense of poor families.
“Now that your name is on the danger, you discover caution.”
Claire replied, “Then remove my name. Do not place workers beside an untested system.”
Engineers found no defective component.
The bypass controlled billing software that shifted unpaid costs from luxury developments to low-income customers.
The plant was not designed to explode.
It was designed to make poor neighborhoods finance discounts for the wealthy.
Samuel called the transfers market balancing.
Resident organizer Denise Carter answered, “You make us pay more, then call our late bills proof we cannot manage money.”
The board voted to refund residents and convert the utility into a cooperative.
Then Rebecca’s drive showed Samuel had warned Thomas Bennett years earlier.
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Thomas ordered him to keep the system active.
Samuel was Claire’s godfather and executor of Thomas’s estate.
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