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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.

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

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