Here’s to hoping that Alabama Power‘s long time spokesbirds, Ben and Mickey, enjoy their permanent trip south for the winter. The state’s Public Service Commission asked that the public utility reduce the amount of advertising they do and focus any new ones on encouraging energy efficiency and conservation. Those will be words that many more APCO customers will embrace as the PSC approved a base connection fee that will raise the average customer bill by $15/month starting in January. That’s after an 8.3% rate increase starting with your next bill raising bills an average of $9.30/month. The good news is that we won’t see another rate increase until 2010.

Photo: Electric Meter on the Back of the House, MRBECK/Flickr