Tesla to increase charges on its Supercharger stations for EVs

Tesla will raise rates at its Supercharger stations after it implements a new pricing structure. At present, it charges using a state/region pricing scheme. It will now use a structure that prices individual stations according to local power and demand.

Price increases vary from place to place

The price increase was reported by Electrek, not Tesla. The site claims that New York drivers were until now charged the state-wide rate of $0.24 per kWh. With the change, the price goes up one third to $0.32 per kWh.

Tesla already hiked prices anywhere from 20 to 40 percent for pay per-use customers in 2018. A Tesla spokesperson said that the company is “adjusting Supercharging pricing to better reflect differences in local electricity costs and site usage,” and repeated its talking points from 2018, claiming that the company doesn’t plan to use the Supercharging stations as a “profit center.”

Tesla is cutting costs

This price rise comes on top of Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, just having announced that the company will end its customer referral program, which permitted customers to gift six month of free charging to friends who bought a Tesla. The company has been continually cutting back on its free charging program as noted on the appended video.

As another cost-cutting measure, Tesla cut about seven percent of its work force as reported in a recent Digital Journal article.

For the third quarter of last year Tesla finally made a profit but has yet to make a yearly profit. As discussed in a recent article, Tesla has a huge amount of its debt coming due $920 million. This is putting a lot of pressure on the company to reduce its expenditures as it has been burning through cash.

Previously published in Digital Journal

US officials discuss fining Facebook a record amount over 22.5 million

US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) officials have been discussing the imposition of a record-setting fine on Facebook, according to the Washington Post. The fine would be for major data breaches and improper data sharing.

Facebook's privacy breaches

There was an agreement between Facebook and the US government back in 2012 that was to protect user's data and make clear statements about their privacy that may have been violated as well. Last spring it was revealed that data on over 87 million users had been given to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm, without the users' explicit consent.

The UK has already fined Facebook last October to the tune of 500,000 pounds, a sum that is small compared to the amount being considered by US officials. The fine is equivalent to about $600,000 US and is being appealed by Facebook. The Washington Post claims that the US fine would be larger than the $22.5 that the FTC imposed on Google back in 2012 for tracking Apple Safari web browser users after it had promised it would not. On the appended video it is claimed that at least one analyst suggested the fine could be above a billion dollars!

In the 2012 agreement with the FTC, Facebook agreed that it had deceived users by telling them certain information would be kept private when it was not. The company had made such information as lists of friends and published posts, available to the public and this could be shared without the users' consent. The FTC probably now thinks the agreement not to continue to do this has been violated.

Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal and similar incidents, which included a hacker accessing personal information on 29 million accounts, both members of the US Congress and advocacy groups called on the FTC to take action against Facebook.

Free Press, a media and technology advocacy group said: “Serious consequences are the only way to curb Facebook’s predatory behavior and change the industry’s amoral pursuit of growth at the public’s expense. This action should be the first of many taken by regulators and Congress in response to online platforms’ systemic abuse of their users.”

Another commentator, Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said: “The agency now has the legal authority, the evidence, and the public support to act. There can be no excuse for further delay.”

Findings and fine have yet to be finalized

The Washington Post claims that the findings of the FTC investigation and the total amount of the fine are not yet finalized.

Facebook representatives have met with investigators from the FTC throughout last year. It is not clear if Facebook will accept the fine if and when FTC imposes it.

The FTC has been a victim of the partial US government shutdown with many of its non-essential employees being furloughed. The FTC made no comments when asked by the news source, The Verge, nor did Facebook. Facebook's actions and public statements are facing inquiries by several different federal agencies with respect to Facebook's mishandling of millions of users' personal files and data.

Previously published in Digital Journal