To the editor:

I must admit that the analysis that Albert Neutel gives of the cost of energy companies’ administration is compelling. Now, I’m not an accountant, but I do wonder if the numbers as he states them tell the whole story.

He posits that private energy companies generate a vastly greater amount of revenue than publicly administered ones. I do wonder, though, whether that tells the whole story. It seems possible that publicly held energy concerns place more emphasis on distributing gas and electricity, and less on generating revenue for their administrators to funnel off.

There’s a number of people in this country who use fancy number-juggling to try to convince us that we would be better off with corporate management of our utilities. The latest scandals should show us that they’re just foxes wanting the keys to the hen house.

Bob Gent,

Lawrence