In this, the third in a five-part interview with real people facing real problems because of rising energy prices, a working, single mother describes how the recent increase in her utility bills has effected her family’s budget.

She’s disconnected the hot water in her home in order to conserve money and pay for child care. She’s attempting to cushion her 8-year-old daughter from feeling deprived, in part by making turning off the lights into a game and by eating by candle-light.

So what would happen, asks Governor Allen, if a new federal law were to increase her electricity bills by another $50 per month?

“More candles,” she laughs, ruefully.

The conversation then turns to the future, and the expanding energy needs of the world’s two largest and fastest-growing economies, China and India. What, Governor Allen asks, if China (the world’s largest CO2 emitter) and India continue to refuse to accept caps comparable to those being proposed for the U.S.?

“It definitely just sounds like it’s a big tax, like it’s just going to be more money, and it’s going to cost me more. I’m juggling every single month to make ends meet. If the prices are going to keep going up, I don’t know what I’m going to do, but not just me, my daughter—what is she going to do? She’s eight years old.

“In ten years, she’s going to be going to college…. If prices continue to go up from where they are now, I don’t know how we’re going to make it as a country.”

“It’s a big tax.” That’s Bishop Harry Jackson’s conclusion, and he’s worried about the poor. “It really is a regressive tax. The less you have to work with, the more negatively you [will be] impacted” as jobs shift overseas.

This is the third of five segments. All of the videos, including several poignant highlights, are being released each week at the Cornwall Alliance blog.