At last years public meeting given by a local energy company in

Question

At last year’s public meeting given by a local energy company in Barnesburg, the biggest concern expressed by those in attendance was the increased cost of using digital devices at home. One outcome of the meeting was the passage of the Home Powered Consumer Act (HPCA), which greatly increased the ability of consumers to charge electronic devices at home using solar power for less than what they now pay for traditional electric power. The savings will increase with the number of devices in the home.

The information in the passage most strongly supports which of the following conclusions?

(A) The cost of electricity is highest for families that have multiple digital devices.
(B) The HPCA would not have been passed without the concerns expressed at the public meeting.
(C) Some of the concerns expressed at last year’s public meeting are addressed by the HPCA.
(D) The use of solar power will lead to lower electric bills for families, regardless of their use of digital devices at home.
(E) The energy company in Barnesburg will experience a decline in their profits as a result of the passage of the HPCA

EMPOWER  gmat    CR Question Pack 2

Question 46: Home Powered Consumer Act

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◀ Group 9 Question 45 
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sarthakk07 · Answer

At last year’s public meeting given by a local energy company in Barnesburg, the biggest concern expressed by those in attendance was the increased cost of using digital devices at home. One outcome of the meeting was the passage of the Home Powered Consumer Act (HPCA), which greatly increased the ability of consumers to charge electronic devices at home using solar power for less than what they now pay for traditional electric power. The savings will increase with the number of devices in the home.

The information in the passage most strongly supports which of the following conclusions?

(A) The cost of electricity is highest for families that have multiple digital devices -  Multiple device means >= 2 so we don't know number of devices the family uses. Plus the cost of electricity for multiple devices is not mentioned in the passage 
(B) The HPCA would not have been passed without the concerns expressed at the public meeting -  We can't infer this from the passage as no where it mentions that HPCA can only be passed by the meeting. 
(C) Some of the concerns expressed at last year’s public meeting are addressed by the HPCA.  Might be or might not be, as of now HPCA is helpful in solving only cost issue. 
(D) The use of solar power will lead to lower electric bills for families, regardless of their use of digital devices at home. -  Correct this can be inferred from the passage. 
(E) The energy company in Barnesburg will experience a decline in their profits as a result of the passage of the HPCA.  Cant' say this from given boundary of information.

winterschool · Answer

At last year’s public meeting given by a local energy company in Barnesburg, the biggest concern expressed by those in attendance was the increased cost of using digital devices at home. One outcome of the meeting was the passage of the Home Powered Consumer Act (HPCA), which greatly increased the ability of consumers to charge electronic devices at home using solar power for less than what they now pay for traditional electric power. The savings will increase with the number of devices in the home.

The information in the passage most strongly supports which of the following conclusions?

(A) The cost of electricity is highest for families that have multiple digital devices.  Incorrect

cant say from argument cost of electricity is highest for families, it can be for others such as institution or school or shops that use multiple digital devices

(B) The HPCA would not have been passed without the concerns expressed at the public meeting.  Incorrect

cant be a conclusion, not related with last line of argument

(C) Some of the concerns expressed at last year’s public meeting are addressed by the HPCA.  Incorrect

cant be a conclusion, not related with last line of argument

(D) The use of solar power will lead to lower electric bills for families, regardless of their use of digital devices at home.  Correct

can be a conclusion

(E) The energy company in Barnesburg will experience a decline in their profits as a result of the passage of the HPCA  Incorrect

dont know about Barnesburg energy company

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Official Explanation:

At last year’s public meeting given by a local energy company in Barnesburg, the biggest concern expressed by those in attendance was the increased cost of using digital devices at home. One outcome of the meeting was the passage of the Home Powered Consumer Act (HPCA), which greatly increased the ability of consumers to charge electronic devices at home using solar power for less than what they now pay for traditional electric power. The savings will increase with the number of devices in the home.
 
 The information in the passage most strongly supports which of the following conclusions? 
 
 (A) The cost of electricity is highest for families that have multiple digital devices. 
 (B) The HPCA would not have been passed without the concerns expressed at the public meeting. 
 (C) Some of the concerns expressed at last year’s public meeting are addressed by the HPCA. 
 (D) The use of solar power will lead to lower electric bills for families, regardless of their use of digital devices at home. 
 (E) The energy company in Barnesburg will experience a decline in their profits as a result of the passage of the HPCA

Question Type:   Inference
  Boil It Down:   An energy company in Barnesburg had a public meeting in which people said their electric bills were going up because they use/charge more digital devices at home than in the past. The HPCA was created as a solution to allow people to charge their devices using solar power, which would save them money. The more devices that use HPCA solar power, the more money they’ll save.
  Goal:    Find the option that shows the strongest and most logical conclusion we can come to, based on the information we’ve been given.

Analysis:

This question asks for an inference – an unstated conclusion – that can be drawn from the passage.
 
 Evidence:  The evidence is everything in the passage.
 
One concern expressed at the meeting was the cost of powering digital devices at home. The HPCA – an “outcome” of the meeting -- will lower the costs of charging these devices. Thus, as choice C states, some of the concerns expressed at the meeting are addressed by the Act.

(A) The cost of electricity is highest for families that have multiple digital devices.
 This is incorrect. It might be that other electrical costs have led to higher bills for people without digital devices. We can’t determine, based on the information given, that digital devices are the sole reason bills went up.

(B) The HPCA would not have been passed without the concerns expressed at the public meeting.
 This is also incorrect. It’s possible that the Act would have eventually passed without the meeting.

(C) Some of the concerns expressed at last year’s public meeting are addressed by the HPCA.
 This is the correct choice. We know that finding a solution to higher electric bills due to digital devices was a main concern. We also know that the HPCA is aimed at targeting that specific concern.

(D) The use of solar power will lead to lower electric bills for families, regardless of their use of digital devices at home.
 This is incorrect. We have no information about the bills of people who don’t use the devices.

(E) The energy company in Barnesburg will experience a decline in their profits as a result of the passage of the HPCA
 This is incorrect. There could be many reasons why the company’s profits will not decline. We also have no information in the passage about the energy company’s financial situation.

Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Great work, sarthakk07 and winterschool ! You both cracked the code on this inference question! Kudos to you! Have a happy new year!

Lamiya1029 · Answer

EMPOWERgmatVerbal  is provided OA wrong here?

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Thank you for pointing that out  Lamiya1029 ! Kudos to you for catching that!

We think this was a problem with trying to use an old version of the question with new answer options. The OA should be C, but we did give people credit for choosing D, since that was the OA in an older version of the question, we presume.

Hope that helps! Thanks again for pointing it out!

abhishekujjawal · Answer

When the last line specifically mentions saving will increase with the number of Devices in the home clearly points saving is directly proportional to no. Of Devices.which means existing bill will be reduced.

VerbalBot · Answer

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