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Message |
    
dhacker
Senior Member
Username: Dhacker
Post Number: 1398
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 03:04 am: | 
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An article in the local paper stated that as of April 1st, power in the county in which I live is going up 11.68%
10.4% to TVA, the balance to the local power company. Just curious if anyone else here was being screwed . . er . . I mean serviced by TVA and how much, if any your power bill was increasing?
I may have to convert my system to a propane/ electric/ firewood hybrid . . .  |
Paul Hayslett
Senior Member
Username: Paulhayslett
Post Number: 1623
Registered: 02-2002
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 11:08 am: |
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Hey, Dhacker! Welcome to the club! Come on in, sit down, have a beer.
Those of us serviced by for-profit power companies saw our rates jump long ago. I'm paying 30% more per kWH than I was in 2006. Propane and natural gas are up by almost as much. My brewbuddies and I have talked about brewing with firewood many times. |
Mike Huss
Senior Member
Username: Mikhu
Post Number: 1865
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 02:12 pm: |
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Yeah, we get rate increases at least two times/year. Everyone is complaining about the gasoline prices and government is pulling their dog and pony shows trying to attack the oil companies, but when I complain to the Public Service Commission about my utility having record profits but increasing rates regularly, they don't even care. I can control how much gasoline I use, but other than a few minor changes to our usage I can't control my energy usage. We're basically bent over a barrel and there's nothing we can do about utility charges.
I'm curious, if you guys don't mind saying, what do you pay for utilities? We have a 1400 sq ft ranch (plus I have finished 900 sq ft in the basement, so technically we have 2300 sq ft I guess). My wife stays home with the kids, so the heat/ac is always set to normal temps, we don't get the opportunity to turn the heat down or the a/c up unless we are gone. Our budget bill for electric and natural gas combined is $215/month, which from what I can tell is pretty average around here for people with similar settings.
How does that compare to other parts of the country? |
dhacker
Senior Member
Username: Dhacker
Post Number: 1399
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 03:17 pm: |
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30% in two years?? YIKES!!
Mike,
Everything combined, I have about 4500 sq. ft. heated. Annual average heat and cool, (was) right around $250/ mo. When I built this house, I did all I could to insulate and tighten it to the best on my knowledge/ ability . . 2x6 exterior walls @ R-19 and a combo of Styrofoam and fiberglass in the ceiling for an R factor around 30.
Honestly, I'm guesstimating probably $50 a month of that total is brewing/ cold storage related.
Not enough wind around here to justify a windmill, and lately not enough sun to justify solar cells.
May see if I can build a cow pie burnin’ steam turbine . . .  |
Ron Siddall
Advanced Member
Username: El_cid
Post Number: 550
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 03:19 pm: |
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Dude, I am paying $.41160 per Kwh. I would love to trade with you. |
Mike Huss
Senior Member
Username: Mikhu
Post Number: 1866
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 03:55 pm: |
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Dude, I am paying $.41160 per Kwh. 
Now I don't feel so bad. I just calculated ours with the regular charge plus all the fees minus the credits and we are at $.1147. Geez Ron, now I see why you "love" living in that Socialist state so much. Yikes!
(Message edited by mikhu on April 04, 2008) |
Paul Hayslett
Senior Member
Username: Paulhayslett
Post Number: 1625
Registered: 02-2002
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 04:48 pm: |
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$.4116?? Holy-freakin-moley!
Like Mike, I pay a little less than 12 cents per KWH for generation. I voluntarily chip in 10% more to buy green power (windmill and landfill gas), for about 13 cents total.
Generation makes up only 2/3 of my bill, so the 30% jump in generation fees has meant about a 20% increase in the total.
(Did anyone spot the logic flaw? Generation fees have gone up, supposedly, because the cost of coal and natural gas have gone up, and CT's electricity as a whole is something like 1/3 coal, 1/3 nat gas, and 1/3 nuclear. But MY electricity is, they tell me, all from wind and landfill gas. Did the wind get more expensive last year? I didn't read about it. Funny that my generation fees went up with everyone else's.)
Everything in my 2000 sq ft house is on gas except the lights and AC. Gas furnace, stove, dryer, hot water, etc. I work at home and have 3 or 4 computers running at all times, but we only run the AC maybe 4 weeks a year. I pay about $190/month for electric with a one-time spike to maybe $220 on the September bill. The house was built as a summer cottage, with almost no insulation and terrible old leaky windows, so the gas bill cycles between $70/mo in the summer to $400/mo in the winter, with an average of about $200/mo. That means I'm spending twice as much per month as Mike for about the same size house. Hmmmm. Time to go harass the kids about leaving their lights on again!
On the plus side, my water is dirt cheap with no restrictions. I figured once that a year's water for brewing was less than $10. |
Ron Siddall
Advanced Member
Username: El_cid
Post Number: 554
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 05:06 pm: |
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Now you know the meaning of "it's all relative"....and "be carefull of what you wish for".
Monopoly power generators, other than moving off the grid, what are you going to do?
We are not even home sometimes half the month and I still pay $200 + per month in utilities....damned pool filter.... |
dhacker
Senior Member
Username: Dhacker
Post Number: 1400
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 05:37 pm: |
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Suddenly, I don't feel so bad . . My $250 mo. average represents 100% of my utility bill since I'm all electric, including well pump. I guess that's not as bad as I thought, especially for the amount of space I have to control. In fact' it seems rather insignificant . .
I think I'll go turn some lights on to celebrate. |
Mike Huss
Senior Member
Username: Mikhu
Post Number: 1867
Registered: 03-2003
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 05:49 pm: |
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Yikes! Between Ron and Paul's representations of the two coasts I think I'll stay right here in the good ol' Midwest! Then again, you guys make GOBS more money than we do, so it truly is all relative.  |
Steve Funk
Intermediate Member
Username: Tundra45
Post Number: 459
Registered: 06-2004
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 06:39 pm: |
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Dude, I am paying $.41160 per Kwh. I would love to trade with you.
Wow is right! We have hydro power here in the gorge and benefit from the lowest rates I've ever seen. It used to be 4.95 cents/KWH but they recently added another penny or so to that making it about 6 cents/KWH.
(http://skamaniapud.com/electric.html)
I believe I paid over 12 cents/KWH when I live in Illinois (coal-to-energy) in '97 and '98.
Makes me want to rethink using propane and definitely makes me want to at least make my HLT electric |
Ron Siddall
Advanced Member
Username: El_cid
Post Number: 556
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Friday, April 04, 2008 - 07:51 pm: |
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OOOPPPPSSSS.......
I misread the bill. I am paying $.41160kw/day not hour. My rate is only $.136 kw/h.
My apologies for the mis-information.
Mike, my rates are not so bad but I am still making GOBS of money.
Maybe things are not so relative afterall  |
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