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justgamma Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Sep-15-11 09:31 PM
Original message
Electrical rates?
My daughter just called upset. Her light bill went up from $200 a month to $350 a month. It's not just her. The whole town is paying that much. It will mean the loss of their home. No way can she afford that.

The most I've ever spent for electricity is $135.

It made me wonder what other people are paying.
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BiggJawn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Sep-15-11 10:30 PM
Response to Original message
1. $140.
And it's just me, those freedom-hating CFL bulbs, no laundry equipment, no dishwasher, no big-screen TV and Blu-Ray. I do rock the hell out of the air conditioner, though.
I figured we're now paying 11 cents a KwH. Was 5 cents just a few years ago.
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safeinOhio Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-16-11 12:10 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. 6.8/KwH here in NW Ohio.
average about a hundred bucks a month.
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dimbear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-16-11 12:11 AM
Response to Original message
3. Usually about fifteen bucks. Sometimes as much as twenty five.
That's just me. I don't care much if it's hot, and if it's cold I put on more clothes.
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BiggJawn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-16-11 09:42 PM
Response to Reply #3
10. What's your kerosene bill for the lamps?
;)

I can remember $25 electric bills, but that was almost 15 years ago.
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dimbear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-17-11 12:15 AM
Response to Reply #10
13. I go through about a gallon a year.
That's enough to keep me through the days the power is out.

Good old PG and E. They send apology money if you're off three or four days. Last year they sent me enough to pay the bill for two months.

BTW, if you are one of those who occasionally needs a kerosene lantern, you need an Aladdin. It's remarkable what a properly trimmed one can put out.

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BiggJawn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-18-11 09:45 AM
Response to Reply #13
19. I have 4 Aladdins. They're the greatest.
We lose power quite often here, too. I went through a gallon of K-1 myself this summer.
The only thing I don't like about the mantle lamps is that in the summertime, they put out too damn much heat.
"Apology money"? My utility tells us to just be glad they'll stretch out the cost of repairs over a few years. Heaven forbid the poor stockholders should take the hit...
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Luciferous Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-16-11 08:45 AM
Response to Original message
4. Wow, that's crazy! My last electric bill was $123.29, and it was only
that high because I was still running the air conditioning last month.
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cyberswede Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-16-11 08:52 AM
Response to Original message
5. We had two higher bills recently due to high demand
There was a note on the bill itself explaining that the higher rate was due to high demand during those hottest days in July/Aug (we're in SE Iowa), and the bills would return to normal once the weather cools.

Maybe it's something similar in your daughter's case?
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Betty88 Donating Member (437 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-16-11 10:48 AM
Response to Original message
6. 10.2044/kWh
Our average bill is about 125.00 a month, the last few years its gone up a lot
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sinkingfeeling Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-16-11 11:07 AM
Response to Original message
7. It takes about $300 to cool my 4800 sq. ft. Victorian house when it's 100+ degrees outside.
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TK421 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-16-11 11:43 AM
Response to Original message
8. This apartment ( with 3 other roommates ) last month was about $260 something
three of us have AC units in our rooms and have tried to use them sparingly, but when it is 90 degrees in your room, you just can't sleep at night. That would roughly be around $50 a person, and still it is way too much..

I think someone needs to reign-in these electric companies, but they seem to be untouchable.
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RebelOne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-16-11 01:12 PM
Response to Original message
9. I live in a mobile home with two A/Cs.
One is in the back bedroom and one is in the living room. They are on 24/7 during the summer and my bill has never been over $100. But wintertime is a different story. My furnace has not worked in years, so I use space heaters. My bill averages $135 in wintertime. But it averages out considering that it costs $300 to fill up my propane tank and the furnace just sucked up that gas.
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one_voice Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-16-11 10:08 PM
Response to Original message
11. My electric bill is always high...
every month 300-350. I just replaced my heat pump with one that's supposed to be more energy efficient. I keep my heat at 68-69 and my air at 75-76. My bill this month was almost $500 and I had the air off for a week. I swear they're cheating somewhere. No way my bill should be that high. Nothing I can do, only one electric company.

My husband works a side job just to pay the electric bill it's fucking ridiculous.
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emilyg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-16-11 10:27 PM
Response to Original message
12. $200/mo on budget billing.
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Skittles Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-17-11 03:04 AM
Response to Original message
14. my last electric bill was 61 dollars, and that's with triple degree weather
I live very simply
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Tikki Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-17-11 08:15 AM
Response to Original message
15. Usually somewhere between $55 and $75 a month...
We live in a small home near the So Cal Coast...no AC needed...natural gas heat in Winter.



The Tikkis

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seabeyond Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-17-11 08:54 AM
Response to Original message
16. i dont look. auto pay. but goes mid 200's to 400 in summer and drops in winter to nothing.
gas takes its place.

air on electric. heat on gas.

i was excited my water bill mid 200's this summer barely watering yard and not very green and healthy. winter will drop to 50, 60
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Shagbark Hickory Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-18-11 10:24 AM
Response to Reply #16
21. Wait. What? Your water bill is $200 a month and you barely water?!?
And what is your gas bill during the winter. That's not free or necessarily even cheaper.
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seabeyond Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-18-11 11:08 AM
Response to Reply #21
23. i had a water bill
Edited on Sun Sep-18-11 11:09 AM by seabeyond
last year the hit 680??? was a huge wtf... had two plumbers out and two different city water people out and they found nothing. i think i was just flat our screwed adn nothing i could do about it. almost stopped watering. they had an increase in cost, then they created a new and improved teirre system where using so much water raised the cost on two different levels, season raises the price.... we have about an acre of yard. so ya, we get screwed. and with the drought i water every 8-10 days 20 minutes a station adn it was 257.

100 degree weather, brown lawn.

my gas in the winter is in the 200's i believe. it is all on auto pay, and i really dont look. i conserve, and it is what it is.

if i didnt have to be in this house, with all this space, i wouldnt be. i did learn what i won't have in our next house. if we ever move
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Shagbark Hickory Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-18-11 11:14 AM
Response to Reply #23
24. Have you looked into drilling a well?
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seabeyond Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-18-11 11:51 AM
Response to Reply #24
26. actually, we have done a little talking about it. can't remember where we
ended on it. may bring it up again, but there was a reason we let it go.
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Gidney N Cloyd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-17-11 09:28 AM
Response to Original message
17. Between the AC and all the little 'energy vampires' around here, I've been around 100-150 sometimes.
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soleiri Donating Member (913 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-17-11 10:19 PM
Response to Original message
18. Depends on the month
It usually ranges from $25-30 in the winter, $30-70 in the spring and fall, and from $100-150 in the summer.

We're on a summer discount program that gives us a discount for letting them turn off our a/c when usage is high.
Also, If we use less electricity than the previous year, we get a discount.
Unfortunately, this year we're using the A/C from 10 am-7 pm most days.
We live in the So Cal desert and it's freaking hot.
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Shagbark Hickory Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-18-11 10:22 AM
Response to Original message
20. During the peak of summer and the peak of winter (electric heatpump), ~$210-$240
Edited on Sun Sep-18-11 10:25 AM by Shagbark Hickory
For 3300 sf approximately.
This is with the heat or a/c running continuously all day, 2 or more computers running 9-7pm, lights, electric water heater and some equipment that consumes a lot of energy.

Our electric company is a co-op so at the end of the year if there's a surplus, they send out checks to everyone.

I guess I really have no business complaining.

During the non peak months when the rates are actually lower, the bills are around $140-$170
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sarge43 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-18-11 10:27 AM
Response to Original message
22. Depending upon time of year, between $75 and $90 a month.
New Hampshire Electrical Coop.

Also it's right on top of any power outage.
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backwoodsbob Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-18-11 11:18 AM
Response to Original message
25. wow
we average about $80 in the summer and about $140 in the winter...if I got a 350 bill I would be looking for a head to chop
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Curmudgeoness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-18-11 07:28 PM
Response to Original message
27. $35-50. I have no a/c. I just talked to my sister in California
who said that they have an awesome plan you can sign up for where you agree to have your a/c turned off for up to 6 hours if there is an energy issue at the power company in exchange for low rates. She said that while neighbors have $300+ bills, hers are $35. And she has a/c. And the best part.....they have never had a situation yet where their a/c has been turned off.
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TK421 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-18-11 07:32 PM
Response to Original message
28. Apparently, electric companies can't be fucking touched...by anyone
perhaps it is time someone reigned them in for their insane claim to the FUCKING SUN?@!!!!
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-18-11 09:26 PM
Response to Original message
29. I have never heard of anyone benefitting from deregulation of public utilities
Well, other than investors, of course.

Best of luck to your daughter. A few years back our electric bill jumped by about 80% with no explanation before or after.
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progressoid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Sep-18-11 10:22 PM
Response to Original message
30. We're at 92 bucks a month.
350 a month? yikes. I'd shut off half of the stuff in the house at those rates.
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sweetapogee Donating Member (449 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-11 08:22 AM
Response to Original message
31. it is
Edited on Mon Sep-19-11 08:23 AM by sweetapogee
about $120.00 per month, give or take.
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