June 2008 Electric Bill ( Number 8 )
My latest electric bill ( my 8th since buying my first home ) is here, and I won’t beat around the bush. This is the highest electric bill that I’ve ever received - ever. I’m staring at a total of $197.10 - that’s a 59% increase over last month. UGH. Let’s take a look at the painful breakdown.
Natural gas - no surprises
I used 6% more natural gas, for an increase of 5% to my bill. I won’t get worked up over such a small increase - it’s no big deal.
Electricity isn’t cheap
I used a whopping 1404 kWh of electricity this month - that’s 1.4 mWh. That’s outrageous. It’s a 67% jump over what I used last month. The part that *really* gets to me is that 67% usage increase caused a 93% rise in the electric portion of my bill. My utility company also introduced a new ( to me ) fee called “Peak Capacity Charge”. That, along with the questionable “Regulatory adjustment” made up the a large part of my bill increase.
Summers are hot in southern Texas - really, really hot. We’ve been giving our A/C quite a workout, and that won’t change too much over the next few months. I’m going to make a concerted effort to get our ceiling fans installed next week. We bought 4 fans when we purchased the house, but they’re still in a closet somewhere. Our lower floor stays fairly cool, so with the addition of fans we can cut back A/C usage down there. Besides that, I guess I just have to grin and bear it. Owning a home is great, but it’s surely not without it’s downsides.
Popularity: 18% [?]
June 24th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Energy prices are escalating in the UK and we are all trying to find ways of using less. Our summers are starting to get warm enough to consider air conditioning but with the way the prices are it will be pointless getting it as it will be too expensive to use it.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Wow it’s hard to imagine that you don’t even have air conditioning there. But you’re right - what’s the point if it’s too expensive to use?
Solar energy is going to have to improve and come down in price really, really quickly. Otherwise we’ll all be living a very different lifestyle in just a few years.