[frankthetank]

My brother gets a $35 connection fee just to be hooked up, even if he doesn't use a single KW. I used 1 therm one month and i still got dinged for $8 on my bill. I'm about ready to go live in a van and tell them to shove the whole works up their asses.

[strider3700]

I'm very impressed. What have you done to get electric usage that low? I've cut my usage in half and I'm just now getting down to where you started at.

I'm not shocked that you ran into issues with the company. Just leaving my cable box plugged in would cost me more then you used.

[xerces]

I can understand their suspicions though. The average American uses 20 KWH per day, I'm using around .4 KWHs per day or roughly 2% of the average usage.

[xerces]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('strider3700', 'I')'m very impressed. What have you done to get electric usage that low? I've cut my usage in half and I'm just now getting down to where you started at.

I'm not shocked that you ran into issues with the company. Just leaving my cable box plugged in would cost me more then you used.

[Tyler_JC]

Haha, nice story.

Congrats on your incredible energy efficiency. We are all going to have to learn how to get by without wasting gobs of energy. 5 points xerces!

Your story reminds me of the current battle I'm having with the local dry cleaners...

[xerces]

The interesting thing is that I've managed to do this without really compromising my living standards. I still get lights, refrigeration, my favorite TV shows, phone service, and the internet. What it means is that, at the consumer level, streamlining to 5% of the national average usage may be an obtainable goal without reducing living standards.

[ararboin]

My average monthly power bill is about $45.00, year round. I heat with wood, and am on a rural electric coop. I've got 2 freezers and 2 fridgs, no tv, laptop, etc.

[PeakOiler]

The reaction of the utility company is amusing. I can relate. When I started using my rainwater catchment for the household water, the utility company came out and replaced the meter, thinking it had failed since the bill said I used 0 gallons.


I visited their office and told them I was collecting rainwater. A note was made in their database.

[billp]

Lawyers and judges

Psst

[NeoPeasant]

Early on in my peak oil awareness I decided it would be a good idea to learn to live as though a gallon of gas cost ten bucks and a kilowatt-hour cost a dollar.

[joeltrout]

Easy...stop using so much electricity or find out how to get off the grid.

joeltrout

[Troyboy1208]

I have been on these forums for a couple of years now but I have not seen anything specifically related to a survey of how much we spend per KWH on Electricity. Here in the sunshine state we have two major suppliers. Florida Power and Light and the other (which is my supplier) is Progress Energy.
I have kept track of my power bills over the last 10 years as a homeowner but I have not seen a dramatic increase in my bills. The way Progress Energy has their bill set up is that you get charged a lower amount for using less than 1000 KWH per month. I always manage to break that especially in the summer time.
What boggles my mind is the huge increase in price of fossil fuels and yet I have not seen an increase in the rate I am paying. I currently pay 5.46 cents per KWH under 1000 kwh, and 6.46 per kwh above 1000 kwh. There is another charge called "fuel charge" in which they charge 4.278 KWH (under 1000kwh) and 5.27 when you exceed that. Here is a pdf file that explains how they bill you:
Residential Rates for Progress Energy.
I have posted all this to encourage the community to do the same. I am curious what the rates are around the world. My $ amount that I spend is about $150 in the summer and around $100 in the winter. This is for two people in a three bedroom house.
Has the community here felt an increase in electrical generation expenses? I must say that it feels "cheap" compared to what oil is going for now and all the inflation that causes. I do know that these power companies here cannot raise rates without govt approval first. Thanks

[Ferretlover]

Just paid the bill today. Rate schedule 31. Charge Rate: 0.0725000 per kWh.

[lawnchair]

$7.50 flat connection, 6.7c/kWh (7.9c/kWh after taxes). Mind-bogglingly cheap for what you get. Last rolling year this two-bedroom two-person 1000-sq-foot house used 4928 kWh. Less than half the national average, or 1/45th what Al Gore's house used. Highest bill last August (one room air-conditioned most of the month) was $60.32.

[jimmyz]

louisiana cleco .127 per kwh this past month

[SchroedingersCat]

I'd post PG&E's rate chart for Northern California but you'd all go insane trying to read it. Here in SF we pay somewhere between .12 and .36 per KWh depending on how much you use. The average is $0.16474

The best way to get people to save electricity would be to bill them in a way they can understand.

[Troyboy1208]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SchroedingersCat', 'I')'d post PG&E's rate chart for Northern California but you'd all go insane trying to read it. Here in SF we pay somewhere between .12 and .36 per KWh depending on how much you use. The average is $0.16474
The best way to get people to save electricity would be to bill them in a way they can understand.

[BigTex]

The ONLY way to do this calculation is to take the TOTAL amount of your electricity bill and divided it by the total number of kwh you used.

It doesn't really matter how the bill is itemized. The calculation above is the real kwh rate because that is what you are paying for it.

For me, it's about 12 cents per kwh. I am on a time of use metering program (which I recommend), so my average per kwh charge fluctuates between about 12 and 12.5 cents per kwh.

The base rate is about 7.5 cents per kwh.

[Ludi]

With all access fees, etc, averages to 12.4 cents per kwh.

"power-cost pass -through" ( base rate?) 7.3 cents per kwh

[WisJim]

On our most recent bill, the supposed kw-hr rate is about 10 cents, fuel surcharge of a cent or so, meter reading fee of $8, plus taxes and other charges, end result is that total bill divided by kw-hrs used (about 54) equals over 34 cents a kw-hr. For me the power company is my backup generator for days it isn't sunny or windy for a couple of days in a row.