[eastbay]

.... yeah, we'll skip the oil lamps stage of lighting and return directly to candles.... heh.

... uh oh, wait a minute here... what exacty are candles made from anyhow...

[PeakOiler]

Here's my electric utility history for my 3-2 all-electric house, (except for the woodstove, solar water heater, and a little solar PV and better energy management):
Year kw-hr Cost
1995 12639 $983.92
1996 12200 $978.51 Woodstove installed, but not used too much until about 2000.
1997 13571 $1,023.90
1998 14755 $1,087.90
1999 11306 $879.80
2000 12288 $995.32 Started to learn about Peak Oil.
2001 9781 $872.87 A/C compressor died. A more efficient A/C compressor was installed in Sept.
2002 7857 $694.47 Solar water heater installed 11/15/02.
2003 5913 $542.23
2004 5162 $571.65
2005 6532 $640.75
My utility electric usage went up in 2005 after the rainwater collection pump and UV lamp were installed in December, 2004, and the A/C malfunctioned in June, 2005, and that wasted a lot of juice that month.
Still, I think the overall trend is in the right direction.

The edit was to add the purchase time of the woodstove. I use it more often now in recent winters and the wood is virtually free. My employer lost some big oaks after a summer t-storm, and the landscaping crew told me to take as much as I wanted. It saved them work. So I retrieved about three year's worth of wood fuel that otherwise would have gone to the landfill. I also recycle aluminum cans and the recycler pays about $0.35/lb, and he also sells split oak, so I often turn aluminum waste into wood, so to speak.
Fortunately winters are not long nor severe here, so I don't really burn that much wood. Perhaps 1/2 cord per winter?

The other conservation measures over the last few years was to purchase an Energy Star frig after the old one died, and of course compact flourescent bulbs were installed as well.

[thuja]

Thasnks for the really detailed post POer. We are in the process of putting in a Jotul "Oslo" stove and will be putting in a solar water heater soon as well. I won't be tied down by natural gas when the crunch hits- I can convert to electric for all my other needs. Of course if the grid goes down some day...guess I can still cook pancakes on my wood stove

[Revi]

I can see the writing on the wall as well. It'll be beyond the means of the ordinary person to heat and light their house soon, unless they do something. We installed solar hot water. Last year. We could have gotten the $2000 federal tax credit this year! Oh well. We have a photovoltaic backup light system, a woodstove and a woodlot. I figure if the world goes crackerdog we'll have some electricity, heat and when the sun shines, we'll be able to take a bath or shower. That's security. Our electric bills have been going up, but they are still around $40 a month. It could be a lot worse. I see it as like Harrison Ford when the ball was rolling down on him in one of those Indiana Jones movies. We have got to keep doing things to keep ahead of the energy ball. Or it will squash us and keep on rolling. The way to keep ahead of it is to switch to alternative energy and cut your fossil fuel use.

[Bleep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-rates0314,0,6972228.story?coll=bal-local-headlines]15% cap on rate rise gains favor (link)[/url]

... A plan to limit electricity rate increases to 15 percent this summer with the remainder of the rise phased in over three years is gaining momentum among legislators reacting to a public uproar over the end of price caps.

The proposal has bipartisan support in the General Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats. It would provide consumers with a longer transition to market-rate electricity prices than would a Public Service Commission-approved plan that would send rates soaring 72 percent this summer, an average of $743 per household. ...

[Bleep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://www.thewbalchannel.com/consumeralert/8020254/detail.html]Power Companies Warn Lawmakers About Rate Manipulation (link)[/url]

... Electricity blackouts like the ones that hit California five years ago could come to Maryland if lawmakers try to stave off price hikes for power suppliers, industry officials warned the legislature Tuesday as state politicians look for ways to soften the blow of higher power bills. ...

[Daculling]

Ok, I see it like this. The tax payers basically pay the producers $500 million dollars to compensate them for a rate cap to pave the way for deregulation. Now we are suprised that no other producer can compete at the capped rate? Fine, raise the rate but give me my $500 million dollars back.

[Bleep]

Taxes?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/15/news/companies/utility_taxes/]Report: Taxes collected, but not paid (link)[/url]

Many electric utilities are collecting money from customers to pay income taxes, and then never paying those taxes, according to a report published Wednesday.

[Bleep]

But I digress...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/14/AR2006031401792.html]
Power Industry Holds Firm on Rate Jumps (link)[/url]

By Ann E. Marimow and Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, March 15, 2006; Page B09

...Pepco offered its own proposal yesterday, saying it would allow customers to defer increases of more than 21 percent and spread out payments over 15 months. ...

[Bleep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/14/AR2006031401792_2.html]Power Industry Holds Firm on Rate Jumps (link)[/url]

The massive rate increases, he said, are the result of artificially low prices combined with higher energy costs from events beyond Maryland's borders, such as Hurricane Katrina.

...

Kenneth DeFontes Jr., BGE's president, said legislation to limit rate increases to 5 or 20 percent would put his company at "substantial financial risk."

If the company were forced to borrow to make up the difference, DeFontes said, its bond rating would deteriorate, making it more difficult to buy power and respond to customers.

[Bleep]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Customers begin to feel BGE pinch]
On 'budget billing,' some households experience 70% rise By Laura Smitherman
sun reporter Originally published May 9, 2006:
... "We're seeing a lot of four-digit bills," said Tuere Williams, a community organizer with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, which has been organizing protests against the BGE rate increase. "And all of these people showing up with these crazy bills are on budget billing." ...

[AtmaStorm]

Personally I think this is a good thing; people will be more inclined to use less electricity. Of course that's what I hope for, and I've seen some people adopting little habits these past years (They'll use a fan to keep cool rather than turning the central air conditioner, the office where I worked began turning all it computer off at the end of the day rather than leave them running all night).

[emailking]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bleep', 'I')t's best not to switch them on and off over and over but to turn them off when you are going to leave or sleep.

[mrobert]

During the past winter, I switched to using a low power laptop (35W), low consumption refrigerator, low consumption lightbulbs (same light power, less electricity used).
Still have a couple of things to take care of ... but my bill went down 25-33% (and usage) since then.

Turning off my laptop every day, will reduce it's lifespan from 20 years, to 7-8 and save electricity at least worth it's value.

Don't be stupid like me! Keep the things "ON"

[ChumpusRex2]

A point not really addressed about screen savers -

Some can significantly increase energy consumption.

For CRT monitors (by far the most common at present) - energy consumption, is slightly dependant on the image being displayed. Displaying a pure black screen can reduce consumption over a typical screen by about 2 W.

Ideally, the computer should be configured to switch the monitor into standby - in standby mode the monitor should use virutally no power.

However, many people run animated screen saver programs - some of these use considerable computer resources to run. In particular, those fancy 3D screen savers require substantial computing power. To run these, the main CPU and graphics processor will significantly increase their power consumption (over just sitting idle).

I recently tested a computer using an AMD processor (an energy efficient alternative to the Intel Pentium processor). When running word, but otherwise just sitting idle - the PC/Monitor combo used 180W. When running a 3D screen saver, the combo used just over 200W. Using a standby screen saver, the combo used about 130 W.

[emailking]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mrobert', '
')Turning off my laptop every day, will reduce it's lifespan from 20 years, to 7-8

[Wednesday]

I thought you were gonna tell me you got hit with a thousand dollar light bill!

[pea-jay]

I live in a 100% electric household so electricity usage is something that really concerns me. I am fortunate to live in a six year old manufactured house with 2x6 framed construction and loads of insulation located in an area where temperatures seldom dip below 30 or climb above 80. My winter usage is the worst, with consumption running above 1400KW per month. THis is when I keep the temp at 66-68 during the day and 58 at night, supplanted by a 750W space heater which runs up to 15mins each hour. All bulbs are CFLs. With my electricity at slightly less than 6 cents per KWH, my utility costs are a fraction of what they were in CA when I had both gas and electricity.

Still, I recently purchased a Kill A Watt meter to track down what my appliances were really up to once plugged in. This way I could see if any further gains could be had. I discovered my entertainment center was drawing 40 watts when turned off. My computer system drew an addition 10 W when off as well. Unplugging both when not in use could really help over time to reduce electrical consumption. I am still on the hunt for stray watts here and there.

If this were my place and not a rental, I'd toss a solar water heater coupled with a back-up tankless heater. If I added a wood stove and a few PV panels, I might not have an electrical bill whatsoever.

[mrobert]

I always turn off everything.
Never had any "damage" so far. And I use a lot of electronics since I run a small software company, and I have laptops, PC, and anything you can imagine here.

So far nothing ever went FUBAR.
Even if the most expensive hardware dies tomorrow ... it will be fraction of what I have saved.

I barely use 100KW in the winter.

[Barbara]

1400 Kw per month????

Today we had the bill, 225 KW and 35 € and we were angry.