Our energy bills???

chic

chic

SF VIP
Location
U.S.
Was anyone else shocked by this month's utility bill for electricity? I was floored. I am going to dispute but a friend told me we were warned that beginning THIS month there would be a dramatic increase in our bills. I never heard this. Ok if I give up eating and everything else. But this is just shockingly high.

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@chic, I hear you! When it comes to electricity, I'm very frugal. My habits remain the same, but my bill continues to rise. My rates have more than doubled in the last three years. Even though I've reduced my usage even further, my bill has not decreased. I'm not sure what else I can do to save money besides unplug everything and sit in the dark.
 
I am ok for the moment. Our govt owned electrical company has promised not to raise rates before later in 2023. Even then, I haven’t heard the raise will be extreme. Hopefully that will be the case. I just checked, they are asking govt for approval for approx 2% increase in 2023, and about the same in 2024. Whew. Of course, our food prices are skyrocketing.
 
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This chart is misleading, as it does not capture the prices of NatGas going into storage, which was near $10 at times over the summer and averaged near $7.75.
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I would suggest some abatement in rises, but that would be incorrect as all of those LNG tankers sitting full off the European coast, will begin emptying very soon.
 
The U.S. is the number one producer of oil and gas, but it all goes on the world market, so we don't benefit from its production if we produce more or less (contrary to what some would have you believe). Profit is all that matters these days, and because of the shortages caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and related disruptions, it's more profitable for energy companies to ship oil and gas overseas than to keep it here at low prices.
 
If you have the ability to switch electricity providers, it would pay to shop around. And you have to be careful to what you are signing up for. Plans that have provisions for buying power from a grid are potentially super-expensive. I'm lucky. I have had the same elect. company, which produces and transmits it for 40+ years, without a formal contract. They've had price increases , buy nothing like the swings from power companies with "contracts".
 
The one thing I do love about our move from California to Idaho is our power bill. In California,our typical electric bill was $400-$600 a month.Then we had propane,which was for heat and hot water.So we would have to have the tank filled monthly during the colder months,at a cost of $300 or so,then a tank would last us all through the summer months so no cost.Here in Idaho,we are all electric and I just paid the bill yesterday-$120.Have had nothing over $180 since we have been here (14 months)and we are always as warm or as cool as we want to be.We love it!
 
fuzzybuddy said:
If you have the ability to switch electricity providers, it would pay to shop around. And you have to be careful to what you are signing up for. Plans that have provisions for buying power from a grid are potentially super-expensive. I'm lucky. I have had the same elect. company, which produces and transmits it for 40+ years, without a formal contract. They've had price increases , buy nothing like the swings from power companies with "contracts".
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It doesn't because my current electric company owns the infrastructure so they would be included in every bill even with other providers. You can't escape from the corporate state in which we are living. 😖
 
Bella said:
@chic, I hear you! When it comes to electricity, I'm very frugal. My habits remain the same, but my bill continues to rise. My rates have more than doubled in the last three years. Even though I've reduced my usage even further, my bill has not decreased. I'm not sure what else I can do to save money besides unplug everything and sit in the dark.
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I'm in the same boat @Bella. 😥
 
chic said:
I'm in the same boat @Bella. 😥
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I'm not sinking yet. I'm just pissed off that no matter how much I conserve, the bill keeps climbing. With the price of food, fuel oil, and everything else skyrocketing, there's no getting ahead. No doubt, lower-income folks are hardest hit. The middle class is feeling it too. It's no joke when people have to decide whether they want to eat or stay warm. Everyone but the wealthy is being affected.
 
We looked into the cost of solar panels. Our home is rather large, it would cost around £12,000. Given that we pay around £800 a year for electricity, it would take fifteen years to break-even. Doing the sums, I will be 77 in about four or five months time, it's hardly worth it. What we are planning to do, long term, is to scrub up our home, as in decorate it, ensure it's presentable, then sell it to downsize to a bungalow. No stairs, less home to heat, smaller utility bills and a lower council tax bill. (Council tax is a tax paid to the local authority. It's based on the size of your home.) Our five-bedroomed house costs us a lot more than the utility bills.
 
Our highest bill was 76 dollars for one month for air conditioning in the hottest month. But we have gas heating so the electric bill will go down considerably but the gas will go up. We are fortunate that our apartment is a middle apartment with only one window and one patio slider door.

So it stays cooler and warmer. As I said on another thread, I keep it at a constant 72 degrees. Put on a sweater and blanket when it’s 22 outside, take stuff off when it’s a 100 degrees.
 
horseless carriage said:
We looked into the cost of solar panels. Our home is rather large, it would cost around £12,000. Given that we pay around £800 a year for electricity, it would take fifteen years to break-even. Doing the sums, I will be 77 in about four or five months time, it's hardly worth it. What we are planning to do, long term, is to scrub up our home, as in decorate it, ensure it's presentable, then sell it to downsize to a bungalow. No stairs, less home to heat, smaller utility bills and a lower council tax bill. (Council tax is a tax paid to the local authority. It's based on the size of your home.) Our five-bedroomed house costs us a lot more than the utility bills.
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I am considering adding solar panels, but the only way I would do it is to buy the solar panels and equipment outright, instead of financing the panels guaranteeing that my electric/utility bill will never be lower then $150/mo. for the next 25 years (irritates me how solar panel salesmen keep telling me that my electric bills could be zero and not mentioning that it is $0/mo. + $150/mo. minimum). Price I got quoted too was finance the solar panels at $30,000 - $40,000 to pay off for $150/yr.

If I just buy them, it costs estimated at $20,000 - $30,000 for our house.
 
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Our electric bills are fairly reasonable. We get our electricity from a rural Co-Op, and their rates hold between 7.5 and 8 cents per KWH. On a yearly average, our bills run about $175/mo....which isn't too bad for a total electric home.
I looked into Solar, a few years ago, and at their prices, it would take 12 to 15 years to break even with solar....and by then we would probably need to spend thousands for new batteries, and/or worn out panels. Plus, half the basement would probably be filled with batteries to supply the "juice" when we have several days of cloudy weather.
 
Don M. said:
Our electric bills are fairly reasonable. We get our electricity from a rural Co-Op, and their rates hold between 7.5 and 8 cents per KWH. On a yearly average, our bills run about $175/mo....which isn't too bad for a total electric home.
I looked into Solar, a few years ago, and at their prices, it would take 12 to 15 years to break even with solar....and by then we would probably need to spend thousands for new batteries, and/or worn out panels. Plus, half the basement would probably be filled with batteries to supply the "juice" when we have several days of cloudy weather.
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We have solar panels on our roof, and pay around $6.00 a month for electricity during the spring/summer/fall months. But in the winter, the bill can go up to $300 per month because of the snow, etc. In the old days, before the solar panels, we would pay $400-450 per month. We've had the solar panels for 11 years, and they not only paid off whatever they cost, but they've also earned money through SREC's where we trade our remaining electricity to the utility companies (the companies have to have so much electricity generated from alternative energy, and we supply that to them). Through SREC, we get around 55 dollars a month for each 1000 kWh the system generates. Sometime in the summer, we get $112 per month, which is nice. We decided NOT to get batteries because they were expensive and for what we would get, not worth it. Been very happy with our decision. My late husband was an economist, and he had figured out that by investing our money on solar panels (instead of putting in the bank) would earn us around 10% interest each year. It has done that. It's like having a renter in my house paying me money each month.
 

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