05 November 2007

Save a nickle or two on your electric bill

The California Energy Commission estimates 13 percent of household electricity use is from "vampire" loads.

I had read about this last year and took some steps to reduce our electric useage. We put some of the vampire devices on power strips plus switched to CFLs for the lamps we used most often (irrelevant point, but doesn't that guy look like Al Franken's dad or sumtin' like that?).

6 months later I checked our electrical usage on the utility's website and found that we had indeed reduced it. So, you would think joy and glee abounded in the Gun Trash household, right?

Wrong. Our electric bill was now $5 higher per month than the prior year despite lowering our consumption.

It seems the electric company had petitioned for a rate increase and the state regulatory board had approved it.

True story.

But, there is some small icing on that electric cake. We have a dividend reinvestment plan with the company so we get a little back with the quarterly dividends. A little bit.

2 comments:

Ramblin' Ed said...

In Florida, nothing comes back. Ever.

But we have the same deal for rate increases. If we use less to try to save money, the electric company can petition to raise rates based solely on dipping profits. What other industry has a gauranteed profit margin??

Gun Trash said...

Wasn't there some comic strip called the Born Loser or sumtin' like that? That's a title we all share when dealing with the utility companies.