Hey, Who's Up For Some Higher Electric Bills?

[k0xxx]

Get ready for electricity prices to necessarily skyrocket.

New Regulations

"Consumers could see their electricity bills jump an estimated 40 to 60 percent in the next few years.

The reason: Pending environmental regulations will make coal-fired generating plants, which produce about half the nation's electricity, more expensive to operate. Many are expected to be shuttered."

Of course, higher electric bills also means higher goods and services. Oh boy!

 

[Wannabefree]

Oh well..everything else is going up so why not.

 

[abifae]

It's what people asked for.

My step dad works for utilities and he said they get constant letters demanding cleaner fuel and for them to redo the stations for efficiency. Well, guess what? That costs money. He warned me about this a few months ago.

 

[Wifezilla]

Not ALL people. Just stupid people who are mathematically challenged and think that world can run on rainbows and clean-burning unicorn farts.

 

[TTs Chicks]

unicorn farts.

so true - I an barely afford to run the central AC now what the heck are we gonna do if it goes up another 40% ! ?

 

[abifae]

Doesn't matter who asked, just that enough did that that is the trend lol. We all know the intelligent are a severe minority.

 

[Leta]

I don't think ours can go up much higher. We already pay 20c per kWh, which is double the national average.

If they do go up, we are getting a standing seam metal, PV solar film roof put on. We debated doing it last year, but wanted to focus on getting our electrical use as low as possible before we did it.

We have already cut our use from 900 kWh per month (which is average, almost on the nose) to 300 kWh per month for a family of 4.5, which is very low, especially considering our family size.

We accomplished this by ditching the desktop computer and getting a laptop; replacing small kitchen electrics with manual versions- aside from major appliances (dishwasher, fridge, gas range), the only things that plug in in our kitchen are the radio and the Kitchen Aid-:replacing our upright fridge/freezer with three chest units; ditching the electric dryer and installing a gas one that we only use during wet/cold days; replacing the top load washer with a front loader; unplugging everything when it's not in use, including the dishwasher, washer, dryer, etc.; and committing to having only one television.

We can go lower though- we (hopefully) are going to build aluminum solar heating panels this summer. If they do a good enough job heating our house, we are going to scrap our boiler altogether, which will save us gas and electricity. If the solar panels heat well enough that we can use our pellet stove less, that will save us pellets and electricity. Since we are going to vent one into our basement, that means we can ditch the dehumidifier, too.

I also eagerly await the day that LED bulbs drop low enough in price that I can replace all our CFLs with them. Lighting comprises 10% of the typical household's electrical use; in our case, lighting comprises about 30% of our electrical use. So switching from CFLs to LEDs will save us about 45 kWh and $9 every month.

I would like to replace our LCD TV with an LED TV within the next couple of years. I need to get around to drilling a couple holes so that we can get to a couple of power strips so that we can easily switch on and off.
We've replaced a couple of light fixtures with ceiling fans so that we can end box fan use, now we just need to replace five more.

 

[FarmerChick]

and this is surprising to whom??

not me. sure it had to happen.

more to follow, not just power. (it said annual increase from $107 per year to $178 per year in the article--they are VERY unsure about what the true hike will be)


well, ain't that purty...they are giving to us in small doses so it will be accepted no matter what the hike lol

 

[Marianne]

Like Ed Begley Jr says, use all the electricity you want. Just produce what you use.

I can't afford to produce all that I use, but I can continue to take steps to lower my usage.

Not everyone is stupid or ignorant because they want cleaner air now and for future generations, either.

 

[Wifezilla]

I went to college for solar engineering. Many people have no idea how dirty their "clean energy" really is. Look in to solar panel construction methods sometime.

Considering the skies used to be black with coal dust and wood ash, I think we have come a long, long way. No need to destroy what's left of the economy to meet some artificially imposed, unrealistic goal.