Electric bills

billlindley wrote:My girlfriend always complaines when I do this or, god forbid, turn a light off in a room not in use.

I don't even bother arguing with my wife anymore about lights. I can't get her to turn them off no matter the argument. They are basically all on .... all the time. I often work into the wee hours of the morning. I came home at 3am one night and found that my wife went to bed and literally left every light in the house on! Every single one including the bedroom light and the downstairs closet light. No joke. That's why I replaced everything with compact fluorescents. Maybe I can remove all the switches and return them to the hardware store for a refund.

I njust got a bill for $153.37 for elctric & $52.29 for gas. No complaints.

Last bill was $56.10. Electric dryer, electric water heater(preheated by AA130 of course)gas stove, Energy star tv, fridge. All compact fluorescents throughout the house. Led lights on the porch and outside garage left on 24/7. Outside yard light(streetlight type) fluorescent, think it's a 44 or 66 watt bulb equals 150w comes on whenever it's dark. No battery chargers, cell phone chargers, rechargeable screwdrivers left plugged in ever unless they are being used. It's the small things such as those that add up. 10 watt battery charger or rechargeable shaver left on 24/7 equals 240 watts a day. Same as leaving a 60 watt bulb on for 4 hours, 240watts. Only things i have on besides the outdoor lights 24/7 are 2 alarm clocks (going to solve that by buying a dual alarm one(should save 3 or 4 watts x 24/7) coffee maker clock, oven clock, microwave clock, cordless answering machine phone, 2 extra handsets, led nightlights scattered throughout the house,1 laptop always plugged in, tv standby mode and dvd/vcr combo always on, running small humidifier now 24/7(runs about 50%) undercounter cd radio player, cable modem and wireless router on 24/7. I have much more on 24/7 than i thought!

mozz wrote:Last bill was $56.10. Electric dryer, electric water heater(preheated by AA130 of course)gas stove, Energy star tv, fridge.........

All that for $56.10!!! (You have you wife peddling on a manual generator??)

mikeandgerry wrote:I can't get her to turn them off

When I was growing up the kitchen light switch had a cast iron cover. It was black with red text "Outen the light". Not that it helped keep the light off, but it was a constant reminder. If I came home and found my wife sleeping with all the lights on I'd wake her up and walk with her as she turned them all off. I know my wife, that wouldn't happen more than once!

Freddy you're a lucky man. My wife would have put a frying pan upside the back of my head if I tried that.

"All that for $56.10!!! (You have you wife peddling on a manual generator??)"
I'm waiting on that invention from Fred so when i lose power, i can pedal the exercise bike and run my stoker for a minute each half hour. All it needs is a extra pulley on the motor and one on the bike.

Freddy wrote:

mikeandgerry wrote:I can't get her to turn them off

When I was growing up the kitchen light switch had a cast iron cover. It was black with red text "Outen the light". Not that it helped keep the light off, but it was a constant reminder. If I came home and found my wife sleeping with all the lights on I'd wake her up and walk with her as she turned them all off. I know my wife, that wouldn't happen more than once!

I remember that exact wall plate in my childhood friends house!

I have tried all the methods of getting my wife to "outen the lights". She is on a rigid schedule with her job and the kids. You don't mess with the schedule. Similarly, when it's sleeptime, you don't mess with her.

Some fights aren't worth fighting. I got the fluorescent bulbs and I come home earlier and work from home.

Keep the peace.

The fact is that a bill is generated as a direct result of usage and how each of us chooses to impact that usage.As an example, I buy all my lawn mowing equipment maintenance items from a small local repair shop.This shop has one employee,the very senior owner who still talks about "how it was". The interesting part is he only has one single light in the whole shop,directly over his workbench.When you ask a question,he immediatedly switches off the light. After a while I asked him why.He said there are two reasons: #1 you don't ever need light to talk and #2 if you were here for the "Great Depression" you would not be asking that question. So you see the whole billing issue comes down to something that is different for each and every one of us, value and discression. Mike

Freddy wrote:

mikeandgerry wrote:I can't get her to turn them off

When I was growing up the kitchen light switch had a cast iron cover. It was black with red text "Outen the light". Not that it helped keep the light off, but it was a constant reminder. If I came home and found my wife sleeping with all the lights on I'd wake her up and walk with her as she turned them all off. I know my wife, that wouldn't happen more than once!

Thanks for the advice. The couch felt great alst night

Update on my electric dilemma. I called JCP&L a few weeks back and gave them a meter reading over the phone. They had estimated that I would use over 1200 Kwh and billed me $219.00. The actual meter reading was less than HALF of that with everything I've done to lower my bill. The lady on the phone had to get a managers approval just to lower the bill that much and warned me that if I wasn't reading it correctly that I would have to pay for the difference on this months bill. I assured her that it was correct and the bill dropped to $120.

I get the next bill in yesterday's mail and it's................dramatic pause...............$94. WOO HOO! It's been years since my bill was lower than $100. So I took the girlfriend out last night and celebrated!

If I ever receive another "estimated bill" from the electric company I'm calling them up and giving them the actual meter reading.

They did that to my brother once. The next bill was a whopping 1 cent! Cost more for the stamp to send it. Real efficient.

Kevin

I have always been after my kids (when they were young) to "Outen The Lights" with mixed results:

My youngest daughter ( 30 yrs old & has her own apartment near Boston) is an electric NAZI like her father! (hates to use electricity)

My middle daughter (35 yrs old, lives 3 miles away, married) is pretty good at conserving electricity, burns a new TLC2000 for heat & is NORMAL about turning off lights.

My oldest daughter (40 yrs old, married) is the worst with electricity. Lights always on...EVERYWHERE.....keeps the house at around 700* (not a typo......700* not 70*) with a propane central furnace, etc. (I think her daily routine is to:
1. Wake up
2. Go around her house to ensure EVERY light is on
3. Goes down the basement & turns on her electric clothes dryer...EVEN WHEN EMPTY!
4. Has extension cords from her neighbors plugged into her house .....just to use more electricity! (kidding)

Why does she do this?........Just to piss off her Father!!

Hollyfeld wrote:If I ever receive another "estimated bill"

You guys still have meter readers? Three years ago they replaced every meter in the area with new fangled ones that send the meter information over the elcetric wires. No more meter readers! After the new meters were installed they fired about 75 people. No more meter readers! Well, almost no more. They still have two one staff....and one of them comes to my house each month because of the windmill. They don't have automatic ones for electricity going in the other direction.

Freddy wrote:No more meter readers!

Hey Freddy.......I think the Pony Express guy just road with your mail!