Electric choice
Aug. 22nd, 2024 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickSo in Pennsylvania, we are allowed to choose our electricity supplier. This means you can pick for lower cost or more renewable or whatever. Your power is still supplied by the company who runs the lines to your house (and there are fixed charges associated with that) but you can pay whoever you want for the electric.
That's good right? Well, I guess. My brother thinks it's good and he's all on about how I should look into it for big, big savings. Okay. I like me some big, big savings. Let's hear it for big, big savings!
Brother the elder uses (on average) 1550 KWH per month and he was paying 17 cents per KWH for electric. (There are also distribution and service charges and stuff, they don't change with supplier. This is the "per KWH used" charge, the thing he can adjust by better shopping.) So, he pays like $263 per month for electrics in "costs he can control by shopping". This seems like a lot but the average KWH used monthly by household in my state is 1400 so he's not really out of line on "normal" use.
Brother the elder shifted to a supplier at 9 cents per KWH for electric. That's $139 for electrics. This is a real savings. Like, that's enough money to do something useful with. You can, for example, buy a lot of mountain bike parts with that money. (Brother the elder buys fairly involved mountain bikes and works on them and rides them and so forth. Like I do with horse things, he does with mountain bike things.)
Looks like big, big savings await. Let's DO IT!
I used (on average) 380 KWH per month of electric over the last twelve months. I pay 8.7 cents per KWH for electric with my current supplier. So, on average I pay $33.60 per month (plus distribution and service charges which are added on to this amount) for electric.
I shopped at the thing for electric shopping. I can get the "introductory rate" of 5.7 cents per KWH from a few companies. That's better by 3 cents than the 8.7 cents I pay now, but it's only good for three months and then I will have to do it again and remember to do it again and have the energy to do it again and there's mental load on that. And I'm lazy. And this will save me $11.40 (average) for three months, a total of 34 dollars.
No. Just... no. I can't be arsed, I'm sorry. My time is more valuable than that. And also I would have to REMEMBER to do this electric shopping thing again in three months, which I guarantee you I would not be able to do. And it would frustrate me. And all that for thirty bucks. Fuckit, no. No. Too many hoops, not enough money.
Sorry, big, big savings. You are not for me.
(How do I have such a low electric bill? Household of one. Don't run much electric heat. No AC unit. House reasonably well insulated. Brother the elder has more square footage, worse quality insulation and windows, runs an AC of necessity -- the place gets brutally hot in summer, and has no option besides some electric heat. Also his household has three people.)
How about you? Do you have electric choice in your state? Have you looked into it?
That's good right? Well, I guess. My brother thinks it's good and he's all on about how I should look into it for big, big savings. Okay. I like me some big, big savings. Let's hear it for big, big savings!
Brother the elder uses (on average) 1550 KWH per month and he was paying 17 cents per KWH for electric. (There are also distribution and service charges and stuff, they don't change with supplier. This is the "per KWH used" charge, the thing he can adjust by better shopping.) So, he pays like $263 per month for electrics in "costs he can control by shopping". This seems like a lot but the average KWH used monthly by household in my state is 1400 so he's not really out of line on "normal" use.
Brother the elder shifted to a supplier at 9 cents per KWH for electric. That's $139 for electrics. This is a real savings. Like, that's enough money to do something useful with. You can, for example, buy a lot of mountain bike parts with that money. (Brother the elder buys fairly involved mountain bikes and works on them and rides them and so forth. Like I do with horse things, he does with mountain bike things.)
Looks like big, big savings await. Let's DO IT!
I used (on average) 380 KWH per month of electric over the last twelve months. I pay 8.7 cents per KWH for electric with my current supplier. So, on average I pay $33.60 per month (plus distribution and service charges which are added on to this amount) for electric.
I shopped at the thing for electric shopping. I can get the "introductory rate" of 5.7 cents per KWH from a few companies. That's better by 3 cents than the 8.7 cents I pay now, but it's only good for three months and then I will have to do it again and remember to do it again and have the energy to do it again and there's mental load on that. And I'm lazy. And this will save me $11.40 (average) for three months, a total of 34 dollars.
No. Just... no. I can't be arsed, I'm sorry. My time is more valuable than that. And also I would have to REMEMBER to do this electric shopping thing again in three months, which I guarantee you I would not be able to do. And it would frustrate me. And all that for thirty bucks. Fuckit, no. No. Too many hoops, not enough money.
Sorry, big, big savings. You are not for me.
(How do I have such a low electric bill? Household of one. Don't run much electric heat. No AC unit. House reasonably well insulated. Brother the elder has more square footage, worse quality insulation and windows, runs an AC of necessity -- the place gets brutally hot in summer, and has no option besides some electric heat. Also his household has three people.)
How about you? Do you have electric choice in your state? Have you looked into it?
no subject
Date: 2024-08-23 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-27 03:34 am (UTC)The single company in question really pushes people to do things like install the company's "smart" thermostats and "smart" meters and such, and will give you a lower rate if you do... but the smart meters come with them spiking your rate for any use during "peak times," with a few high profile cases in local media about people somehow winding up with four- and five-figure power bills on a home that typically cost a few hundred a month. And the smart thermostats allow them to control whether you're allowed to use heating or cooling *at all* if they decide it's a period of high use.
For us, we're in an apartment, so we have zero choice, as the electric is provided through the building. We're individually metered, and pay that amount each month, but as part of our rent, rather than directly to the power company. In our tiny apartment, we pay about what you do, sometimes a bit more (even with the AC pretty continually on, because it gets hot this high up.)
I guess if you're using so much electric that the difference really is a hundred dollars plus per month, then dealing with making that choice every few months is worthwhile. But for $11? Nah.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-28 12:06 pm (UTC)Anyway, I'm pretty glad I looked into it and now I can do nothing secure in the knowledge that it's costing me about two lattes per month to be lazy.