Electric bill

[TXmom]

I just opened our electric bill - it's $270!!!! I called TXU to find out why the bill double from last month when our usage hadn't doubled. Well, I was told last month (May) we were still being charged the winter rate and now we're being charged the summer rate. Talk about gouging the customer! It's 100 degrees outside, what are people going to do - not run the air conditioner?!

[Lynda/WA]

I am absolutely PO'd at my electric company too! They've got this program just starting where if you cut your usage by 10% they will credit you an additional 10%. That's only for the next 3 months. They read the meter every other month so in effect you have to cut your usage for over 4 months so the average is a reduction (over same time frame as last year). I went out and replace nearly every light in the house with the energy efficient ones. I was able to get stacks of 6 dollar coupons so it didn't cost that much. Plus I've started line drying all my clothes and turning off the computer at night. As I was changing over the lights I started taking daily meter readings. They showed that I was using 20 - 30 KWH per day. Good considering that my average last year at this time was 40 KWH per day. Then I missed 2 weeks worth of reading. Today I got my bill and compared it with the official reading. In order to get the reading they say I would have needed to use only 47 KWH over 12 days or just under 4 KWH per day from the last reading I took in June to their July 2nd reading. Then this month - the first month in which you can get the credit - I would have needed to use 478 KWH in just 4 days! Or 119 KWH per day. That's more that I use in the winter when we use the most! Seems to me they under-read the usage on the meter so more usage will show in the month they are giving out refunds instead of correctly crediting it to the month it was used.
TXmom - you're probably getting spillover increased rates from CA. They have since discovered that contrary to what CA Gov Davis said about the power companies gouging in CA it was the CA commision (ISO) that requested the power companies reduce the amount they transfer to CA to equalize the power grid. Didn't make alot of sense to me but DH works with power and said he understood what happened. Have you looked into ways to reduce your usage? When we lived in CA we didn't have A/C. What I would do in the summer was open the windows at night and draw in the cooler air. Then during the day I closed every shade and all the doors. Some of the windows I placed blankets over as well to keep those rooms completely dark. We would spend as much time outside as possible without going back and forth into the house drawing in hot air. It was possible even with myself and three kids home during the day. You may be able to at least reduce the A/C usage to part of the day. I'm considering installing bamboo shades on the outside of the house so I can double shade here. Basically, shades inside and shades outside.
I know what you're going through. I lived in AZ for a couple of years. If you look it up you'll see Gila Bend rivals Death Valley for national highs! I don't care what they say about a dry heat. When it hits 120 you can literally feel the difference every degree makes. Just sucks all the moisture right out of you!

[angie r]

This sounds like last winter when the local gas company raised their rates 44%. We don't have gas, but our neighbors bill jumped from about $90 a month to $300. The gas company was so kind to raise the rates in the coldest months .

[AnnW]

Welcome to deregulation!!!