Kill-O-Watt verses high electric rates (generation fee doubled this month)

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davidmcbeth3
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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Sat. Jan. 14, 2023 3:48 pm

With electrical rates, sans the rapey dist. fees, have doubled. How to save $$ with electrical use. So price of $0.30/kWh delivered for me.

Using my Kill-O-Watt to measure stuff. For the most part things as they are labeled are labeled accurately. ie 8.5 watt bulb uses 8.5 watt per hr.

Some things measured..

Auto, plug-in hybrid. For 30 miles, sucked up 12 kW. The car can run on gas (Volt) so when gas is low, I run on gas but this has been rare. Not much I can do about that unless I want to run 30 mi every day. So 12 kW every car "fill-up" which happens about 250 days/yr . That's 250 kWh/mo and 3000 kWh/yr. $900/yr for car.

I swapped out all bulbs to LED. Except for those light chandlers that require one regular bulb for those on a dimmer switched line (resistance reason - adding all LEDs with such results in the chandler not functioning). Half of bulbs were CFLs bought 10 yrs ago, quarter were regular bulbs quarter were LEDs already (although these LEDs were swapped out to lower wattage new bulbs)..swapping to LEDs will save $$ and the CFLs were dim; I can see again ! Cost of new bulbs (lowes had 20 LED bulbs for six bucks deals) $50 for all bulbs. Cost savings? Est. $300/yr.

Popcorn ? Microwave v. hot air popper ? Both used 50 watts to make a batch. Gotta make popcorn, right ? No change..I do both hot air and microwave varieties.

Coffee maker. We cannot live without. Making a 8 cup pot used 110 watts. After that, coffee pot hot plate used 70 watts per hour. CORRECTIVE ACTION: make pot of coffee, store brewed coffee in thermos via keeping on coffee maker hot plate. Est. savings 0.21 kWhr/day..365 days= 76 kWhr = $23/yr.

Got a fan for white noise. Measured using 40 watts per hours. That's 120 kWh a year, $35/yr. Replaced with a white noise maker (costing $15) that uses 3 kWh/yr, one dollar.

My media center (TV / video etc) just idling uses 150 kWh a year, $45 a year. No corrective action taken as it also has internet modem and phone modem besides other entertainment stuff.

When media center has TV and PC on (using as media device) , total watt use is 150 watts per hr. Estimate usage of 55 kWh/yr..$16 / yr.

My air compressor to cycle to full, 70 watts.

A clock radio, est usage, 12 kWh a year, $4 a year.

The Hitzer 503 uses 60 watts per hour (what the fan says is 30 W, have 2 on stove). Orig fans use 46 watts. The $20 replacements use a 30 watt fan. Yes you can tell the difference. Does is lower efficiency of stove ? Dunno. Still heats the house :)

I'll see what usage from prior month shows on electric bill. You guys doing anything ?


 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Sat. Jan. 14, 2023 4:30 pm

davidmcbeth3 wrote:
Sat. Jan. 14, 2023 3:48 pm
The Hitzer 503 uses 60 watts per hour (what the fan says is 30 W, have 2 on stove). Orig fans use 46 watts. The $20 replacements use a 30 watt fan. Yes you can tell the difference. Does is lower efficiency of stove ? Dunno. Still heats the house
I don't think so. If the CFM is lower, it'd just come out at a slightly higher temperature. Efficiency difference would be negligible.

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Sat. Jan. 14, 2023 4:39 pm

Not that my electric rate is high here, but I changed a few things to get the electric usage down, anyway.

Best move was I got a new wife that doesn't need to have every light on in the house and knows to shut them off when that room is not in use. Plus, she gave me a coal kitchen range. That greatly reduced the need for running the clothes dryer, toaster, kitchen stove, microwave, crockpot.

Switched over to all LED light bulbs. Lots brighter light for a lot less electricity used. Also, less aspirin needed for headaches trying to read and work with dim CFL's.

Paul

 
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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Sat. Jan. 14, 2023 9:35 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:
Sat. Jan. 14, 2023 4:39 pm
I got a new wife

Paul
Paul found identical twins ! Tight.

 
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Post by k-2 » Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 12:22 am

davidmcbeth3 wrote:
Sat. Jan. 14, 2023 3:48 pm
With electrical rates, sans the rapey dist. fees, have doubled. How to save $$ with electrical use. So price of $0.30/kWh delivered for me.
I'll see what usage from prior month shows on electric bill. You guys doing anything ?
Wow,whre are you located? .30c is pretty high
Im paying .18c all in right now in eastern central pa.

lower offers out there for generation.

 
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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 1:13 am

k-2 wrote:
Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 12:22 am
.30c is pretty high
$0.30/kWh is high ... the electric co. contracts out for 6 mos. .. then charge what the contracts cost them. Nat. gas being high is why..most supply is gas generated.

 
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Post by waytomany?s » Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 7:31 am

davidmcbeth3 wrote:
Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 1:13 am
$0.30/kWh is high ... the electric co. contracts out for 6 mos. .. then charge what the contracts cost them. Nat. gas being high is why..most supply is gas generated.
Nat gas was under $3.50/mmbtu on Friday. Lowest in over a year.


 
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Post by warminmn » Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 8:45 am

Gas was likely contracted at some point in the past so not at current costs.

 
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Post by ColdHouse » Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 9:56 am

k-2 wrote:
Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 12:22 am
Wow,whre are you located? .30c is pretty high
Im paying .18c all in right now in eastern central pa.

lower offers out there for generation.
PA makes up for their inexpensive electric with their expensive gasoline taxes.
$0.30 is too cheap and not correct. Eversource Connecticut just sent out this notice regarding people going to see a 48% increase and they state that, "A cutomer using 700kWh per month will see about a 48% or $84.85 increase to your total bill compared to December's bill."
$176.77 x 48%=$84.85 so that means that with the increase a person using 700kWh will be paying $176.77+$84.85=$262.62/700= $0.3752 per kWh not 30 cents.
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Post by Lightning » Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 10:02 am

Yikes. My last bill was 20.6 cents per kilowatt (total bill divided by kilowatts used) thru National Grid.... but I bet it will go up in 2023.

 
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Post by nut » Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 10:37 am

With all the Marcellus NG here in Pa out rates were nice and low til now. Same with our coal. They are shipping it to Europe. We need some limits. Drill baby drill doesn't work unless there are some guarantees it is going to benefit us first.

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 11:00 am

CNY has a big portion of the Marcellus field and was supposed to have low rates also. A few tree huggers screamed and the previous idiot in Albany banned all fracking in NYS. Price of pro-pain took a jump even though there were already many gas wells in the valleys just west of here. Now it's hitting the electric rates.

I'm lucky in that our local electric department is supplied by mostly hydro. And with all the wet weather the past few years, even in winter when a lot of people use electric heat and they have to supplement the increase demand with NG power plants, it has not gone over .05 KWH.

Now the government is going to give me up to $840.00 to replace my 30-year-old gas stove with an electric, I might take them up on that.

Paul

 
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Post by waytomany?s » Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 11:14 am

nut wrote:
Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 10:37 am
With all the Marcellus NG here in Pa out rates were nice and low til now. Same with our coal. They are shipping it to Europe. We need some limits. Drill baby drill doesn't work unless there are some guarantees it is going to benefit us first.
No more drill baby drill. Those days are gone.

 
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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 2:25 pm

ColdHouse wrote:
Sun. Jan. 15, 2023 9:56 am
Eversource Connecticut just sent out this notice regarding people going to see a 48% increase and they state that, "A cutomer using 700kWh per month will see about a 48% or $84.85 increase to your total bill compared to December's bill."
$176.77 x 48%=$84.85 so that means that with the increase a person using 700kWh will be paying $176.77+$84.85=$262.62/700= $0.3752 per kWh not 30 cents.
Screen Shot 2023-01-13 at 5.47.09 AM.png
ColdHouse immediately wrote Eversource a thank you note for their kind note. That's not even their name ! Eversource is a DBA .. its Connecticut Light and Power Inc. They don't even have an office that customers can visit. They doubled their generation rate, +0.12.

700*.12=$84 So their letter is accurate. For a 700 kWh usage, increased bill of $84 (sans tax implications). For those using Eversource as their "generator".

New rate, for 6 mos., will be about $0.38/kWh.

Its due to NE rules..no coal ! So its gas + nuclear + useless solar/wind. If they figure out how to generate electricity from politicians hot air it would be free.

 
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Post by k-2 » Sat. Jan. 28, 2023 1:08 am

davidmcbeth3 wrote:
Sat. Jan. 14, 2023 3:48 pm
With electrical rates, sans the rapey dist. fees, have doubled. How to save $$ with electrical use. So price of $0.30/kWh delivered for me.
bucks deals) $50 for all bulbs. Cost savings? Est. $300/yr.

I'll see what usage from prior month shows on electric bill. You guys doing anything ?
The rising rates had me thinking about solar panels again and where i could cut usage but instead i took a radically different approach. I bought some of my electric the companys stock with about the same amount i would have spent on the solar. To make a long story short im no longer interested in the solar panels. I guess its not for everyone but it worked for me.


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