Power bill at ole joyful's place

11 years ago

We recently went to Smart meters for power, and there are three prices related to time-of-day usage, cheapest nights, weekends, 6.3 cents/kwh; mid-range, morning and evening either spring and fall and during day in winter and summer, 9.9 cents kwh, and peak rate, morning and evening in two seasons and during the day or morning and evening in the other two, I can't remember which, at 11.8 cents/kwh.

I find that the major part of our usage (including landlord's shop) is during nights and weekends. Prices for only power ran from a low of $23.22 in June to a high of $49.90 in the next month, only slightly over a quarter of the total bill.

Delivery charges, somewhat related to the price of the electricity used, but it's not a direct relationship, ranged from $44.01 to a high of $58.04 the next month, same as the earlier ones.

There are regulatory charges, as well, from a low of $2.13 (same as above) and a high of $4.19, as above.

The system has developed a debt and, despite their not having built a major generating station in 35 years, so we figure that they should have money in the till for replacement, we're paying that off, from $1.92 to $4.00 monthly, as above.

There's a harmonized federal and provincial sales tax added, from $9.27 to $15.10, again, same months as above.

Total usage for the year that we paid was $1,031.05, but the province has been providing a temportary reduction of 10% of the bill, so that's only 90% of what the full cost was.

I haven't used an air conditioner, but used a dehumidifier in summer, no humidifier in winter, use an oil-fired furnace and pump water from our wells, including some for garden and landlord's shop where he repairs farm machinery. Landlord has wood-fired furnace in the shop, he cuts his own wood.

Landlord pays 10 - under 15% of the bill.

ole joyful

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

glenda_al
11 years ago
My youth days, we had a coal burning furnace in the basement.

Coal truck would drive to the back yard and coal sent down a chute to the basement. My dad's job to shovel it and keep us warm.
susanjf_gw
11 years ago
just got my gas bill...about $350 this month...electric has been running at a more moderate $200....i admit the heat doesn't go much below 70, and yes we do need more insulation...and we're one of the few home with NO fireplace to supplement...

one town here in detroit got the water bill messed up BIG time...a middle class, lets say 1000 ft homes (i call them motor indusry homes, built for the workers) of $2 -3000 grand cause the bill didn't go out, for over a year...and they had actually cut off some of the customer water because otheir error??
Related Discussions
Ole joyful's change of scene
Q
Comments (13)
Visited the Canyon on Sun., a bit chilly, but quite a few clouds, so somewhat less interesting for taking pictures. They say that some of the rocks are over 100 million years old, and that it took the river about 8 million to dig that trench down the more or less 5,000 feet. Such a variety of formations and colours. And average width 10 mi., but widest about 18 mi. - and over 225 mi. long. A fabulous place. So much for some claiming the world to be about 6,000 yrs. old. Came home Sun. night, Kathryn to bed early, up about 6 to co-ordinate people training laid-off workers in webinars, in the Eastern time zone. I checked Phoenix maps and attractions, thought of going to library but didn't. Read a book, "The Joy of NOT Being Married", by Ernie Zelinski, from Edmonton, while sitting near busy daughter. Some thoughtful ideas related to the lives of singles, whether original or retreaded. He also wrote, "The Joy of NOT Working", dealing with various issues relating to people who have been laid off, or retired. An opportunity for a wholesale re-evaluation of life ... good idea to be prepared, etc. A concept that comes close to Kathryn's profession. It must be tough to be opimistic, vivacious and perky in a gathering of people whose spirits are lower than a snake's belly in a wagon track. Wearing. We had dinner on Monday evening with Kathryn's good friend from several years ago when she first lived here - who loaned us the laptop that I'm using now. Kathryn bought an attractive 3-br. condo in the northern area of Phoenix in the late spring and is enjoying it: a major reason for the trip was for me to see it. Good wishes for the rest of the week. ole joyful
...See More
Problem: 400 lbs. meat, 90 degr heat, power outage 6 hour, ongoin
Q
Comments (7)
While a power interruption of a few hours isn't of great consequence to people with a freezer ... longer periods can be rather hair-rising. I've thought that it might be good idea for people where they have power interruptions from time to time to gather a group of, say, four to six or so, to share in buying a generator, possibly of somewhat better quality and capacity than one person would wish to, alone, to move from house to house when the power is out, to keep the food in the freezers intact. Some people where I visited with a generator wanted me to fire up their furnace, but most have an unbreakable connection to the power box and I was unwilling to risk the possibility of the main switch getting reconnected inadvertently, thus pushing power back out on to a line that the linemen understood to be dead, possibly with drastic consequences. Where codes allow, I think that it would be advisable for people to have a push-and-twist connection between the power box and the furnace. When the power is down for an extended period, most people are not going to their place of employment, so would be free to move the generator from member's house to member's house during the day and night ... or even to help an outsider, should they so choose. It would be necessary to have at least one member who had an establishment large enough to store the generator without its being a nuisance. Such a plan would provide cheap insurance for people with a substantial amount of expensive food in their freezers ... and have you noticed how the price of that food has escalated in recent times ... while the wage increases earned by most ordinary workers have been much more ... meagre? Does anyone foresee a substantial change in that scenario, any time soon? ole joyful
...See More
That JoyfulGuy is really great!!!!!!!
Q
Comments (9)
Aw, shucks. Thanks for the compliments. Actually, I've been saving pop (and beer) can tabs for a friend for about 14 years - starting back about the time that I sold those corn-fired heating systems. I was able to send some blue ones, some green ones, and some with a different shape, to Jaybird. Even crossing the border, the postage wasn't too bad. I asked recently why the people who sell them to buy wheelchairs don't save the whole can. Haven't had an answer, yet. On a recent discussion here on that topic, someone suggested that they thought the reason was efficiency - that there was about as much aluminum in a tab as in the rest of the can, but that it took up a lot less space. I replied that I didn't want to be disagreeable, but that I thought that there was a lot less. So, I saved 2,000 tabs, which nearly filled a 2 litre ice cream container (which is slightly under 2 quarts). They didn't weigh more than a kilogram (2.2 lbs.), I think - a kilogram and a half at the outside. About 32 pop cans weigh in at a pound. Which brought me to a certain conclusion. If any of you have removed a bunch of tabs from pop cans, you know that it is a tedious, time-consuming task. As the tabs and the cans, which the scrap metal dealer says go into the same barrel, bring in the princely sum of about 50 cents/lb. ... I think that I'll just give my friend the collector a buck (or even ... maybe ... two) on occasion. And not remove any more tabs. By the way - when you're 75, in good health and receiving three pensions, which in total are more than adequate (for a frugal lifestyle) ... every day is a good day. I don't think I've taken a pill in about 30 years. By the way - if you are taking serious meds, maybe you should join the busloads of U.S. people who travel to Canada from neighbouring states to buy their meds, saving most if not all of the cost of the trip. You know what the result of that will be - soon we Canadians will be paying more for meds! No way the drug companies are going to put up with that nonsense for long. Have you seen the book by the Harvard doc, "The Truth about the Drug Companies"? That most of their highly vaunted patents, etc. are not for new and original research, but mainly a slight variation on an old formula (that allows them to carry the patent protection forward for a substantial number of years). Good wishes to you all for a great autumn. ole joyful
...See More
ole joyful's recent adventure
Q
Comments (17)
Greetings, everyone. I'd had no indication prior to that trip that something was wrong with the rad. I had a '90 Dodge "Colt" (also standard tranny) from about '97 to about '04 or '05. I used it to travel the 12 miles or so to Uncle's farm nearly daily after his death, to make it look lived in, until the farm was sold, and, as I was usually travelling at midnight or 2 a.m or so, when there was little traffic, found that I could coast over 16 of the 20 km. trip ... and if anyone had told me that they could coast 80% of the time, I'd have thought them to be lying. Didn't have any clutch or transmission troubles with it. When the mechanic said that, at about 200K miles, it was risky to put it on the road, donated it to a charitable agency for a charitable receipt. When I initiated a discussion here about coasting some time ago, some said that such is illegal in their state. I've asked several police people and have been told that it's my responsibility to be in charge of my vehicle, and to drive in a safe manner. I don't usually do it if someone is following me rather closely, as it is not fair to interfere with his/her progress. _____________________________ The lady in question called me the next evening, to ask whether I'd got home O.K., and I told her that I had, and of the issues that I'd had to deal with ... and asked her how she knew that I'd had any problems. She said that she hadn't seen me at the commital, or afterward at the luncheon, and that she had been pretty sure that I'd have been there, so thought that something probably went wrong. And, yes ... I've seen her again ... why not? Last evening, as a matter of fact ... for a short visit before coming to the library ... but hadn't time to make this post, then. Any other questions/comments/(advisories)? ole joyful
...See More
ont_gal
11 years ago
Ed-up here in the Bancroft area, combining the regulatory,delivery,retirement and taxes has my monthly bill @ $108.00/month BEFORE I use any of the power at all.This little house is heated with a high eff.propane furnace(brand new 2010) and total square ftg is only 560.
My "actual" power usage averages about $40./month,some months being a bit less,others a wee bit more(summer-CA)
sjerin
11 years ago
Yeah, we have the "smart" meter whether we want it, or not. I don't love the idea of it but at least my bill didn't go up by a ton the way some peoples' did. Hopefully they've worked the kinks out by now.
eccentric
11 years ago
We live in Toronto and were one of the 10,000 households first chosen to "test" the Smart Meters. Frankly, no one should have had to have a Smart Meter until everyone did. I feel the same way about the Garbage/Recycle Bins - they started with our end of the City while people in neighbouring areas continued to put out what they wanted to. Our costs are ridiculous when you consider that we live in a small bungalow - just the 2 of us, with a dog. Hydro, Gas, Metered Water, Garbage and of course the dreaded NO FAULT INSURANCE. I am ballistic about the latter considering that a week ago a SUV decided to pull out of a car wash and turn left - speeding of course - crossed 2 lanes of traffic and smashed into me as I was sitting in a designated turn late with a traffic light. Stupid me was on the phone trying to get the police to come since it was 100% obvious I was not at fault - if nothing else I wanted that on record - not about to happen. This happened in a very busy part of town and there were several witnesses - but not one person would help me - or come forward - but they sure wanted me to move my car - but to where? I was alone and was not certain the car could even be driven. I do not have a cell phone so wasn't playing on that. I had just had my eyes tested that week - 20/20. Thankfully, the dog was not in the car. I did not get home until 10:30 that night - accident happened at 4:30 p.m. The police were very nice to me at the accident reporting centre and agreed that it would have been nice if someone had come forward. It has been a week and I have still not spoken to the insurance adjuster. If you have an accident try and do so between 8:30 and 4:30 Monday to Friday. I am very happy that when Ontario decreased insurance coverages a few years ago I called and paid the difference to up ours back to where it was. It seems that these days nothing is anyone's fault which is a problem - especially considering the misuse of cell phones - the texting etc. while supposedly driving. We have a rental but it does not have snow tires. I am afraid to drive anywhere in case someone hits me with the rental car and we keep getting snow. You know things are bad when my husband suggests that I drive. The car is a 2002 but only has 48,000 km on it - obviously we don't drive far - husband takes TTC. If we didn't have the dog frankly I would be tempted to give the car up now. Many people once they no longer have the need - other than convenience are doing just that - you can take a lot of taxis etc. or rent cars (in summer with their insurance) for the price of our car's insurance, repairs, gas etc. This is my rant today! Sadly, whenever I have witnesses such an accident I have always provided the victim with my name/phone number to give to the police. I have done so many times in the past, but now, frankly, I would really have to want to help someone out before I would do so again. I am still waiting for Karma and so far it hasn't...
cynic
11 years ago
My last 3 natural gas bills were $89, $134 and $130, and that includes all the various little taxes and other fees and charges.

My last 3 electric bills were $28, $30, and $41, including all the various little taxes and other fees and charges. (Hmm, quite a bit higher last month. Need to look into that.)

They show their per therm and kwh rate but to me that's deceiving. I still have to pay the other fees, including a flat fee whether I use electricity/gas or not, (not unlike those ClubCo store scams) so to me all of those charges need to be factored in to gain an accurate cost per unit.
joyfulguy
Original Author
11 years ago
It is my impression that if one signs up for reduced power charges with one of the different providers, the only portion of the bill that is affected is the cost of the power produced, and mine is usually a quarter to possibly a third of the total bill.

The main charge is the delivery cost, and as the other "provider" isn't doing the delivering, I expect that fee would remain unchanged.

Same for "Admin", "Debt retirement" and "Harmonized sales tax". The "harmony" is not related to singing - it's just that the feds and the province got together and amalgamated their consumption tax charge.

Most food is excluded from the harmonized sales tax: but not snacks or candy ... a couple of muffins in a pack taxed (snack), a dozen not, as "food".

ole joyfuelled ... with a bit o' help from a muffin, here and there, usually bought by the dozen ...
...and seldom buy them in the coffee shop

Power bill at ole joyful's place

Comments (7)

glenda_al

susanjf_gw

Related Discussions

ont_gal

sjerin

eccentric

cynic

joyfulguy
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Power bill at ole joyful's place

Comments (7)

glenda_al

susanjf_gw

Related Discussions

ont_gal

sjerin

eccentric

cynic

joyfulguyOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

joyfulguy
Original Author