utility prices(electric)

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How high will they go? We live in a small 2 bedroom house on Maui.There is no need to heat or aircondition. When i looked at the current electric bill it was $156.56. It went up by approx.$20.00 dollars from last months but we used the same amount of electric. The increase in cost was due to fuel surcharges. We don,t even use that much electric. I think this is way outta line and i will email the governor today.God bless us all.

-- Kate Trusty (ktrusty@aloha.net), January 26, 2000

Answers

Kate. How much do you pay per kilowatt hour?

-- Earl (earl.shuholm@worldnet.att.net), January 26, 2000.

Look for many non-utility prices to increase as companies move to recoup enormous costs of remediation.

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), January 26, 2000.

The hawaiian islands pay the highest electrical rates in the US. All of their electricity is produced using bunker fuel(diesel). That fuel also must be shipped there because there is no production in the island chain.

Kate:

You pay the price for living in almost paradise. You pay higher prices for food, gas, propane, cars, and everything else that is imported. If your electricity bill is high, just be glad that you dont have air conditioning.

-- ned (ned@nednet.com), January 26, 2000.


Here in California, utilities can't arbitrarily raise prices without going to the CPUC and ask for a rate increase. Right now, PG&E is in the midst of asking for a rate increase and it doesn't look like they are going to get anywhere near what they are asking. A couple of months ago PG&E released news that they plan to eliminate 3,500 positions. The CPUC told PG&E to deliver safe and reliable service, it didn't say to give the customers frills. I suspect we will see a decline in customer services (closing of offices and consolidation of call centers). I haven't heard of any natural gas problems here in CA, it seems to be happening back east. However, I am seeing an increase in gas prices here especially diesel.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), January 26, 2000.

Earl, We use (average) 28 kwh/day at a cost of $4.75 a day.

-- Kate Trusty (ktrusty@aloha.net), January 26, 2000.


Wow, 17 cents per kwh. That's almost twice the national average.

Unless you run your A/C alot you could probably cut down on your bill by replacing your incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. There are three caveats.

1. These bulbs cost a LOT more than incandescents up front, but will save you even more than most people.

2. You may have to hunt and search for bulbs which will fit your fixtures. We have close to 50 light fixtures in our house and all but 7 are either CF or halogen. Three of these are on back order and I'm still trying to find a satisfactory replacement for small floodlights on dimmers.

3. Some of these lights take a second to turn on and then as much as half a minute to achieve full brightness (sometimes longer if it's cold out).

Any electric heating appliances (including water heaters, ovens, and dryers) are huge energy hogs. Replace them if you can with alternative appliances.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), January 26, 2000.


Even on Kaua'i, our electric bill is over $117/mo. for a 3 bedroom home. And that is without air conditioning, and with gas stove, dryer, and water heater. (Our gas bill isn't too pretty, either!) Of course, we don't have home heating, either... About all we can cut back on is lighting, computer usage, and the TV (Aaagh!...I'd miss Rainbow Volleyball!!!)...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), January 26, 2000.

WOW!!!

That's high!!! We have an approx 1200 sq', 3br, 1 bath and there are 3 of us...all electric apliances, incl washer/dryer, hot water heater. I thought our bills were high, but Dec was $97.41, Nov $99.21, Oct $97.74, Sep $99.40. No airconditioning/heat. I took a look at the $/kwh and the last 3 mos were $.17 and prior to that $.16. Kate, you might want to take a look at your hot water heater; I reduced our bills significantly about 4-5 years ago by lowering the temp setting and putting it on a timer. I set it to come on about 1 hr before anyone gets up and off by 10am, then back on late aft and off by 10pm. You know how cold it has been getting in the evening lately and my hot water heater is outside in a small storage shed so insulation around the tank can also help. I used to hang the clothes outside to dry, but gave that up a couple of years ago to buy more time. But those inexpensive measures I took made a huge difference in our electric bill.

-- Susan Mainaga (mainaga@maui.net), January 26, 2000.


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