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Thread: CON ED-Bend Over

  1. #1
    God/dess whirlerz's Avatar
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    Default CON ED-Bend Over

    Well, the CEO of Con-Ed (electric) keeps coming on TV & Radio commericals, saying how great it's been that the rates have been frozen for 10 yrs. Which, really my bill hasen't been too bad. But, they keep directing everyone to an 800 phone # for "help" in "managing" your bill. I haven't called it yet,but should I go get a windmill, generator, or what, to save $?
    '


    MANY MEN WANTED TO LAY ME DOWN, BUT FEW WANTED TO LIFT ME UP

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: CON ED-Bend Over

    Home sized generators are WAY more expensive to operate than commercial power in terms of $/kWh - the only time they make sense is when the generator saves you from having to trash $2000 worth of food in your freezer during a lengthy power outage.

    Windmills in theory can produce electricity at prices competitive with commercial power. The trick is that the property the windmill gets installed on must have exposure to fairly stiff breezes (i.e. 20mph) for lots of hours during the year - thinking hilltops, seacoast etc. Without steady winds, the amount of power produced by the windmill drops precipitously while the amortized fixed costs of buying and installing the windmill are the same.

    As a homeowner in a fairly expensive commercial power area, the best ways I have found to save money are to switch to very high efficiency lighting inside and especially outside (flourescent screw in bulbs), to switch appliances from electric to gas whenever possible (gas stove, water heater, clothes dryer here), to install timers and photocells to automatically turn off lights and TV when I fall asleep without shutting them off.

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    God/dess Deogol's Avatar
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    Default Re: CON ED-Bend Over

    ^^^

    Agreed.

    Plus, there are 12V lighting available - which can be pretty funky in it's self, but you can actually run those suckers off a battery and a small solar panel.

    Keep the blinds closed where the sun peeks in to help control heat.

    Turn lights off after you leave a room (amazing how many people have their whole house lit up when they aren't even in it!)

    Americans are energy gluttons.

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    God/dess whirlerz's Avatar
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    Default Re: CON ED-Bend Over

    Well, thanks>I was kinda joking, but, I do try to be cost-efficient. It's just that, every damn thing keeps on going up.


    MANY MEN WANTED TO LAY ME DOWN, BUT FEW WANTED TO LIFT ME UP

    -Eartha Kitt

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: CON ED-Bend Over

    well, because certain groups haven't allowed the construction of a new nuclear power plant or coal fired power plant anywhere in the USA in the last 20+ years, the vast majority of commercial power plants which HAVE been constructed are driven by natural gas fired turbines. Yes, there has been some element of windpower and other alternative generation, but while this garners the bulk of press coverage it actually generates a very minor percentage of total grid electricity. Because the 'marginal price' of electricity is set by natural gas fueled generators, there is a direct correlation between the price of natural gas and the price of commercial electricity.

    To make matters worse, many states / regions had forced commercial utilities to continue to sell electricity at rates which didn't actually cover the cost of generation once natural gas prices took off with hurricane Katrina last year. Now that the end of year numbers have been completed for all commercial utilities, any that showed profit margins below the regulatory target (which I think is 18% in NY) for 2006 applied for and were granted regulatory rate increases in 2006 to make up for the money they 'lost' in 2005, due to record high natural gas prices which could not be fully passed on to electricity customers under 2005's regulated rates. Most states learned their lesson from California's attempt to refuse commercial utility rate increases a few years back, which essentially bankrupted SoCalEdison, left insufficient cash for SoCalEdison to continue buying electricity from 3rd parties, allowed the 3rd parties to write new power contracts with new customers, and ultimately cost the state of California a fortune in order to 'buy' those 3rd party power contracts back to keep electricity customer lights on.

    It's just that, every damn thing keeps on going up.
    Well, almost every damn thing either relies on energy to make a product or deliver a product - which has gone up around 30% in price over the last year. Almost every damn thing uses raw materials like steel or copper or plastic (derived from oil) which have gone up even more. Even the price of corn is now starting to skyrocket due to new demand for ethanol production plus rising embedded energy costs in fertilizer production. As a result, other things which rely on corn in the 'food chain' i.e. beef, beer, breakfast cereal etc. will soon follow the rising price trend.
    Last edited by Melonie; 08-09-2006 at 09:31 AM.

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