what on earth does electricity cost near you?

[Woodeye]

Here in rural central WI rate is about 12 cents p/kw, I pay 0.0625 p/kW for my shed in floor heat, considered heat storage and they can shut it off. Of course this is before all of the fees. Just filled up with LP gas, $1.19 p/gal. We just came through a very nasty cold spell. Hang in there, a couple more days and the days start getting longer.

 

[3930dave]

LED to the rescue! We have 400 LED Christmas lights up, and it costs us a penny a day IF we run them 24/7 (which we don't).

LED are a lot more efficient, but that does seem low. Even with 0.1 watt LEDs, @400, you'll burn 1 kwh running for 24hours.

My sepia-toned recollections about Olde Christmas displays concerned exterior lights; which there does seem to be less of, around here.

Rgds, D.

 

[nickmags]

Skimmed through this thread and the first thought that comes to mind is, what difference does it make? Most utility companies in North America anyway are monopolies. You want electricity, you either use their product at their price or attempt the off grid scenario. It does not matter that Billy Bob in Arkadelphia only pays 3.8 cents verses Farouk in Detroit who pays 5.4 cents a kilowatt. Not wanting to start a word war with anyone, but how does knowing what someone else pays help your situation? Seems to me it would only feed your anger and resentment if you are paying a lot. You still have to pay their price.

 

[check]

This is a common belief (Canada has higher wages than US) because it was true for a brief time around 2012 or 2013 (primarily because of exchange rate fluctuations) and some US media (primarily New York Times) made a big deal of it. In 2015 (last year I could find data) things had returned to normal with Canadian wages about 15% less than US. This is a direct reflection of Canadian productivity being about 15 to 20% lower than US (varies widely by industry of course).

Wages are easy to compare, but, as noted cost of living is much more complicated.

Again, it's a bit more complicated than that, even with wages (not to mention benefits).

Here's a report by the CBC. (They know everything.)

Canadian wages generally equal to U.S., government study finds - Business - CBC News

So, it's us peasants that get paid more in Canada than the U.S., but not by a lot. (My salary offer back in the 80's was higher in Canada than the U.S. when I had the two jobs to make a decision about, but again not by a lot.) But "rich" guys get paid more in the U.S. And of course, it all changes dramatically when the exchange rates differ, which they tend to do - sometimes by a lot.

A couple of more dramatic examples of exchange rate fluctuations:

January 2002: $.62
November 2007: $1.10
Today: $.75

It's so funny when these changes happen. When the $CDN was high, and the Ontarians would rush across the border on weekends to do "Mall" shopping in Buffalo (which you can see from Toronto's CN tower across Lake Ontario if the weather is good), but when the dollar went the other way (such as now), all the U.S. car dealers rush up here to buy used pickup trucks. And if you sell your Florida Condo right now, you make a killing on the exchange rate alone!

Who knew?

 

[Bird]

Skimmed through this thread and the first thought that comes to mind is, what difference does it make? Most utility companies in North America anyway are monopolies. You want electricity, you either use their product at their price or attempt the off grid scenario. It does not matter that Billy Bob in Arkadelphia only pays 3.8 cents verses Farouk in Detroit who pays 5.4 cents a kilowatt. Not wanting to start a word war with anyone, but how does knowing what someone else pays help your situation? Seems to me it would only feed your anger and resentment if you are paying a lot. You still have to pay their price.

Many years ago, that was right. But since deregulation, it's a bit different, and has been for a long time now. The poles, lines, transformers (the delivery system, in other words) is owned by one company, but we have numerous companies trying to sell us electricity at widely varying prices. And within each of those many, many companies there are various "plans" in which the price you actually pay for electricity varies tremendously. In my own case, I'm on a plan they call "Energy Smart Deal 12", a 12 month plan that will expire in June. Last June, when the plan I was on was about to expire, they sent me a letter reminding me that it was about to expire and "recommending" a certain plan at almost exactly double what I had been paying. So I called the company and told the guy if that was the best they could do, I'd be changing companies (electricity providers). He very promptly offered me this deal for 12 months. But if anyone doesn't keep up with it, they'll be paying twice as much. Now you can look at the company's website to see their available plans, but the cheaper plan I have is not listed. You have to call to get it.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Our KW rate is about 4 cents. We use about 800/month. Total cost is about $80. $32 for electricity and $48 for delivery, taxes, etc. That is an average over the entire year.

Kevin

 

[nickmags]

I knew when I wrote this that Texas had deregulated it's electricity monopoly and somehow it didn't come to mind??? Sorry, senior moment???. Had seen too many electric commercials while watching Texas football on the satellite. For you guys I'm sure it does matter what the rate is. The rest of us to my knowledge are still stuck in the old way, i.e. monopolistic electric companies. So for 90% of the folks out there, my original statement stands, what difference does it make?

Many years ago, that was right. But since deregulation, it's a bit different, and has been for a long time now. The poles, lines, transformers (the delivery system, in other words) is owned by one company, but we have numerous companies trying to sell us electricity at widely varying prices. And within each of those many, many companies there are various "plans" in which the price you actually pay for electricity varies tremendously. In my own case, I'm on a plan they call "Energy Smart Deal 12", a 12 month plan that will expire in June. Last June, when the plan I was on was about to expire, they sent me a letter reminding me that it was about to expire and "recommending" a certain plan at almost exactly double what I had been paying. So I called the company and told the guy if that was the best they could do, I'd be changing companies (electricity providers). He very promptly offered me this deal for 12 months. But if anyone doesn't keep up with it, they'll be paying twice as much. Now you can look at the company's website to see their available plans, but the cheaper plan I have is not listed. You have to call to get it.

 

[Bird]

So for 90% of the folks out there, my original statement stands, what difference does it make?

I had no idea that many folks live where they have no choice. I just now looked at the Public Utility Commission of Texas website and it appears that, for my zip code, there are 54 companies with 343 plans to chose from.ullinghair: Sometimes I think we were better off in the old days before deregulation, even with the monopoly. Especially since the posted rates for the different companies don't include fees, taxes, etc., etc. in addition to the price per kwH.

 

[Looking4new]

As I type (on battery), with TOU here, we are at 18.0 cents/kwh, BEFORE all the mythical Grimm Wynne fairy-tale fees and taxes are added..... part of the escalating cost structure here that means for many people, retirement is not an option - you either keep working, or depart for lower cost areas.

In terms of Christmas lights, many people put up little or nothing, compared to years ago. I like the look of holiday lights, contrasted against the snow, but are not affordable for many today.

Rgds, D.

I take the $$ I pay the electric company and divide that by the KWH I use and that is what I pay for the juice. All fairy-tales and taxes in. Last months' bill; $208.86/752.5674kwh= $0.27/kwh

 

[CADplans]

One of the reasons I would (back when, and now) consider moving to Texas is the low taxes.

My SIL was living in Connecticut a half dozen years ago,,,
his internet business partner convinced him Texas was THE place to live.
The expected cost of living was supposed to be far less than CT.

Well,, they moved to San Antonio.
After 18 months,,, reality set in. The actual cost of living in San Antonio was discovered.
They moved to Virginia about 16 months ago.
The tax bill for his now larger home, on 13 acres is about 1/3 of the San Antonio property tax.

He is SUPER happy now,, virtually everything in VA cost less than TX.

Yea, we can not get a good brisket,,, but, we will survive,,,,
On electricity, his electricity not only costs less per KWH, but, he uses less.
Our per KWH price of electricity hovers around 10-11 cents.
The TX fee for water was also very high, now, with his well, water is almost free.