# I Have The Lowest Power Bill In All The Land **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 20, 2007, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667 "2007-12-20T03:40:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/1 "2007-12-20T03:40:15Z")
I hereby do declare myself to be _the_ single most low-power-bill-paying person evar. My power bill this month? $45.30. It doesn’t count if you’re a single college student/employed person who is never home. I am a mom, with kids, and Christmas lights on nightly since Thanksgiving. My computer’s always on, I run the dishwasher almost every day, and I like it cold in here, so the AC is often on, even in the winter. Boo-yah! Beat _THAT_! ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/2 "2007-12-20T03:55:47Z")
My electricity bill last quarter was $147.39. Almost as low as yours, but not quite. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/3 "2007-12-20T04:09:27Z")
$65 a month, every month. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/4 "2007-12-20T04:18:28Z")
That’s pretty good. Someone I used to work with has everyone beat. The city pays **her** for electricity. It’s a thermal thing. Her up front cost was high – about $20K, I think – but she plans on living long enough to cover that. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/5 "2007-12-20T04:24:21Z")
I know a family with a power bill of zero. They’re not hooked up to the grid. Solar power, baby! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/6 "2007-12-20T04:25:09Z")
I can’t beat that but I have a friend who can. He built an earth-sheltered house in the Colorado mountains–not the warmest place in the world–and his heating bill last winter was $15. This was for a cord of wood for his fireplace, which technically is entertainment rather than heat. He has solar heat and generators and a windmill and thinks the power company ought to pay _him_, but they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/7 "2007-12-20T04:29:42Z")
If you’re not on the grid, or are feeding the grid with a solar-power installation, your monthly is zero, but your energy cost is still whatever it cost to install the solar panels divided by their lifetime, plus any maintenance costs. As she said, **Auntie Pam** ’s friend is still paying off that $20k investment, which will probably take a very long time. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/8 "2007-12-20T04:33:25Z")
Oh, yeah- I should’ve disclaimered homes that are green on purpose. Drats! But my gas bill was 23 something, so I’m still the winner. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/9 "2007-12-20T07:18:08Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] If you’re not on the grid, or are feeding the grid with a solar-power installation, your monthly is zero, but your energy cost is still whatever it cost to install the solar panels divided by their lifetime, plus any maintenance costs. As she said, **Auntie Pam** ’s friend is still paying off that $20k investment, which will probably take a very long time. [/QUOTE] Then to be fair, everyone would have to include the costs of installation and maintenance on their electric and heating systems. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/10 "2007-12-20T07:26:45Z")
[QUOTE=WF Tomba] Then to be fair, everyone would have to include the costs of installation and maintenance on their electric and heating systems. [/QUOTE] Well Sure. However, I bought my house with a water heater, a goddamn big propane tank and a furnace heater that runs on same. My purchase for this was included in my mortgage. And those additional items were nowhere approaching $20k, not even remotely close (heck, I don’t even own the propane tank, the propane distributor includes it gratis). Suffice it to say that any “off grid” systems require a different perspective on “monthly” cost vs the traditional way of tracking energy costs. Is this even arguable? ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/11 "2007-12-20T07:30:29Z")
No arguments here. I was just nitpicking. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/12 "2007-12-20T07:36:30Z")
I think being a college student should count! I lived in an A-frame in college, and was home all the time. I’d hang out downstairs when it was hot, and upstairs when it was cold. I didn’t need to turn on the heat until about this time, and turned it off about a month later. IIRC, my electric bills were somewhere around $20 a month. Now, electric, gas, etc. are wrapped up in my rent, so it’s basically “free”. 😛 ETA: The A-frame was all electric. I miss that place… ---
**Author:** ![Carson\_O\_Genic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Carson\_O\_Genic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carson_O_Genic)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/13 "2007-12-20T12:03:32Z")
Alice,could you elaborate on the contributing factors? ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/14 "2007-12-20T14:19:55Z")
At the opposite end of the spectrum i had some mates at University who received a quarterly bill of **over £1500** (that’s about 3k in your funny money 😉 ) one time. It was obviously a mistake (they had a lot of tech in the house but not _that_ much). Despite my advice (and all being annoyingly rich anyway), they decided to pay it and _then_ work it out with the power company, who were sending them scary disconnection letters. Did they ever get it back? Did they fuck. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/15 "2007-12-20T14:45:38Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] Someone I used to work with has everyone beat. The city pays **her** for electricity. It’s a thermal thing. Her up front cost was high – about $20K, I think – but she plans on living long enough to cover that. [/QUOTE] You can do that here. My fiancee is curious though about smaller stuff. Like wouldn’t it be fun to feed back into the grid when you hook up your bicycle trainer in the basement? Yes, she realizes the amount of electricity she’d be generating for a tw hour ride would be nigligible, but it still makes her giggle to think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/16 "2007-12-20T14:47:38Z")
[QUOTE=Carson O’Genic] Alice,could you elaborate on the contributing factors? [/QUOTE] Just that I live in a ground floor apartment, facing south, in Tucson, Arizona. I use very little heat in the winter, and I’m gone all day long at work during the week. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/17 "2007-12-20T14:56:25Z")
[QUOTE=Alice The Goon] My power bill this month? $45.30. Beat _THAT_! [/QUOTE] You sure got [this guy](http://www.ohio.com/news/ap?articleID=294256&c=y) beat :eek: ---
**Author:** ![mikemo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/41988e/32.png) [@mikemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikemo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/18 "2007-12-20T15:31:39Z")
[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze] I can’t beat that but I have a friend who can. He built an earth-sheltered house in the Colorado mountains–not the warmest place in the world–and his heating bill last winter was $15. This was for a cord of wood for his fireplace, which technically is entertainment rather than heat. He has solar heat and generators and a windmill and thinks the power company ought to pay _him_, but they don’t. [/QUOTE] $15/cord? Holy cow…can I get the name of the guy he bought THAT from? I could ship it here from CO and _still_ sell it at a hefty profit. AFAIK, you need add a zero to that number to get the going rate around these parts. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/19 "2007-12-20T15:54:32Z")
[QUOTE=mikemo] $15/cord? Holy cow…can I get the name of the guy he bought THAT from? I could ship it here from CO and _still_ sell it at a hefty profit. AFAIK, you need add a zero to that number to get the going rate around these parts. [/QUOTE] 😕 What? What do you pay for a cord? $15 is pretty much on target here too. ETA: Oh wait, there are different sizes of cords. You’re probably talking about a “full cord” or a “face cord”. Bigger. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2007, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667/20 "2007-12-20T16:02:13Z")
Gah! No wait! That’s not what I mean! A “cord” is a “cord” (128 cubic feet of wood for a full cord). But a lot of people buy big baggies of wood and call them “cords” but they aren’t actual cords, they are just “bags of wood”. $150 is standard for an honest to goodness cord. ETA: I think the baggies are sometimes called “bush cords” (and in Canada that’s not a recognized legal unti of measurement for the sale of firewood). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-the-lowest-power-bill-in-all-the-land/430667.md?page=2)