It all depends on the size of the power company is what I've found. My tiny azz coop at my rec property.... $48 worth of delivery charges....even if I never turn the breaker on. Thanks alot Sci remc. Here at the house on the big fancy city grid my bills are much much less per kwh... delivery fees also waaaaaay less.
Delivery fees are one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated on consumers. It's funny how a decade ago the was no delivery fee on my electric bill but somehow it always got delivered. Can we expect delivery fees at the grocery store and gas station next? I'd outlaw them tomorrow if given the chance and prosecute the hell out of anyone trying to scam the consumer like that.
They have costs whether I use power or not, so delivery fees are reasonable IMHO. My bill runs $55 - $60 summer or winter. All electric, including hot water and stove and well pumps. About a third of the total is delivery fees, the cost of electricity per kwh here is very low, about $0.07 IIRC. But we also use LEDs and other low energy measures, and are careful about consumption. We use about 600 per month on average. It is a screaming deal, considering all it does for me.
My elec. online shows a kilowatt per hour reading of 0.17 per hour for the entire 12 hours that the power was totaly out, what's with that?
I was at 410 kwh total for January. that was running 2 pellet stoves, 2 humidifiers and clothes dryer. I have propane DHW.
Possibly only one leg of the power was out. You could shut off the main breaker and see if you get the same thing
The whole area was out because of one of the storms but ya good idea, I will experiment with shutting down the whole system...I think they mess with people on useage somehow...
I don't know if they do or they don't, but if they did, how would you know and how would you prove it? And let's say we did know...what could we do? Go to the OTHER electric company? They really have no reason to screw us. They get money even if we don't use any power. I will say, our co-op has been very good to work with! They worked with me, literally, when I put my power into the house under ground last year. Yes, actually helped me change the wires from the meter socket to the panel. When I put a service in my garage, they set me a new pole 7 feet from the building so I wouldn't have to dig 125 feet of ditch to the next pole. And only charged me $60. For the wire from the meter socket to the top of the pole. I can't say what Penelec would have done, but I can guess.
Well for a starter if I shut the power down and they are still logging time to it they need to fix it, I do agree that elec. is worth the price but I get aggravated if someone is trying to snowball me...The way my bill fluctuates makes no sense and I have lived here almost 30 years...
I just this evening unplugged all the entertainment center appliances. (8) Tv hasn't been on in months. Stereo, probably a year or more. Phone/land line, at least a few months. Going all LED lights here soon too.
I only have elec. water heater and elec. dryer the rest is minor and only me so only 1 shower a day, 1 load laundry a week and air conditioner in summer, my bill can go as low as 245 kwh a month to 420 kwh at one point which is crazy...I will figure it out sooner or later....
My house is all electric. With my thermostats set at 60, the heat does come on sometimes when I'm at work. When I'm home the insert is running. Just got a bill today.
It's amazing that, compared to November, every December my electric bill spikes by $20-30 on supposed "actual usage". Um, I don't do Christmas and live by myself so there is no extra electrical usage over November. I start the pellet stoves in September, so it isn't a sudden onslaught of igniters and fans. The year that I left the state for Christmas week and the temps were in the 60's I still got that spike. Amazingly the January bill always has a dramatic downward dip so that the average of Dec & Jan usage is the same as Feb and Nov. They even put in a self-reading meter last spring and I still got the huge Dec. spike. It all seems to even out in the end, but it sure pizzes me off that somehow, someway, something is anticipating a huge increase of electrical use for my household that month, when in actuality it doesn't happen.
Sounds like a good challenge for the "Channel 8 investigative report team"..."we're on your side" or whatever the local news channel is in your area...those people can be pretty good at raising a stink with these big companys