What is you electric rate?

[ALLFARMER]

Check out your bill!! Turns out I have been
paying 13.963 a kwh with Direct Energy and now
I shitched to Enmax for 8 a kwh locked in.

[tweaker101]

In Saskatchewan we pay 10.87/kwh and $28.00 for monthly fees and I was looking at what our neighbours in Manitoba pay and from what I can see looks like 6.62/kwh and a similar monthly fees. Looks like you have a pretty good deal at 8.0/kwh.

[Kathy]

We are paying 13 something and it will be going up to 15 in february.

You might find this website of interest. It shows Albertas power generators/capacity and present rates of power production. Site updates every 10 seconds or so....

The next website is also of interest, as it shows/details power generation projects yet to come, which includes 16167 MW of more power for Alberta on the books and in the works:

http://www.energy.gov.ab.ca/Electricity/682.asp#propose


Here are a couple links for finding your electricity provider and rates:

http://ucahelps.alberta.ca/search-tool.aspx

Direct Energy REA rate for Feb. 2012
http://www.directenergyregulatedservices.com/Documents/regulatory/february2012/120125_DERS_February_2012_REA_Interim_Rate_Schedul es.pdf

[Kathy]

Sorry, here is the site for the generators/capacity and present production:

http://ets.aeso.ca/ets_web/ip/Market/Reports/CSDReportServlet

[grassfarmer]

We paid 12 cents last month but that's only the
power charge - then there is 1 cent for a "line loss
charge" i.e. charge the customer for the companies
failure to deliver the product. Then the 5 cent
distribution charge and 3 cent distribution charge
then a $7 administration charge. Are these what you
guys call "monthly fees"?
On 1183 kWh last month we paid the energy charge
of 12 cents and over $100 "monthly charges" for a
grand total that worked out to 21.9c per kWh!!
The mafia have nothing to learn from the
deregulated power sector in Alberta.

[tweaker101]

I do believe that is what our monthly service charge fees account for the distribution charges etc.

[ASRG]

Actual power was .0795/kwh.
Administration fee was $8.00
Transmission cost was .0288/kwh
Distribution was $70.89 on 907 kwh!

This is from CAREA (Central Alberta Rural Electrification Association) a co-op.

[kato]

Basic Charge - 6.85
Power - 6.620 cents

That's it. Just tax added.

Finally, Manitoba has an advantage. Maybe a publicly owned utility is not such a bad thing? This province is serious about hydro electricity though. We sell a lot to the U.S. We only have one coal plant here, and it doesn't run all the time. Otherwise there are lots of dams up north, and they've put up quite a few windmills south of Winnipeg.

If we had to pay Alberta rates, I doubt if we could keep up with the bills.

[ProFarmer]

Yeh you are right the power is cheap but most rural farms in sask have natural gas which is cheaper than manitoba hydro for heat.

[ASRG]

My electricity costs aren't out of control yet. The REA does a pretty good job of hedging prices...they don't have much control over transmission costs(FORTIS).
I do get a little excited when I start hearing how much the bill will go up once the Bill 50 export transmission lines start being built? When they start talking about triple.....I wonder if it will be time to consider investing in a NG generator or even solar/wind? A large local hog farm has completely gotten off the grid (NG generator) and the owner tells me it is working well and should pay out in three to five years.
It would be really helpful if "Bloom Industries" would get going on their smaller household sized hydrogen cell? They have large ones installed in quite a few Walmarts and UPS distribution centers, also Googles main office in the USA. They were talking about a 10KW cell for about $3900. Install in the basement, no battery or chimney required and provides enough heat for a 1700 sq. foot house! Google "Bloom Box" for details.

[kato]

A lot of people around here have geothermal heat. It works well. Provides heat in the winter, and air conditioning in the summer. If we were to need a new furnace, we'd likely go for it.

[grassfarmer]

"Maybe a publicly owned utility is not such a bad
thing?"
That's the thing people won't believe here kato -
been brainwashed too long with the "free
enterprise" BS. Nothing wrong with free enterprise,
but here it's never free - more like giving a free run
to the company that contributes the most $ to the
PC party.

[kato]

Public utilities are subject to public scrutiny, and that's not a bad thing. Last year they did an audit of the public car insurance here. The result? Refund cheques for everyone. It was decided that the premiums had been too high, so we got some back.

Haven't had a refund from Monsanto lately. LOL

[ALLFARMER]

Grassfarmer i assume u checked out the rates
of the other power companies for your area? I
can't figure how u can't get at least as good a
rate as I am now getting. I living way up in the
middle of the sticks you in a developed region.

For anyone in Alberta call 310 0000 and ask for
a list of power companies available in your area,
they also can give you the rate each is charging.

[tweaker101]

Kato any idea what it costs to operate a geo thermal system? I realize there are many variables depending on the home and size and construction. I would like to change but was wondering what kind of cost is involved to run the system. I have done many changes to increase our energy efficiency but the cost per KWH keeps going up and our amount of energy stays the same