Power Outrage...

[smcgrath76]

Paid the power today...When we built we
tied into the pole in Mom and Dad's
yard. Basically results in 1/2 the
service charges and everyone wins.
For February we had an $826 bill. That
equates to $28.50 a day. Thank god we
didn't have to plug the tractor in.
We are in the process of changing out
every light bulb in every house, etc.
but a large portion of our power bill
has nothing to do with power. What a
Royal ripoff...That's the Alberta
advantage.
We also got the gas bill that is run by
the County Utility and is profitable.
The bill for two houses was a grand
total of $55. That runs two furnaces,
two cook stoves, water heaters and the
dryer.

[AgrivilleAdmin]

>

[kato]

Holy Smoke! I'd be mad too.

We've never had a hydro bill over $350, and that includes heating the house, plugging in the tractor, at least one vehicle, running four water bowls, and the occasional calf heater. Not plugging in the tractor isn't an option here, and for safety's sake, we keep a vehicle warm and startable at all times.

Maybe the Alberta power companies are the ones that are getting the extra money you guys get from your cattle? On Manitoba income, with all the deductions for freight and distance on everything I can't see being able to do business with those kind of charges.

Time for a windmill? I bet the payback period wouldn't be long.

[smcgrath76]

We have been looking at ways to go off the
grid, eliminate heating waterers and
reduce household use. The first couple of
hundred is all service charges...

[tweaker101]

We pay around the $375.00 per month that is the normal here, since we moved here in 06 I slashed the power bill down by 40% which I thought was pretty good, the problem we have now is not consumption but the price keeps going up. I ruled out the windmill option...to many moving parts and not easy to repair our selves(its not like I can just back up to a 120ft tower and lay it down on the ground..LOL) so I have been looking at solar power that is grid tied with no batteries to worry about.

[grassfarmer]

How the heck did your bill come in that high Sean? what was the consumption? For our one house with electric oven, no dryer, plus running the fan on a forced air furnace in our barn(keeps tractor/truck/dog warm) plus 3 heated waterers it only came to $217. Usage was 1094 kwh.

[forage]

You are all saved,good old Allison Redford annouced today she is going to appoint a committee to review why power rates are high since deregulation. I wonder if enough of us came forward with saddle soars on our butts she would appoint another committee to look into it. Seems she has set up committees and task forces on just about every thing that moves in the province. So be happy she is listening.

[ASRG]

My power bill for my house last month was $164 for 640 kwh. $220 at the other place with two houses at 1200 kwh.(shop, tractor on a timer, small radiant heater for dogs in the barn).
No cattle waterers (flowing springs).
As I have said before power prices stable at .0795/kwh, but transmission and distribution costs just keep going up. On the $164 bill, actual power was about $50....the rest was distribution ($70) and transmission ($20) with some administration,rider, GST etc.
It seems the less power you use, the more they crank up the distribution and transmission costs.....get you one way or the other!

[smcgrath76]

We have been working on where it is going.
One of the problems is that we are at the
end of the line and not getting our full
voltage so everything draws more power to
run properly.
We have been looking at off grid or grid
tie for that very reason. With grid tie
we have to save enough power to start
covering our monthly $150 dollar
overhead.

[Kathy]

Here is the AESO website with the daily electricity market report. It gives the cost of the power (hourly pooled bid by the generators - upper right). Note for today how the rates range from $39.90 to $280.43 per MW.

It is absolute rediculous that the amount being paid per MW has such a price swing. Obviously, none of the pricing has anything to do with cost of production.

http://ets.aeso.ca/

[grassfarmer]

Sean, One thing that would make a huge difference
to the off grid and on farm generation deal is if the
regulations are set so that any surplus power you
have is always exported into the grid at the highest
price rather than the lowest. Not sure if this
happens in Ontario but it certainly happens in some
of the EU countries. If a country is serious about
expanding green power, and small scale power
generation by the citizens this is a great move to
make. Of course it isn't popular with the mega scale
power generating companies....

[kato]

Sounds like you have some big "extra" charges on your bills. I've got a MB Hydro bill in front of me, and it has the following..

Basic charge = $6.85
Energy charge 4.720 kwh @ .06620 $312.46
provincial tax @ 1.4% = $4.47
gst @ 5% = 15.96

Total bill = $339.74

Don't take the monthly consumption as too terribly accurate though. I forgot to read the meter, and it's an estimated bill. On average they estimate a bit high when it happens.

Which reminds me, I'm supposed to read the meter today! LOL

[ASRG]

kato-sounds like you might be running a grow op or something! Sounds like Manitoba might be the place to get into that kind of business!

[kato]

Estimated... and they always guess high. Reading the meter is one of those things that I always remember two days too late. Then they estimate high, sometimes two months in a row. LOL When I do finally read it, we sometimes get a month off. Our hydro bill last October was a zero. I think I drive them crazy in there.

Either way, the service charge doesn't look like an Alberta service charge. Socialism at work. ;-)