Friday, September 4, 2009

Rant

Hope everybody doesn't mind a little rant/math game/song called "electric blues." It goes something like this:

Utah average price per kwh (kilowatt hour)=8.18 cents
Massachusetts avg. price per kwh=17.81 cents

Granted, our Utah apartment was a bit less than half the square footage of our current Massachusetts condo. So I expected electricity prices to be perhaps two to three times as much in Massachusetts (is that reasoning too elementary?)...and then roughly double that amount because the avg. price per kwh is just a little more than double here in MA to start, aside from having the bigger home. So is my math off, or should our electric bill for Massachusetts theoretically only be about 6 times what it was in Utah?

Well, it is 8 times more. As in, we just went from paying at most, $20/month for the past couple years to now paying $160 per month. Wow. Good thing we're on a rotational program...because it means we aren't stuck with MA electric bills beyond next summer. I know the whole "bloom where you're planted" attitude could come in useful right about now, and I should remind everybody there are plenty of things about MA we enjoy. But electricity insanity isn't one of them.

Even you Californians don't get my sympathy anymore, because the only two states who have higher avg. electric price/kwh than MA are Connecticut and Hawaii. Here's where I get these official stats.

Okay. End of rant. I suppose I feel a little better now.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

There will always be some kind of financial blues!

Darlene said...

It might help your math and make you feel a little less scammed to know that specifically in Provo it's only 6 cents per kwh. Oh wait, that could also have the opposite effect... doh!

Eric Rogers said...

It also helps the math to know that the price is usually not proportional to the use. That is, if you use over a certain amount, you pay more per kwh (think taxes). So if you use twice as much, you might be paying more per for the higher usage.

It's frustrating, though. Bills, bills, bills.

Niebean said...

I feel your pain. . .we moved into a smaller place and our bill went up. . .i have two factors that contibute, we are heating our place on gas, so that's now included in our electricity bill, also, there were a couple of weeks in August that the A/C was on non-stop. . .if that was the case for you, i guarantee your bill will go down fall and winter. . .the lower floors typically do a lot to heat upper floors :)

C Tam said...

Thanks for the interesting comments. The graduated billing system does shed a little light on our predicament. And I agree that winter should find us in a better situation. Yay for being on the top floor of the building.

Jenn said...

Hi Courtney, I was just thinking about you as I opened my utility bill. I don't think you have been over to our home yet, but your electric bill is comparable in price to ours. We don't have a huge home, 1600+ square feet or so, but we do run central air (with the door open to the swing set in the back yard most of the time-arrrgh), swimming pool pumps and filters, lots of laundry washing/drying every day, and so on and so forth. I guess what I am trying to say is that in addition to the higher price of electricity here in MA, are you certain that you aren't metered into another apartment somehow, and flipping the bill for more than just your apartment? It just seems extra high.