See those people there? It's a line for food rationing distributed by the United Nations World Food Programme in Nairobi.

The reason why I bring this up on a beautiful Friday morning is because reader PastorTim said something yesterday that depressed the heck out of me. On my post about rice rationing by Sam's Clubs because of concerns about shortages, he commented that:

This is only the start of food rations in the USA. We need to wake up to the times we are living in. We're in a Greater Depression.

As I keep telling you, I'm a worrier. So when I saw the Sam's Club story and read about retailers limiting consumer purchases of flour, rice and cooking oil, it made me worry. C'mon. I've been worried for awhile now... about the availability of wheat and now rice, rising food prices, rising gas prices, rising debt levels and of course, the mortgage crisis as documented by my terrific colleague Jamie and her Real Estate Wonk blog. 

Continue reading "A Great(er) Depression: The end of cheap food, energy and credit" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
                    

Drafty rooms? Too hot in the summer? Peeling paint?

Maryland Home Performance wants to make your house more comfortable --- and help you save money at the same time.

The program connects homeowners with licensed contractors who can conduct an energy audit and point out home improvements that would improve energy efficiency, lowering home heating and other utility bills.

Neither the audit or the improvements are free, but you could save 25 percent or more on your bills. After the audit you get a report with suggestions that you could then use to shop around.

And just to put it all in perspective, the Energystar Web site offers this calculator to see how your energy bills compare with other homeowners. 

Here are some of the things they examine in the audit:

Continue reading "Lower your energy bills" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

 Anyone else lose their appetite after reading Paul Adam's piece today on how Maryland's grand deregulation plan put the screws to consumers?

As much as I'd like to put all the blame on Constellation Energy, I have to remember they're a business. Their whole point of existence is to make money. As Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street says, "Greed is good."

The people I'd really like to pooch kick a few times (not physically, of course, since violence is bad!) are the elected officials who passed a seriously flawed deregulation law in 1999 for allowing this to happen.

Continue reading "If you didn't already know, deregulation stinks for customers" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Commenter Mike of Sherwick Forest wrote recently on a post about a surcharge we're all paying on our electricity bills to get cheaper or free energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs:

The problem that I see with all of this is that there is no oversight of the PSC, and no consultation of the public. From an energy reduction standpoint the bulbs are great, but read the package and you'll wonder what genius came up with replacing a bulb whose only risk was cutting yourself if it broke. You will need an EPA HAZMAT team to clean up after these CFLs break.

I hear that complaint a lot, too, but I have to say, that's not entirely true. Yes, there is mercury in fluorescent lights. But no, not enough to need a HAZMAT team to come clean it up if the light breaks. Are there problems with CFLs? Sure. Some people don't think they're as bright as the incandescent bulbs. They don't work with dimmers, or at least none that I've seen. They're more expensive. But they're NOT hazardous to your health (not unless you decide to eat one or break a bunch of 'em up and roll around in it, I'm thinking).  

Here's what consumer writer Liz Kay wanted to share with everyone about CFLs, which I'm a heeeeUUUUGE fan of (really. As I told you before, I swapped almost all the lights in my house with 'em):

Continue reading "Fluorescent lights will NOT kill you" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

My dear Mama just graduated from her cardiac therapy fitness class so we're celebrating in the hospital cafeteria with a couple bowls of tasty, tasty salad. She's come a long way so I'm proud of her.

She's the greatest mom, not just because she's so good to me, but also because she's patient enough to sit here and wait while I post to the blog! Is she cool or is she cool?

Did you catch new and terrific consumer reporter Liz Kay's story today on the surcharge we're all paying for a program for discounted or free fluorescent bulbs? I'm a fan of the bulbs (and switched over to them a couple years ago), but I had no idea I was paying a surcharge for this program in my utility bill!

That's outrageous! It's not that I'm opposed to contributing. I am, however, opposed to contributing to something I know nothing about and, as far as I'm aware, was never informed of very clearly.

Some people don't even LIKE the fluorescent bulbs. Why are we paying for something people might not even want or know they can get for free or discounted prices? 

It just goes to show you that our bills -- from telephone bills to electric bills -- are so confusing and filled with gobbledygook charges that we have no idea what we're paying for anymore. Who knows? I might be funding someone's personal jet airplane and I'd have no idea!

Anyone else not thrilled about this?

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
                    

It's going to be cold this weekend. So these Top Ten Tips to Control Your Home's Heating Bills from the Edison Electric Insititute (a D.C.-based association of electric utilities) might be useful. Try to use some of them before you electric bill comes in the mail next month and blows your socks off.

To keep it mildly entertaining, I'll tell you which ones I do and then you can all yell at me about the others that I should be doing, too.

1. Lower your thermostat setting a degree or two (save up to 3 percent per degree on heating costs). I do this! I keep my house at a cool 68. What? It works, I tell you. Who needs heat? Actually, I do. I'm a cold weather wussy. I layer up like an eskimo indoors and out!

2. Regularly clean or replace the filter in your air conditioner and furnace (save up to 15 percent on annual energy costs). I do this, too!

3. Shut the door and vents in unused rooms (save up to 3 percent on heating costs). Geez. I am 3 for 3, so far! What can I say? I used to be this paper's energy reporter!

4. Lower the water heater's temperature to 120 degrees (save up to 10 percent on water heating costs; check temp with a thermometer under a tap). OK, I didn't do the thermometer thingy, but I did lower the temp on my water heater three years ago, right after the Glenn Thompson, fuel operation supervisor for the state's weatherization program, scolded me for not doing so.

Continue reading "Ten Tips to save on your heating bills" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

I'm sure by now, you've read Paul Adam's very interesting story today in which the Public Service Commission predicts that there will be electricity shortages and rising prices in the future.

The PSC said, "In our view, it is not in the public interest to continue to rely exclusively on market forces to address Maryland's reliability concerns and the high wholesale electricity prices Marylanders pay."

In the story, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller says, "Over a decade ago, a number of states moved to see if competition would bring prices down. What started out as a noble cause - not fueled by lobbyists or special interests, but a desire to bring down rates - really didn't result in the same."

Funny. I got a real sense of deja vu all over again when I read this story since then-People's Counsel Michael J. Travieso said pretty much the same thing in a report his office issued in 2002 warning state legislators of the problems residential electricity customers would face. Read that story in the jump.

And I won't say anything about Miller's comments, except to point you to a story my colleagues, Thomas W. Waldron and Michael Dresser, wrote for the June 2, 1999, paper. That story on lobbyists and how much they spent on deregulation follows the first story after the jump.

Read both and decide for yourself who is to blame.

Continue reading "Travieso warned electricity prices would rise 5 years ago" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)