Higher heating bills?
If your utility costs went up a lot recently, you're not alone. Baltimore Gas & Electric told state regulators yesterday that it has had 14,000 complaints about high bills.
BGE blames "colder weather, greater household consumption and, to a lesser extent, spikes in commodity costs for electricity and gas," Gus Sentementes reports today.
There's not much you can do about the weather or BGE's costs. That leaves consumption. And turning down the heat a notch isn't necessarily the best move: BGE notes that big-screen televisions and game consoles use a lot of electricity.
Have you done anything to change your consumption habits? Or, if you're thinking of buying, does a home's energy efficiency make a difference to you?
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Comments
As a buyer, I'm concerned about price, then mortgage rates, then Obama's plan to reduce mortgage reductions, and then energy efficiency. I will consider a house further from work if it's more efficient. Better efficiency definitely is a helpful thing for a house to have.
Something funny is going on at BG&E. There's no reason their rates and fees should be so high when adjacent power companies are much cheaper. They need to build a new power plant or something to bring down rates. Those junk fees need to go too.
Posted by: BigDragon | February 27, 2009 1:49 PM
I still see a lot of fat people out there. Eating less to pay for your heat isa double bonus!
Posted by: Darwin Rules | February 27, 2009 2:46 PM
I would have liked if the PSC had made BGE produce some hard numbers to back up their statements: like 'it is colder', the billing cycle is longer, people are consuming more.
Posted by: Paul | February 28, 2009 5:25 PM
Paul,
BGE did produce those numbers. Look at the presentation to the PSC the Sun posted on its own website.
Two things I got from this:
1. The people who complaining the most are people with new larger houses they bought before the adjustment to market rates and have multizonal climate control. These are the same people that bought a house they cannot really afford and now this one adds up.
2. All the "vampire" electronics that suck power. I have no idea that running an xbox360 along with that plasma sucks up 4x the energy that my fridge does.
If your in a house with a lot of electronic gadgets it's likely your spending $50 a month just leaving them plugged in idle!
BGE's rate per kilowatt is actually several cents lower than NY/NJ and way cheaper than New England. Add in the fact that the price of coal went from $300 a ton to $3000 a ton of the past couple years is obvious the price is going to keep going up as new carbon regulations are coming.
People cannot have it both ways.
Posted by: Adam | March 1, 2009 11:44 AM