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Energy Crisis: Has Your Electricity/Gas Bill Gone Completely Out Of Control Recently? (16/30) (1 Viewer)

GordonGekko

Footballguy
Direct Headline: The gas bill is $907.13? Sticker shock for Californians as prices soar

BY LAURA J. NELSON FEB. 15, 2023

....When he opened the envelope from Long Beach’s utility department, he couldn’t believe the total: $907.13, nearly eight times higher than his bill at the same time last year....Household budgets in the Golden State, already stretched thin as prices soar for everything from rent to eggs, are being pummeled by monster gas bills....Southern California Gas Co. and Pacific Gas & Electric began warning customers in January that they would see higher bills after the wholesale price of natural gas hit record highs....

.....SoCalGas said the average bill in January for its 21.8 million customers was about $300, more than twice the average of January 2022 — and homeowners with pools or many rooms to heat have reported being charged north of $2,000. PG&E has projected that bills in central and Northern California will be 32% higher this winter.....Both utilities say they don’t profit from higher bills because the cost of buying the gas is passed on to consumers, with no markup.....Energy costs are a “crisis” that are walloping households already squeezed by inflation and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic....Wholesale prices for natural gas in the West were 300% higher in December than they were in January 2022. ....SoCalGas’ customer service lines have received more than 1 million calls this year, an increase of 15%....The charges have been particularly ugly for Californians on fixed incomes and those with health conditions that are affected by low temperatures. Some customers have put their bills on a credit card ....

....Bev Laumann, 71, and her husband received a $301.49 bill for January.....The Tustin couple are retired, and both have health issues that can be exacerbated by the cold. Laumann, who has fibromyalgia....Squeezed by the cost of medical care and prescription drugs.... has ruthlessly trimmed the household budget....Eldridge, the Long Beach resident with the bill of more than $900, said he and his wife have invested in solar panels to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. They’ve switched out their gas-powered furnace and dryer for electric models....His bill, eight times higher than last January’s, was an unwelcome reminder that his household is more reliant on gas than he would prefer....


https://www.latimes.com/california/...l-gas-bills-expensive-socalgas-pge-long-beach



Direct Headline: Chinatown Restaurant Receives $13,000 Gas Bill

By Anoushah Rasta February 15, 2023

...A Chinatown restaurant's gas bill totaled over $13,000. Judy Chen, whose family has owned the "Hop Woo Restaurant" in Chinatown for 30 years, became very emotional as she spoke to NBC4 about how this bill could be the reason she closes a business she’s had for decades....Chen says she and her husband ran it together but he recently passed away so now she does it all – alone..... usually Chen says the bill is between $5,000 to $6,000....Last month SoCal Gas issued a notice to consumers saying “There is no easy way to put this. January bills are likely to be shockingly high.” Increasing to the tune of 128% since December....

....SoCal Gas says it has programs meant to help consumers with high bills, such as a one-time grant for the amount of your bill – but only up to $100....


https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/chinatown-restaurant-receives-13000-gas-bill/3096480/









Direct Headline: Why is my electric bill so high in 2023? And how do I fix it?

Ansul Rajgharia August 10, 2022

If you’re wondering why your electric bill is so high, you’re not alone. Due to continued supply-chain repercussions two years into the pandemic, along with geopolitical turmoil that’s now affecting the energy market, many large, U.S. metropolitan areas have seen higher bills. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the national average residential rate increased by 8% compared to 2021, and in Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, and New York, consumers saw an increase of about 15%...

There are many reasons why electric bills are higher these days. We’re still dealing with supply-chain issues from the ongoing pandemic, geopolitical conflict is affecting energy prices, and extreme weather events — like those that impacted the Texas grid — are becoming more frequent. ...The reason why your electricity bills are so high is that the more electricity you use, the more you pay per unit of electricity. So, if your electricity bill is twice as high as usual, it’s not simply because you used twice as much electricity. It’s more likely that your utility is charging you more per kilowatt hour for that extra energy beyond your typical base rate.

If your typical electricity usage is 900 kWh per month, and your average cents per kWh is $0.15, you would pay something around $135 per month....Let’s say recently you’ve used 30 percent more energy, or 1,170 kWh. If your utility starts charging you a higher rate of $0.25 cents per kWh anywhere above 1,000 kW, you’ll end up paying $192.50. But $192.50 is far more than 30 percent (42.5%) — the amount of additional energy consumed — it’s 42.5 percent. That extra 12.5 percent is what we experts in the industry call a “double whammy.”

....However, one question I hear often is, “Do you really save energy by unplugging appliances?” The short answer to that is, “Yes.” According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, standby power accounts for as much as 10 percent of your total home energy use....When it comes to appliances, my advice is to balance effort and reward. Unplugging your cell phone charger may only save a few cents a month, so you could let that go. But there may be an old heater or spare TV in your basement that’s eating up $10 a month....


https://blog.se.com/homes/2022/08/10/why-is-my-electric-bill-so-high-and-how-do-i-fix-it/



Direct Headline: Energy bills: What can I do if I can't afford to pay?

BBC 2/3/23

...What happens if you don't pay your bill? If you don't agree a payment plan with your supplier, they might try to force you to have prepayment meter installed, or they may switch your existing smart meter to prepayment mode. This has proved controversial...In very rare cases, if you haven't paid a bill after 28 days, you might be threatened with disconnection, but you'll normally be offered a meter first....Your supplier must give you a chance to clear your debt through a payment plan before activating a prepayment meter....

...Suppliers can pass your details to a debt collection agency - and you might be charged more to cover the cost of this. Many suppliers also charge extra fees for late payments....Paying by direct debit is normally the cheapest way to pay for electricity and gas. Cancelling a direct debit means your future bills are likely to be higher....Finally, not paying bills could damage your credit rating, and make it harder to borrow money in the future....

...But two-thirds of gas usage is during the winter months, and prices have risen sharply....but you can't meet it, ask your supplier for an "able to pay plan" based on what you can afford....By paying something every month - even if it's less than the amount due - your arrears will grow more slowly, meaning your supplier may be less worried about your debt....The government has announced a range of support to help people with energy bills, including a £400 grant for all UK households, paid in instalments between October 2022 and March 2023....


https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62435432




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“Cost of living is costing the life of the living”

- Vincent Okay Nwachukwu


"We've confused the cost of lifestyle with the cost of living. We've lost our perspective."

- Tim Costello




Here is another topic that is designed to increase discussion and participation in the FFA.

I see this as an interesting topic because this issue impacts everyone here and everyone across the modern world. I believe there can be interesting discussion here without delving into public policy issues, public administration considerations and generally anything politically related to this topic. However this would classify, IMHO, as one of the tougher issues to tackle only from the community/cultural/social perspective.

In recent times, have you seen your electricity and/or gas bills go up dramatically? How have you coped, if at all? Did you change your usage patterns? Do you have energy saving tips that worked for you that you can share here? Did you have to make tradeoffs to budget for the large increases? Have you seen a dramatic impact, on this issue, with other people you know, your family, your workplace, your neighbors, your local businesses, your overall community? And, for those who want to share, it might be helpful to share your actual numbers or range AND your general geographic location. What you are paying now, what you used to pay, and how that increase is hitting other areas of your budget for basic day to day living.

I'll leave this here for others to discuss. (16/30)
 
Yes.

Owed money last year, about 2200, for our electric (have solar that’s designated to cover the whole bill) and the last 3 month of gas has been 3 to 5 times normal. Had a $600 gas bill in January. Nuts.

The wife and I have a new term we use around the house when someone has the audacity to actually turn the heater, jacuzzi or fireplace (gas) on. Call it “burnin‘ therms”.
 
I think the reason gecko creates a bunch of innocent threads is so that he can create threads like this that kind of border politics. Elsewhere on the internet we know how a thread on rising energy would go. I give 10/10 trolling marks to Gecko, it is quite the effort to pull this off.


(7/42)
 
I think the reason gecko creates a bunch of innocent threads is so that he can create threads like this that kind of border politics. Elsewhere on the internet we know how a thread on rising energy would go. I give 10/10 trolling marks to Gecko, it is quite the effort to pull this off.


(7/42)

No politics guy.
 

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