This is our power bill. Last month's was $500.74, which was still outrageous, and we immediately implemented reduction measures: turning off lights, turning down thermostat. So, I was looking forward to seeing what it was this month and imagine my shock -- it's hard to tell from the picture, but our bill this month (December) is $987.77.
We live in a one-story, 3 bed/2 bath. We have no pool, no hot tub. We wash 2 to 4 loads of laundry per week. Our dishwasher has never worked (rental house) and we wash dishes by hand. We do have an old-fashioned big screeen projection TV, which we've had for nearly 10 years, and which we have on nearly constantly and have had on nearly constantly for the 4 years we've lived in El Dorado Co. and been customers of PG&E. We have Energy Star fridge, washer and dryer. We also have a fridge in the garage, which we've had out there for about 6 months. We have 2 computers which are also on all the time, and have been on constantly for years. My point here is that we didn't suddenly start leaving our stuff on constantly, we've been doing it for years and yes, we know that is BAD and that we would save money if we stopped it, but somehow I doubt that it has suddenly made our power bill jump up.
Of course we are suspicious that neighbors have tapped into our power, especially since the vacant house next door was purchased in late summer. But I see no evidence of that, unless they've somehow managed to tunnel under the fence up the hill and hook into some main line -- which doesn't seem at all likely, and which I doubt is even possible.
This is a rental house, it has double-paned windows and fairly modern air conditioning unit that is about 1/6th the physical size and probably easily 20 years newer than the huge dinosaur we had down in El Dorado Hills, and our power bill in EDH was NEVER this high in either winter or summer. We thought we were going to be saving on our bill, because that house had bad ducts, regular windows and a badly outdated AC/Heat unit as well as an outside water heater that was on it's last legs and used to cough out gritty mineral deposits into our water.
Of course I called PG&E and the peon who answered asked all the questions: space heaters? nope. Hot tub? nope. Well with pump? nope. Lots of Christmas lights? nope. Big family, lots of guests? nope, just 2 adults.
Absolutely nothing has changed except it is now winter, and the heater is running instead of the air conditioner. I don't think having our CFL lights on longer would cause the bill to triple. (And it was high at baseline, but I figured that was the price we paid for our wasteful ways.)
There is no way on God's green Earth that this is acceptable. I know PG&E is expensive, and I've heard recently that it is about 40% more expensive than SMUD. I like living in El Dorado Co. and we have great friends up here. But I don't see how we can afford to live here at these rates, and I have no hope at all that PG&E will assist us in figuring out why our bill is so huge, unlike SMUD, which will send out someone to inspect and give you advice on what might be wrong.
Yes, I know I can protest the bill and I intend to. I am currently waiting "7 to 10 days" for someone to contact me, and I'm going to mail a copy to the California Public Utilities Commission. And I doubt any of it will help me at all; can you tell how much faith I have in the system? I have no illusions. I am just a regular gal, no political or socially powerful connections. I make a good living, and I will not qualify for any kind of assistance -- THANK GOD. Because in the long haul, I have some resources and I can move, which I'm seriously working on, and we're now reconsidering moving BACK to Sacramento County. If I were truly financially challenged, I'd be screwed even more than I am now, so again, I'm glad I won't qualify for a reduced-rate program.
Merry Christmas, from PG&E. At least they've shaken me out of my inertia and I am now going to make haste at getting the hell out of this rental house.
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