Re: utility costs was: Another Question/Elephant Ears

Well, Kitty, I've got oil heat on a budget plan that has doubled in
cost in the last 2 years and leaped up middle of last year AFTER I'd
gotten my budget plan for the year - that invoice was a shocker -
their prices went up so much they had to raise ours.  Our deal is a
budget that gets sorted out in June/July and you either have a higher
budget for the next year if you have used more than the budget
covered or pay the difference then to keep the next year's budget
number down.  That difference can be hard to come up with after a
hard winter.  If you want to feel good about the cost of your
utilities, try $465/month for heating oil alone.  Electric is
separate and keeps going up as well.  Water and propane for the
cooktop are also separate but billed quarterly.  Combined, they make
me long for solar, geothermal, a well or any other means of producing
light, heat and water that don't require forking out so much moola! 
If I had the wherewithal, I would get immediately get solar panels to
create electricity as a first step and a geothermal system to help
with heating, but that's a major pipe dream.

My DH is at the point in life where he's always cold and jacking up
the thermostat while I go around after him turning it down and
telling him to add clothes...he sits wrapped up in blankets if it's
70F in here - summer/winter.  As he basically spends his time sitting
in his chair, he feels colder than he would if he were moving around
at all; does not help the heating oil bill at all.

A friend gave me a woodstove and I have to get someone to install it
in this fireplace I have off the kitchen that otherwise we never use
because it doesn't draw right.  Need to get that done NOW - might be
able to hold down the oil use come winter.  Have lots of wood that
"just" needs chopping into stove size bits, so could feed it and get
a lot of exercise at the same time:-)

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade, Suite101.com
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----------
> From: Chapel Ridge Wal Mart National Hearing Center 
> 
> I had a fairly high water bill too. Fortunately, my gas (heat,
water heater,
> dryer, stove) is on an 8 month budget from October to May, then I
pay actual
> in summer when it's only about $15.  The water bill, which is next
to
> nothing during the gas budget months, balances things out in
summer.
> 
> Kitty

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