[rescue] power bills

[Chris Hedemark]

On Wed, 2002-06-19 at 10:58, Sheldon T. Hall wrote:

> In the hot parts of the USA, electric bills that size are depressingly
> common in the summer ... and in Texas, where Bill lives, it's "Summer" from
> about April to November.  Not to mention that a normal Summer day in Austin
> is probably several degrees (C) hotter than the hottest heatwave ever
> experienced in Sweden.

I live in North Carolina, a place not known for its cool summers.  And
when I go to Austin the heat hits me like a inhaling hot bricks.

> And that doesn't take into account the humidity ...

I never noticed any humidity to speak of in Texas.  And if one more
person says "But it's a dry heat"...

> My mother still lives in Atlanta, GA, and her electric bill runs about
> US$450 per month in the summer.  No Cray, either. Atlanta gets a lot of
> "square" days in the summer, where the temperature (F) and the relative
> humidity are the same, like 95/95.  Some are worse, like a week in the early
> 80s where it was 105/98 for 5 days straight.
> 
> Under those conditions, you gladly pay $500 per month for air conditioning.

Hotlanta must have some killer KW/hr rates.  Either that or the house is
terribly drafty.

> Of course, where I live now (an all-electric island in Puget Sound, near
> Seattle), Summer is the season for low electric bills.  We heat with
> electricity (and a little wood), and in the Winter even our little cottage
> turns $350 of electrons into accelerated Brownian motion.

Just plug in a multia or two.