huge drop in my electric bill

[}{ead$hot Zod]

I got my electric bill the other day and it was only $35.00. Last year it was about twice that. It's 0.09 cents per KW charged and 0.05 cents per KW delivered. I actually brought to the picket line I'm on to show a few other electricians. I was unemployed this March and last March. The only difference was that my computer died late February 08 and possibly my brother's computer maybe being off. When I'm unemployed and online I can go around 12 hours or more. Surfing and gaming etc.

I usually run high end compu equipment for that reason. Now I really want that kill-a-watt. I was a hardcore overclocker when it was necessary to do so. Here's my monster 24" crt and specs. I paid $500 rather then $2000.00 for it since it had an unnoticeable 1/4" scratch. I still have my Prometia cpu chiller.

I don't think I've had a bill this cheap since before I got my first color monitor back in 1996. Life was simpler when you could search the web in green or orange text mode.....

Now as life would have it, my XO laptop, showed up. So some here will appreciate the dichotomy between the two toys.

[MetroMPG]

Nice drop.

We got a "reward" cheque from the power company because we participated in a power saving "contest" last summer to reduce our consumption by 10% over the same month in the previous year. (If you did it, they paid you the difference between the two bills.)

Curious: what prompted you to get the XO?

[}{ead$hot Zod]

it was a combo platter of geeky techy curiosity, a noble project, a linux laptop and loads of anti-snob appeal. Its a little slow, but with a different mouse and keyboard it works just fine.

[H4MM3R]

}{ead$hot Zod do you live in the USA?

[}{ead$hot Zod]

born and bred, 41 years as of today...

[}{ead$hot Zod]

My April electric bill came in...... $22.53

$12.48 137 kwh @ 0.091 per kwh (supply)
$10.05 137 kwh @ 0.055 per kwh (delivered)

Last April was 478 kwh this April was 137 kwh
Last March was 501 kwh this March was 219 kwh
Last Feb was 526 kwh this Feb was 518 kwh

So I have definitely knocked my consumption down. The gas portion has remained about the same. So when I start hanging up my wet clothes I'll start seeing a drop there.

I doubt I'll be able to get my bill much lower. Without replacing my fridge (which I'll do later this year). A/C season is just around the corner and I'll be getting a 30something inch lcd for my playstation/computer. I'm thinking about doing a partial solar install and play with that before I commit to a full system.

[Lazarus]

We noticed the same thing here with a family of 4. Our electric bill has been about half. Still trying to pinpoint it exactly. We replace the whole house with CFL, Had to replace the refrig and dishwasher with energy star and use the laptop much more then the desktop computer. The weather has been cooler then pervious but the bills are still lower then last year. I think it's more of a conscious effort with the house power monitor and using the Kill-a-watt to know which things really suck the juice. Very pleased though. WooT

[}{ead$hot Zod]

There are two bulbs I may switch over to cfls. I have a spare 12v deep cycle for my truck and I have a fairly large inverter. I may do a dual battery install and charge the second battery while I am on veggie oil and plug the truck into the house and power a circuit or two. I could actually take my bedroom off grid this way, run the washing machine etc. I have a lot of options and being an electrician will help.