just received electric bill. $9, 107 kwh

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

I'm paying more for the hookup fee than for the electricity.

Don't most people pay more for their car than for the gas they put in it?

The fixed-cost infrastructure fee seems reasonable to me. After all, the costs of building & maintaining the power grid don't depend on how much electricity you use. It's just the price you pay to have access. If it's too high, you could look into the cost of going completely off the grid.

[Daox]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

How many kwh?

Thank you Frank. Money means nothing when it comes to energy usage as price per unit of energy change so much.

[04_Sentra]

This discussion got me looking at my electricity fees a little closer, and there doesn't appear to be any fixed costs at all.
Charges are:
Green Choice
Regulatory assessment
State sales tax
County sales tax
City sales tax
Franchise fee
(Above taxes and fees are on the Green Choice charges.)
Basic service charge
Delivery service charge
Environmental benefits surcharge
System benefits charge
Metering
Meter Reading
Billing
Generation of electricity on-peak
Generation of electricity off-peak
Transmission and ancillary services
Transmission cost adjustment
Regulatory assessment
State sales tax
County sales tax
City sales tax
Franchise fee

All of the above vary with electricity usage even Billing, which I think is odd but certainly not complaining.

[jjackstone]

Many years ago when I was going through my electric bill, I noticed that I was even being taxed on the tax I paid. That was through the local municipality.
Example: Say my bill was $100.00 plus a 5% state and fed tax which equals $105. The town then charged tax on the entire $105 albeit at a much lower percentage. I could not believe it! It annoyed me enough that I just had to call the city hall to find out about how they were able to charge a tax on a tax. Their only explanation was that it was completely legal so they did it. Go figure. I don't remember taking it any further at the time. I was probably too busy with work.
JJ

[sid]

I've been upset over the $8.98 (including tax) monthly hookup fee in my area. It looks like a lot of other areas are much worse.

We keep hearing about how we should be conserving energy, water, etc. If our governments are really so concerned about conserving resources, they would get rid of these fixed fees and charge strictly in proportion to usage.

Suppliers "justify" these fixed fees by claiming that they need to cover their facilities costs. But most other businesses are able to cover their facilities costs in the cost of their product. Or are we going to soon be taxed $200 a year, this money given to Walmart to cover the cost of their stores and overhead? Or $150 a year to BP to cover the costs of their stations, refineries, drilling rigs, etc.?

[abently]

Lol, I'm in the same boat, the supply cost is ludacris....

They should only charge for usage otherwise those doing the right thing and using as little as possible are subsidising those who use a lot...

[naplm00]

I dont understand how it could be that cheap...mine is something like $90 a month

[Exalta-STA]

Wow, your bills are low! Here, my bill runs up to $52.60 (converted Php to $) thanks to having one of the most expensive kilowatt per hour costs in the world

[j12piprius]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Don't most people pay more for their car than for the gas they put in it?

The fixed-cost infrastructure fee seems reasonable to me. After all, the costs of building & maintaining the power grid don't depend on how much electricity you use. It's just the price you pay to have access. If it's too high, you could look into the cost of going completely off the grid.

This is why you pay a $100 fee for gasoline each week, prior to putting any gas in the tank? I would compare the cost of the car to the cost of the house, the hoses, the yard, anything else attached to the house that I own.

Come on get serious. If you eat in a restaurant do you pay $60 first for delivery of the food, pesticide inspection, farm workers relief fund, broken dish cost, then the cost of the meal? No, because those things are already included in the cost of the meal.

The infrastructure costs are pure and simply an illegal tax on real property that is owned by the citizens who live in that community. Here the fee for water is $60 a month for each residental property regardless anyone using a drop of the water! Then any use above that is charged at the nominal rate.

Those who use the least water pay by far the highest per unit (hcf) rate.

It is an illegal tax period. There is no representation, and you don't even get anything for the fee!

[Joenavy85]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Don't most people pay more for their car than for the gas they put in it?

The fixed-cost infrastructure fee seems reasonable to me. After all, the costs of building & maintaining the power grid don't depend on how much electricity you use. It's just the price you pay to have access. If it's too high, you could look into the cost of going completely off the grid.

yeah i do pay more for my car than for the gas i put in it, but that is for the car itself not the maintenance i do on it.