This month I've been housesitting a house that is not my own. By definition, that means that I am not apartmentsitting my apartment. I have been looking forward to a corresponding lack of electricity billsitting, but checked the ol' e-bill inbox to see that I saved a whopping 23 cents over last month's total. This is shocking. First off, sweet Jebus. Apparently I use no electricity when I am in my apt. There is a negligible difference in energy consumption when inhabiting or uninhabiting my domicile. Also, that means that the majority of my monthly bill is fees.
| | Residential Service 32 Days | | Basic Service Chg | $6.00 | Energy Charge Summer 53 kWh @ $0.067550 | $3.58 | Environmt Imprvmt Rider 53 kWh @ $0.003500 | $0.19 | Fuel Cost Charge 53 kWh @ $0.023958 | $1.27 | Resource Adjustment | $0.14 | Interim Rate Adj | $0.82 |
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| | City Fees @5.00% | $0.61 | Transit Improvement Tax @0.25% | $0.03 | City Tax @0.50% | $0.06 | County Tax @0.15% | $0.02 | State Tax @6.50%(prorated) | $0.84 |
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There are a lot of them. Notice how the "electricity I use" only seems to make up $5.04 of the $13.56 total. So I called up the electricity company to track down the source of these fees. Had a nice little 20 minute chat. It took literally 10 minutes for the woman on the other end of the line to figure out what "Resource Adjustment" means. Also, "Interim Rate Adj" proved to be a wily term to nail down. The end result is that the electricity company is not allowed to change its rates without getting approval from the state government (it is illegal to kill the power and heat to a house in the winter, for example), but can charge whatever fees it feels like, apparently. And the state approves these willy nilly? And what does that $6 service charge do that is not taking care of the other fees? You buy fuel. You make electricity. You transmit the electricity to me. That's what you do. When I buy my chocotaco from the freezer aisle, I don't get assessed a freezer fee by my helpful grocer-- the cost is wrapped up in the delicious chocotaco's chocolatey dairy price. The purpose these fees seem to serve, then, is to lower the apparent price, add billing flexibility, and milk the consumer dry. But the woman was quite excited to tell me that it would be a good idea to put a phonebook in my freezer to save electricity. I told her that it wouldn't matter because she'd continue to assess fees that would render my green ways null. In a nice way, though. I'm a nice guy.
Oh, look! Tivo!
Also, I've never eaten a Chocotaco.
Wait...then why chacotacos??
Posted by
Anonymous |
10:19 PM
Why not chacotacos?
Posted by
ndNips |
11:17 PM