dingbat

That was my bill figure for figure and word for word. I have no idea what it all means, just that it goes up every single year despite the increasing power outages.

Tiaribbon

Yes. Every month we are charged a Delivery Charge of $60....plus the other charges I mentioned. These are all charged each and every month.

John_Wilson

That sounds really high, although didn't you say you live on a farm? Maybe it costs more for them to deliver the electricity because of the distance from the main power grid?

BC Hydro has a basic charge of $0.1213 a day ($3.64 a month). Maybe that's their version of a delivery charge?

$60 a month on top of electricity usage sounds strange to me. I would phone and ask them about that.

Tiaribbon

We are only 4kms from the centre of a reasonable sized small town and only 2kms from the Hydro Station. We don't live out in the middle of nowhere and it is an inhabited area where our farm is.

Yes we are on a Farm Rate here which gives us a subsidy for usage; I did call Hydro and ask what this meant and they told me that it means our charges are lower than residential usage. Our bill here for the whole farm is much less than a number of my friends who live in smaller properties in the centre of town - makes not a lot of sense to me.

dbd33

It works for me and I think it works in the general case, at least for the GTA. If you earn 40,000 pounds in a cheaper part of England (not London, obviously), you need $80,000 in the GTA to achieve the same sort of living standard. In order to make it sensible to emigrate you would need an offer of $100,000 or better.

Comparing electric bills is not at all helpful since the exchange rate varies so widely and electricity is not a major expense in the UK.

John_Wilson

By the way, posting electric bills was just one example of many common expenses. I think it's helpful and interesting.

What you're saying is that nobody should post what things actually cost, instead they should just go back and forth saying whether they think things are cheaper or more expensive?

What is the point of a thread where people just post...."I think things are more expensive", "I think things are cheaper", "well I think things are more expensive", "oh, that's interesting because I think things are cheaper", "No, no you're all wrong because I think things are...."

Do you really think THAT would be more helpful???

John_Wilson

I'm curious, what should we do if one person says that petrol in Canada is cheap, then another person says that it's expensive?

What do we do?

I'd say the logical thing would be to compare the PRICES in the two countries, and discuss our findings. Oh no, but we couldn't do that could we? It might break the internetweb!

Hey, wait a minute, what if we just skipped the who subjective song and dance of whether we think things are cheap or expensive in Canada, and just posted actual prices of things?

Tiaribbon

Well there you go! Your logic is not the same as my logic. My logic dictates that what things cost in another country is irrelevant to what they cost in a new country because the cost of things in the new country would directly relate to average earnings and not exchange rates = buying power. Exchange rate convertions are only useful to people spending money earned out of that country - not from within.

If you were to move to some 3rd world country where a loaf of bread may cost 2p, then there would be absolutely no point in using the exchange rate to say that this loaf of bread was incredibly cheap IF you were only earning £2 per month within that country.

So who's logic is more accurate? Well that is up to the readers to decide .

Anyhow, I'm toddling along off now - I have a sick foal that I need to check up on - nice chatting to you all, and lovely to see some old friends again.

dbd33

I think that would be more enjoyable and educational than a discussion of the marginal cost of electricity in differing circumstances, yes. Overall, so long as people can make a living wage upon emigrating (numerically twice what they made in the UK), then money should not be the deciding factor in considering emigration.

rae

my 2 penneth, no pun intended. few different costs.

finding mobile phones bills inordinately expensive, last one, for 2 phones, with little usage over the free monthly amounts, $104, with rogers, $80 of that was various charges for 911, caller i.d., voicemail etc.
car service much cheaper, 3.3l v6 awd suv, 24,000km service, $160, was paying 260 pounds in uk for my 2.0l alfa.
fencing along only 2/3rds of not a huge garden, $2800!!, complete rip off in my opinion, but no time to do it myself. similar job in uk for last house, same materials and size, around 1900 pounds. so labour/landscaping at moment expensive it seems.

i have gone from 35k uk, to 72k can, so with exchange rate if you want to look at it that way, bout same. however, would say i am better off here?though not saving anything, have same mortgage and seemingly higher bills, am managing on my wage, where in uk wife was bringing in 25k. the key word is managing, we are running 2 cars, but do not see disneyland holidays again anytime soon, and money for a rainy day just isn't possible. if you want the nice extras, big truck, lots cable TV, etc, then i would suggest you need a tad more than my wage to live nicely. if you are happy with the basics, living normally to me, but being in my opinion in a much better place, it can be done.

John_Wilson

uh oh, people are posting actual numbers to qualify their opinions, someone better shut this discussion down quick before that gets out of hand.

ClareBC

I think this was mentioned earlier - but ....

children's medical/dental expenses can be a shock if you are unaware of them...

In BC you have to pay for children's prescriptions (at full value - and antibiotics can cost up to $75 ) and other stuff that would be free in UK (dental work, hearing aids - when I was told the thousands my son's teeth work would cost

HOWEVER, if you get a job with extended medical then a lot of those charges will be picked up (thank God!)

But I know a family with 5 children who moved back - with optical, dental and medical charges they found it a financial struggle

Polar Bear

When we chose Canada as a place to migrate to it was so that we could have a change in lifestyle. With this comes some degree of sacrifice, no exotic holidays for a while, but who needs that when you have the whole of that beautiful country to explore. The cost of living depends on the type of lifestyle you are after, as always there will be something you can't afford at the moment but at least it gives you something to work towards. So, some things may be cheaper some more expensive but at the end of the day you live within your means, don't sweat the small stuff......

dbd33

From Toronto, Vancouver or Newfoundland is an exotic holiday. It's not easier to see Canada from within Canada than it is from the UK.