Cdnshaz

Well I am sold on the unplugging, I have to admit our hydro bills are double what they should be....I really do think it is those transformers.

Now to convince husband we are right lol
He stays up later then me watching tv and too lazy to unplug or turn off....

(puts nagging hat on)

iaink

Could be, Depends on the age of the applieance, and shipping cost to get them here, plus your individual preferences and tolerance for the hassle of buying and running a transformer.

IF you are bringing a container then you might as well fill it, bit then if they are high end gismos you could probably recoup a reasonable amount for them in the UK as there seems to be more of that buy and sell culture than there is here.

How much does a converter with enough juice to run a kettle or toaster cost anyway? You would probably want a few of them I would think.

iaink

Tell me about it! Our last couple have been pushing $150, and we dont use hydro for water heating or have any transformers. And that before time of use billing is introduced!

To be honest I doubt the transformers have much to do with it, Hydro and the delivery and other bullshit charges that go with it are just expensive here.

fledermaus

Sometimes those plugs are hard to reach, or even impossible and perhaps tunneling under and around the appliances is too much at the end of a day.

Cdnshaz

Yes ours too!!!

We are both in same area wonder if that has anything to do with it.
We have no central air, and house is small, refuse to use clothes dryer in summer, laundry always done on weekend at off peak times
I can't figure it out...
I do cook ALOT....and use slow cooker.....on a down stepper

We actually did bring a container so hence we brought our eletrical items, we priced them and it was cheaper to bring.

Cdnshaz

The one is living room yes it is behind couch, so you got actually make effort to reach behind it. But it's not like a wrestling match

One is bedroom sits on dresser, so click on switch and off..

iaink

Even so it shouldnt be that bad, especially with no A/C or dryer. Has it just gone up in the last couple of months? I know they increased the cost per unit recently.

We put our last two high ones down to the central air. With two small kids there is lots of laundry too and the dryer gets used more often than not. Im just hoping now the A/C is not needed that we get back to the usual $100-120 level. Time of use is going to be a pain though, we will have to start doing laundry at the weekend.

Cdnshaz

I read meter today and according to past usage next months bill will be around 165 bucks
this delivery charge sucks, and retirement crap.....begrudge paying for something that you know is bu&*£"shit

Think I will send hydro a bill for "inconvenience charge" and " labour charge"
Everytime my power goes out it is certainly an inconvenice even if it is a scheduled power outage
and labour charge for resetting all my clocks in house when it does come back on!!

iaink

Good luck with that

The debt retirement is the one that gets my goat. Every other business that goes bankrupt and then re organises itself gets to write off its losses, but not Ontario Hydro it seems. Their losses were bailed out by the taxpayer (ie me), but now I have to pay it back again? Something stinks doesnt it!

Cdnshaz

Do you think if we go bankrupt they will bail us out? not likely!!

I don't mind paying for what I use, but when I have to pay for something I didn't use that burns my arse.

Hydro representative was at local fair this month, she didn't much enjoy talking to me lol
Said here is my credit card, you going to pay my debt like I gotta pay yours!!!!!
and I walked away...

dbd33

I try to look at the electricity bill differently. I had a contract at the time that Ontario Hydro ran up the debt so I know that the wastage there was fantastic, two people for each job (one to do the work, one to look ethnic), fabulous yacht for the boss, cost of her sails still being amortized last time I looked. Another boss who literally lived on a mountaintop in America and "directed" the corporation according to spiritual messages from his guru.
There was no pretence of being prudent, no dreary Canadianism, the place was as bonkers as a holistic healers shop. At least the money wasn't frittered away on petty corruption, Ontario Hydro's spending would have made Gordon Gecko blush.

In a dreary world I find it quite charming that some people are able to do just what they please without being concerned with responsible things. Besides, the structure of the bill now is that it's mostly fixed cost, being careful with the use of power makes very little difference to the bill so consumers are freed of the need to unplug things.

iaink

Look again, all that fixed cost is in fact based on percentages of your usage. The debt retirement is 0.7c/ kwH, the delivery component is another percentage etc etc, the regulatory charges another percantage with a small fixed component. Very little of it is actually fixed and non variable based on usage.

The deceptive nature of the bill is another reason to despise them.

I so love that I pay a regulatory charge to support the administration of an energy market, and yet I have no choice in who I purchase my energy from or what I pay for it. Perhaps if I paid a larger charge I might actually get what I pay for, what do you think?

Rete

Thank you for this post. I'm a Yank but married to a Canuck and that Canuck loves Newfie Speed and Sport (Canadian Tire) and has purchased all our toasters, kettles, electric can openers (which I never use) from there. I still have them all after 5 years. The only reason we ever have to get new ones is because we found a design we like better.

Cdnshaz

I however did not have a contract with them at the time as I was not living in country!!
I do agree with what you are saying, lets spend someone elses money and then make them pay it again when you spend it all!! If we did that we would be arrested for fraud or theft!!!
Yes we need another electric company other then greedy hydro...how can they jusify charging more for different times of day? Doesn't it cost them the same all around the board? Greedy bastards

iaink

Because they are trying to even out the demand by charging more in peak hours. This is a short term way to avoid having to spend additional billions on infrastructure to deal with peak hour surges which would sit dormant in low demand hours. Time of use billing is actually a good thing up to a point, in terms of modifying consumer behaviour and putting off the inevitable.

The creaking power infrastructure is going to end up costing a fortune to repair and upgrade over time, but Id rather it happened in a measured, long term way than for there to be another major breakdown in the system and lots of frantic spending now.

It doesnt cost them the same all the time to supply power anyway, they have to pay extra to import power from areas with a surplus to meet the peak demands.


PS, I think you misread dbds "contract" remark.. it was a consultancy contract, not a service contract!