From: waldo@nospam.ca 
  
 Terry wrote: 
  
 > Hi Waldo: 
 > Many thnks for your response. "The devils is in the details" as they say! 
 > That does seem to be a lot of overhead; that you can't do anything about, 
 by 
 > say reducing consumption! 
 > Also presume from that info. you use some other form of energy for home 
 > heating? 
 > 
 > Some 30 years ago (1970) when we built his house there was very much a push 
 > by the power company, "To live better electrically". So we made the 
 decision 
 > in the interest of not having to install boilers/furnaces chimneys/oil 
 tanks 
 > etc. to go electric although electric heating was rumoured, even then 
 > (1970s) to cost more! 
 > 
 > Our previous, somewhat smaller house, built in 1960 had used oil in a unit 
 > that could operate without electricity; an advantage; because back then in 
 > our community the electrical supply and generating capacity had not yet 
 > become completely reliable. 
 > 
 > The following is our typical bill for the period December 11th 2004 to Jan 
 > 10th 2005. 
 > Basic customer charge.             15.75 
 > 2641 kWh @ 8.01 cents          211.56 Note 1 
 > Discount 1.5%                           - 3.41 Note 2 
 > HST 15%                                   33.59 
 > Total charges                         $257.49 
 > 
 > Note 1. Average; the kWh rate decreased by 0.5% Jan 1st 2005. 
 > Note 2. Automatic 'paid on time' discount is applied because we have 
 > arranged a 'budget' or EPP (Extended Payment Plan). As of now we have paid 
 > back some $900 dollars that was under-billed by the EPP plan in 2003-2004 
 > and have a $363.52 credit. Note 3. 
 > Note 3. Weather was not that cold until well after Christmas. Also, in 
 > comparison to some of the 2003-2004 winter I am living alone.  I could in 
 > fact forego a monthly payment in view of the credit or could request a 
 > decrease in the monthly EPP amount billed. 
 > 
 > Trust this is of interest. Thanks again for the 'proper' info. Certainly 
 > tells a different story does it not! 
 > 
 > BTW I think your bill comes to $85.34? 
 > If you 'were', just say, to use an additional 2000 kWh for electric 
 heating, 
 > to be roughly equivalent to our consumption, your bill would be then be 
 > $85.34 plus (2000 x 0.047) = 85.34 + 94 = $179.34 
 > Hmm that's still cheaper than ours!  i.e. $179.34/2677 = 6.7 cents per kWh. 
 > Ah well; guess I have the advantage of living in Newfoundland! 
 > 
 > My warm (electrically heated!) regards. Thanks for the discussion. Terry. 
 > 
 > 
  
 Terry, 
  
 Boy, I sure don't envy you having to use electric heat. We 
 experienced that some years ago when we lived in northern 
 Quebec - made for some huge bills in Jan and Feb each year. 
  
   Yes, we heat with oil. Last fill up two days ago was at 
 68.9 cents per litre. Fortunately the person who built this 
 house insulated it well so our actual oil consumption is not 
 that great considering the weather. Hot water is supplied by 
 a 40 gallon electric unit. With the exception of two outside 
 yard lights, all lighting is either cf or flourescents. 
  
 In regards to the hydro bill, the delivery charge and the 
 old Ontario Hydro debt retirement charge varies with 
 consumption. 
  
 ######################################################## 
 Just to show how confusing our billing system is, here is a 
 break down of the bill for Feb 2004 where the extra charges 
 were shown differently at that time. This was also when the 
 kWh charge was still at 4.3 cents. 
  
 Electricity supplied 1343 kWh - $57.75 
 Cost to deliver to me - basic service charge - $23.70 
                        - charge by volume - $16.36 
 Cost to deliver it to them - $21.48 
 Debt retirement charge - $8.61 
 GST - $8.95 
 Bottom line cost per kWh - 10.19 cents 
  
 ################################################## 
 Then another extreme example from Dec 3003; 
  
 Electricity supplied 339 kWh - $14.58 
 Cost to deliver to me - basic service charge - $23.70 
                        - charge by volume - $4.12 
 Cost to deliver it to them - $5.42 
 Debt retirement charge - $2.17 
 GST - $3.50 
  
 Bottom line cost per kWh - 15.78 cents 
  
 #################################################### 
  
 As you can see, there is very little reason to the way hydro 
 billing in Ontario occurs (except to maximize profits since 
 privatization) as the bottom line cost per kWh can vary 
 considerably. Also, if you use over 700 kWh (I think) per 
 month in a residence, then the extra is charged at a 
 slightly higher rate. Our meter is only read every third 
 month and the two examples above are based on actual reads. 
  
 I guess we should be thankful that they don't charge us PST 
 as well. :) 
  
 Take care, and I hope the weather gods are nicer to you guys 
 than they have been so far this winter. 
  
 Waldo 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)