I have been a licensed electrician since 1976 - (almost 40 yrs) - and never before have I ever heard of so many complaints about high electric bill as the past few weeks.
Below - are typical service calls that I encountered just last week:
Service Call No. 1 - Could you please come out and check my utility meter as I encountered my highest electric bill to date - $914.00. (Delmar, DE)
Service Call No. 2 - Could you please come out and investigate what might be going on as my last month's electric bill was over $1,100.00. (Salisbury, MD)
Service Call No. 3 - Could you please come out and investigate as one of my outdoor heat pumps does not appear to be running, and, my last month's electric bill was $740.00 (Laurel, DE)
Service Call No. 4 - Do you have a device that I can hook-up to try and verify that the utilities SMART meter is working properly as my small home's electric bill shot up to $700.00 this past month - after - I installed a new energy efficient heat pump. This time last year it was just over $300.00. (Delmar, MD)
REASONS:
Most of these high electric bill complaints originate from the simple fact that the utilities have incrementally increased the electric rates. Upon reviewing my own electric bill - (January 2015) - I noticed that after deducting the $7.94 Customer charge - my 'true' electric rate is actually 13.7 cents per kilowatt hour. 10 years ago it was less than 8.00 cents per kilowatt hour. This represents a 71% increase since 2005 - yet the public has become 'desensitized' because it has occurred systemically - (ie. - annual increases 5%, 7%, 5% etc)
Another observation - the utilities used to bill using a standard 30 - 31 day billing cycle. However, with the advent of SMART meters - it is not uncommon to see 38 - 48 day billing cycles. It's almost as if the utilities can manipulate the electric market to meet their own 'expense side of the equation'.
Bottom line - it might be best to simply mirror what they did in California when they deregulated the electric utilities - and if you'll recall - the people petitioned to recall their Governor - Gray Davis. Even that did not relieve the overall symtoms - as CA residents are even today still stuck with escalating electric bills. It might have made them feel better - but the incremental price increases still exist.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
15 comments:
Salisbury $900 this past two bills. wtf? don't know how anyone else is doing it! house is at 66 right now. this is what happens when you search and see how much the electric companies have donated to the demoncrats in Maryland. we are all f's by these leeches! eventually someone is gonna snap!
I am having the same problem. my electric bill was 120 dollars just two cycles ago and now is 300. And the price is deal out with Delmarva power to have it at a constant for a year and can't change until the contract ends in June. It's telling use we are using over 3,000 Kilowatts when two cycles ago we were using around 1,0000 kilowatts. I called them before and they know that the prices are messed up since I called customer service and they start blaming the the water heater, using heaters, or other things that could possibly represent the change and I am sure that it's none of those problems since I have had the same temperature all year long and the water heater isn't even messed with. I thinking about moving out of the state soon with how this is going.
This is incredible. And I though my electric bill was shocking at $460.00. WOW!
If you want to monitor your electric usage I would suggest getting the TED 5000 or the new pro system. It is great seeing what you are using in real time and you can even see down to the circuit level.
It is good for finding phantom loads and not so good to watch when it is this cold out and your emergency heat kicks on.
I live in a 3rd floor apartment! We sit in the dark and keep our heat at 68! My bill last month $375!!!! WTF!!!???
DP is going to try to tell you everything you are doing wrong, when actually you're freezing to death. I'm calling today and telling them I want this stupid thing removed - smart meter my a$$ - more like money meter!!!
I had an electrician come out to my house. He tightened the fuse panel up as some had become loose. Bill has dropped 15%.
what can be done to petition our government about these outrageous rates? if all do this, they will have to do something.
Why have the billing cycles changed? With a smart meter, it can be read at any set interval (30 days for instance) instead of it having to be a week day with good weather for the meter reader to come out. And even then sometimes it was estimated.
The idiots at DPL told me the bill I received for 42 days in January was due to them changing their system in December. WHY would anyone change a system in the winter knowing that is when people struggle the most? Oh, that's why. I called Choptank to see if I could switch over to them. They can not take a DPL customer and switch to their service. Some agreement they have with them. So, we're all screwed, even when we purchase our electricity from another company. My December bill which was 42 days was $488. My January bill for 30 days is $448. I don't want to hear about the cold in January. We had cold in December on top of the thousands of christmas lights that ran every day for over a month.
Big pharma sells a life saving full spectrum of drugs to 3rd world countries for a fraction of what US citizens pay.Therefore we are compensating for heavy foreign losses.Electricity is no different.A pre selected segment of our population pays a higher rate enabling the rest of us to have a lower rate.If you are reading this and you have dirt cheap electricity please post.The contrast is stark.
Sounds as though DP&L is being run just like Enron.
Delaware Electric Co-op, newest bill, 31 days, $167 for a 1350ft rancher. DPL is a common thief!
Thank you mr electrician for keeping us in the know
I had a bill that was 250 in december then 593 in january and never barely use the heat
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