The other shoe falls

Taking a break from our regularly sheduled arena-gate programming to report that my electric bill arrived yesterday.

My billing cycle runs nearly from the beginning to the end of the month, so it included the entire run of the heat storm. My house is about 1,200 square feet, and I did try to conserve energy. Even at that, the air conditioning ran 24/7 for at least a week. Setting it at 78 … 80 … 82 didn’t help — it still ran 24/7.

And it cost me: $190.66 for the month of July.

Yes, it’s a hit. But I take consolation from the fact the SMUD is one of the least expensive energy outfits in the state — we’re paying one-third less than PG&E customers in West Sacramento, for example — and, of course, I’m grateful that I had air conditioning (thinking of the people who didn’t, and died) and could afford to run it.

So I guess I can’t kick much. But you’re still going to hear a lot of howling across town as people open those envelopes.

Hope August is relatively cool.

9 thoughts on “The other shoe falls”

  1. our bill for the last cycle was $430. Can anyone top that?

    If you’re gonna go for the high score you have to give 110%

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  2. Holy Moly adamant – do you live in the Memorial Auditorium or the Convention Center?

    I’ll post mine as soon as it comes in.

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  4. Mine is $75 for July… a 900sf house. Now why do people keep it running 24/7. When I’m not home I turn it off and after 8pm I open my windows for a Delta breeze. In the winter it’s about $30 a month.

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  5. My July bill was about 25% higher than normal.

    I work at home most of the time so I trade commuting and gas costs for higher utilities.

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  6. I doubt anyone keeps the AC running 24/7 normally, but during the heat storm there were no “Delta breezes.”

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  7. My SMUD bill for July was $186, and I’m doing the ultimate in conservation = I’m not even living in my house! I do, however, leave the A/C on at 80 degrees for when realtors bring prospective buyers to see it. And no worries, Adamant, it’s in escrow (knock on wood), so this won’t turn into an advertisement for my house. The temporary digs we’re occupying had a whopping $35 SMUD bill.

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  8. My July bill just arrived and it’s $383. This is for a fairly small 3bd/2bath house, regular conservation, and we had no power for three of those days. Seems a bit high but I’m glad I’m not in a position where this would break the bank or anything.

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  9. My wife and I upgraded to the most efficient Trane system we could afford via SMUD’s program and our bill is about $230 ish, and was the same for the previous month. That was for about 1050 sq ft. This was comparable to last year at this time as well.

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