Still mad about "time of use" hydro??

[Greatwhite]

After all these months of me complaining that my hydro bill is WAY TOO HIGH because of Time-of-Use, my wife read some mail from Ottawa Hydro indicating that we're not on time of use yet - but WOULD BE in 4 months time.

See, I was paying Direct Energy at a rate that was locked in about 5 years ago in anticipation of higher hydro rates in the future.  I think I was paying 6.9 cents/kwh or something - I don't remember, and am too lazy to track down an old bill (although I'm somewhat sure it doesn't say it, but I COULD calculate it)...  That contract expired and I didn't renew it in time, so I assumed that I just magically fell back into Ottawa Hydro's billing.

Well, that got me looking at my bill a little closer.  Seems I am still paying Direct Energy, but at some INSANE rate, in my opinion.  ALL DAY, EVERY DAY, 10.9 cents / kwh.  That is the same as prime-time Ottawa Hydro rates.

Basically, I paid Direct Energy $223 for 61 days of hydro.  Then add in regulatory fees, taxes, blah blah blah --- $460 bill.

My bill showed "average kwh in time of day per day" so I put in my usage x 61 days / 100 cents.  I would have paid Ottawa Hydro $168, with their time of day billing.  We had been under the impression that we were on time of day billing already, so have gotten into the habit of doing anything "big" in the evening...  It's best to continue that habit, even though we know now that we have 4 more months of Direct Energy pillaging my bank account.

So - BRING IT ON, Ottawa Hydro... 

[Nerine]

OUCH!

good luck with direct energy they had debt collectors after me because I wouldn't renew and they renewed me (same with summit!!) and it was a great pain, even had to get a lawyer letter to get rid of them!!! they wouldn't accept that i moved and wasn't paying bills anymore!! they are real terrible at customer service...

direct energy/summit energy is FANTASTIC if you get a good rate...if not, you're screwed

[Cheebs]

That does seem extremely steep. My rates with Ottawa Hydro range from 6.4 to 7.4 cents/kW depending on the time of day. I rent out rooms in my house to students/coworkers, and with 5 adults who are not conservative with their energy or particularly mindful of when they use electricity, 5 aquariums, and gadgets running everywhere (including central air) we probably average about $270 a month. And that's the amount owed, so it includes HST, deliver, regulatory charges, blah blah blah.

If you can get out of your contract, I woud for sure.

[Stussi613]

I'm on TOU and my summer bill was over $400 for 61 days. I monitored it using hydro link and the Central AC was the big culprit. Our unit is sized right for the square footage, but doesnt account for the fact that our house is brick and its broadside to the sun all day.  As a result, the AC runs from 6am to 11pm pretty much non-stop and barely manages to keep the house at 22 degrees celsius, or 72F.  Considering some people keep there's much lower than we do and pay less money i think we're going to change our compressor next year.  I looked at my 3am usage when practically everything but some appliances and my aquarium were on and the the usage was pretty low.

[garnpet]

Wow!  22C for the AC?  No wonder you are spending tons of money.  We keep ours around 25-26, just enough to remove the humidity from the air and make a bit of a difference from the outside temperatures.

[Cheebs]

Yeah, we keep ours at about 24 I'd say. In any case, as a rule of thumb, if anyone has to come to your door to sell you their energy, STAY AWAY!

[Greatwhite]

Wow!  22C for the AC?  No wonder you are spending tons of money.  We keep ours around 25-26, just enough to remove the humidity from the air and make a bit of a difference from the outside temperatures.

^^ That.   You just need a couple degrees difference from outside to be comfy, really.

[Stussi613]

If we keep it at 24 the upstairs is generally 26-27 degrees which makes sleeping unbearable. I'm going to install some ceiling fans this winter, maybe that will help.

[HappyGuppy]

Golly geese man!  Our hydro is expensive too.  Darn it, I'm moving all my tanks next to window 

[bt]

If we keep it at 24 the upstairs is generally 26-27 degrees which makes sleeping unbearable.

I'm in a similar situation - the upstairs in our house is generally 5 degrees off of the main floor (cooler in winter, warmer in summer).

But that's where the programmable thermostat comes in.  The bedrooms don't need to be comfortable for sleeping 24/7.  Our AC is set to 27 most of the day, dropping it down to 22 close to bed time.  Bump the setting back up in the middle of the night, and let it climb back on it's own.

[Cheebs]

Agreed, I have a very tall house, and I can't sleep AT ALL if the temperature is even slightly warm. So we do cool it down slightly before bed time.

Better, newer furnaces/AC units are apparently better at distributing air throughout the house evenly, but what I've done is close most of the vent coverings on the lower floors, which forces some extra air on the top floors. If we keep our bedroom doors closed we get a nice little cool pocket in there for bed time.

[bt]

That trick doesn't work for my house.  The furnace and AC are only about 4 years old, but the vents themselves are much older, and that's where the problem lies.

[Greatwhite]

My furnace crapped out a few winters ago, and I put in a super-high-efficiency Carrier with a DC fan.  I have the fan running constantly to keep the air circulating.  It uses about the same amount of electricity as a 60W light bulb, and keeps the house a relatively consistent temperature throughout.  The fan is pretty quiet (although not silent)...

Then when the heat is on, if the house isn't brought to the thermostat's set temperature within 5 minutes, it bumps up to a higher speed fan.

[Stussi613]

My furnace is only 6 years old, but it's builder installed...so it's not really super high efficiency one and if we wait until the evening to try to lower the temp upstairs it will never get there until a few hours after we go to bed.   I'm glad I'm not the oly one...

[Greatwhite]

I feel like Mr Hydro these days...

I just learned that as of Nov 1, for the winter months, they have swapped peak and mid-peak hours.  So now 7am to 9am is peak, then it's mid peak until 5pm, and then peak until 7pm.

Expect smaller hydro bills, if you're on time-of-use...  Lights start turning on at 9:10am, so I'll only have 2hrs of peak time between 5 & 7pm.

[Hookup]

I feel like Mr Hydro these days...

I just learned that as of Nov 1, for the winter months, they have swapped peak and mid-peak hours.  So now 7am to 9am is peak, then it's mid peak until 5pm, and then peak until 7pm.

Expect smaller hydro bills, if you're on time-of-use...  Lights start turning on at 9:10am, so I'll only have 2hrs of peak time between 5 & 7pm.

link to that?  geesh... they make it fraking redonclous...

[Greatwhite]

link to that?  geesh... they make it fraking redonclous...

Wifey found a sticker in our last bill that she promptly stuck to the fridge... This is it here;
http://www.hydroottawa.com/timeofuse/index.cfm?lang=e&template_id=357

Not sure if I'm imagining things, but it appears that they changed the rates too...  They used to be 5.9, 8.9, 10.7... NOW... 6.2, 9.2, 10.8??

[bt]

link to that?  geesh... they make it fraking redonclous...

http://www.ontarioenergyboard.ca/OEB/Consumers/Electricity/Electricity+Prices

The Peak and mid peak times have always flipped for the winter.

Not sure if I'm imagining things, but it appears that they changed the rates too...  They used to be 5.9, 8.9, 10.7... NOW... 6.2, 9.2, 10.8??

They did.

[HappyGuppy]

At 10.8 cents per kilowatt hour, which is the expensive price listed above, that works out to, per watt

1(watt) / 1000(kilowatt) x  24(hours) x 31(days) x 0.108(cents/Kw/H) = 0.08

So assuming just the expensive rate during the entire month (31 days) on 24/7 that's 8 cents per watt.

So running 100 watts of whatever aquarium stuff would be $8 per month, or $96 per year (roughly $1 per watt per year).

I guess it could be easier to just round to ten cents per month and one dollar per year per watt to help mentally calculate simple numbers.

Of course not everything is running 24/7, but I figure that for quick guesstimating purposes multiplying 8 cents per watt, divided by ratio of day used (ie if lights on 12 hours, then cut in half) gives approximate cost of use.

So then you could look at various things and decided on a cost/benefit analysis, "Is this thing worth me keeping and paying $X per month and $XX per year?". 

I have to admit that looking at a few of my junkier tanks, and even other appliances around the home from this perspective has gotten me to rethink some things.  For one, I have a few little freshwater tanks that I've been keeping since I transitioned to salt.  Is it really worth it to me to run the light just to keep a few plants alive???  Hmmm.  I think it is time to acknowledge that I've gone salty and pull the plug on fresh.  If I ever want to get back into fresh planted tanks I'll just get a few plants again.  Time to amalgamate a few small tanks, and scrap some experimental stuff.  Time to shutdown unused computers.  Time to be conscious of when I bake, wash dishes and dry clothes too.

[JetJumper]

Don't forget your extra fees.  So I would say $16/month