Happy Holidays with a lower electric bill

My December electric bill came out online today...

Meter Read Date		KWH Usage	Number of Days	Average Daily Usage	Charges this period
12/24/2008		862.00	30	28.73	$ 156.10

This is the lowest usage and bill we have had since we moved into this house (at least as far as I can remember and the SCE's system shows). By comparison $221.66 was last year and the average utilization was 33.97.

Charge Description	Quantity	Unit	Charge Factor	Amount
Basic Charge	30.00	DAYS	$ 0.0290	$ 0.87
Energy Chg Win Bsln	303.00	KWH	$ 0.0674	$ 20.42
Energy Chg Win Bsln	213.00	KWH	$ 0.0341	$ 7.27
Energy Chg Win Bsln	256.00	KWH	$ 0.0861	$ 22.05
1%-30%	91.00	KWH	$ 0.0674	$ 6.13
Over Baseline 1%-30%	64.00	KWH	$ 0.0609	$ 3.90
31%-100%	212.00	KWH	$ 0.0674	$ 14.29
Over Baseline 31%-100%	149.00	KWH	$ 0.1547	$ 23.05
Over Baseline 101-200%	256.00	KWH	$ 0.0674	$ 17.25
Over Baseline 101-200%	180.00	KWH	$ 0.2032	$ 36.57
Energy Chg Total				$ 151.80
DWR Bond Charge	862.00	KWH	$ 0.0048	$ 4.11
State Tax	862.00	KWH	$ 0.0002	$ 0.19
GRAND TOTAL				$ 156.10

I would love to get it closer to baseline and I will keep working my way down.

For the holidays I have added a microwave to the list of home appliances that have needed to be replaced (it died).

On the power saving and upgrade front I have upgrade two of my older PCs more horse power, better power ultilization I got rid of the old speaker system the woofer was a power hog.

Aaron

Comments

[Lower My Bills]

INSULATE YOUR WATER HEATER
Is your coffee mug more insulated than your water heater? The newest electric water heaters have plenty of insulation. But if you have one built before 2004, wrap it in an insulating jacket such as a Thermwell blanket ($20; Amazon.com). You'll save 10% -- about $30 -- annually on your water-heating bill.

[Aaron Baranoff]

The water heater is brand new bought last week and is the high effiency model. Themal blanket not needed although I did wrap the pipes going in and out of it.