J. TODD FOSTER: Plenty Of Pain To Go Around With Recent Power Bills
Judging by my latest utility bill, my home must be warm and toasty, right? Three hundred and seventy-eight dollars is a dubious milestone in my household’s history of energy usage.
So why is my living room cold enough to hang meat?
I suppose I could spend this entire column taking cheap shots at Bristol Virginia Utilities. But I’m not going to do that; it would be the easy route – kind of like continuing to bombard the perennial dodge ball victim at your elementary school.
I would be interested to know, however, why my utility bill is skyrocketing at a time when my thermostat is plummeting?
First a little personal background. I love cold temperatures. When I was 6 years old, I fell in love with the Minnesota Vikings. All my friends figured I must have been born in Minnesota. (The real reason was my love for the color purple.) And when I was a young teenager, my parents snapped a photo of me taking out the trash in my bare feet.
Why was that a Kodak moment? Because there was 2 inches of snow on the driveway at the time.
My point is this: I like it cold. Here we are three measurable snowfalls into the dead of winter and I have yet to put on a coat.
Not even a windbreaker. Not a single time. The closest I’ve come is a hooded sweatshirt to go sledding with my boys.
Strangers have approached me in public and questioned my lack of winter apparel as if I were mentally deficient (maybe, but it has nothing to do with the weather) or unable to afford a trip to the Burlington Coat Factory (the recession is bad but not that bad, and I actually own several nice coats). I give them my standard response: If you ever see me in a coat, you better stay indoors because it’s Antarctica cold.
So imagine my recent surprise when I was forced to begin donning a wool blanket just to watch television in my family room. That surprise was heightened when the utility bill arrived.
My wife shrieked and immediately padded toward the thermostat. “We’re turning this down,” she said.
I informed her that I didn’t think the thermostat could go below the 58 degrees at which it was set and that this wasn’t a kilowatt issue anyway, in my humble, layman’s opinion – despite what all the area utilities are saying. This has something to do with fuel surcharges and fuel-cost adjustments and finger-pointing between BVU and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
For some reason, fuel cost adjustments – which cover what it costs a utility to buy coal or electricity – are going up at a time when some fuel costs (gasoline) are less than half of what they were a few months ago. Everything seems to be inversely proportional: Fuel surcharges go up while fuel costs drop; power bills go up while thermostats go down.
I’m not buying the power companies’ excuses. Yes the temperatures have turned cold. And people are spending more time indoors and using more electricity.
But in order for my utility bill to practically double, I’d have to be using 1,000-watt light bulbs, have a plasma TV I don’t know about and have the microwave on continuous run.
I can’t wait to see what next month’s power and water bills will be.
That’s because a few days ago we filled a bathtub to the rim with warm water so our boys could play scuba divers.
A real diving trip off the coast of Florida might have been cheaper.
J. Todd Foster is managing editor of the Bristol Herald Courier and can be reached at or (276) 645-2513.
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Reader Reactions
I agree with you, nuffsaid. Goldenview must work for or be related to utility employees. I understand and agree with some of things Goldenview said, but there’s something not right when the executives are making ridiculously high salaries and bonuses, and all the costs are placed on the customers.
When I started reading the letter from goldenview I thought this was probably a child, then I read there are children who wouldn’t freeze so perhaps this letter is from a BTES worker, or other utility company. Whatever, the fact is that the cost we pay went up and the months mentioned were not that cold. We barely had heat on. There were cold days, yes, but not weeks of cold. Perhaps the low rainfall amounts have much to do with the dam and electricity. We have started this year pretty well, perhaps that will make a difference. The point of my letter is that anyone who thinks we are not being taken advantage of is either naive or has a hidden agenda (such as working for or family or friends that work for the utilities). Whether it be the high salaries of those who are higher up or the fact that we have to have electricity and so are over a barrel, nothing makes it right to charge people so much for electricity that they have to decide on whether to buy food or medicine after they pay that bill; to make them worry about being able to pay their land taxes and keep their homes; to look to the future and not know if things will ever be better with all the businesses closing their doors and jobs becoming scarce; to look at our children and grandchildren and wonder just what we are going to be leaving them. That is why some of us are complaining and unbelieving, that is why some of us can’t understand why we are asked to pay the high salaries of some of these exec’s. I think we are pretty educated on what the truth is.
First of all, the electric company is not going to lie to you. We all have the ability to research how electricity is made and how the cost is determined! Thats what the problem is…most people aren’t educated about how it all works and they’d rather just get mad and join the crowd of haters and beleive what all they hear rather then actually sit down and try to figure it out themselves.
Heres how it works….TVA buys natural gas and coal….that gas and coal fuels your electricity…your heat source use kilowatts to heat your house…you pay your bill based on the kilowatts that you use. Go to www.alliantenergykids.com and search how electricity is made!
November was COLD!!! December hasn’t been too warm either!!! If you had your heat pump set on 70 and its 30 outside your heat pump has to work hard to get the temp in your house to 70 and to keep it there. If its 50 outside your heat pump doesnt have to work as hard! It made sense to me when it was explained to me….
Yes, I know that we are all in hard times! I am by NO means an exception! But, I realize that I have to have electricity! I have children and they will not freeze! So, I simply pay my electric bill! Yes, I sacrifice somethings that I may want or need to make sure its paid..thats part of life!
People seem to just want something to complain about…atleast know what you are talking…..
BTW, Todd.
I found out from a BTES employee (unnamed of course) that we are being “averaged” during the winter. I did the math last year and still have the figures.
I calculated that I was paying 1.70 per degree below 40 degrees of outside temperature. 40 degrees is their threshold.
Ain’t that some sh*#? Like we have any control over OST (outside temp).
Imagine the cost for a month of temps with an average temp of 20 degrees.
If the temp is say… 20 degrees over a 24 hr period, that’s an extra 34.00 for one day.
That’s why you see the big jump.
I have my business electric bill right here…..
For the month of October, I paid 159.30 in charges.
In November, the bill went to 276.13
Nothing different was used. I did not turn the heater on in November. All the exact same lights and appliances were used both months. Same stuff we use every day, year round.
only thing that changed was it dropped below 40 degrees at night.
TVA is robbing us and it has to stop. Our community leaders and state politicians are cowards for not confronting this.
Where are people like Jason Mumpower and Ron Ramsey on this? I’ll tell you where. Kissing TVA *ss, that’s where.
Their bills are paid by us. So they don’t sweat it.
Somebody with a voice has to do something, Todd. We can’t count on cowardly politicians to do it for us.
How can the Texas Teacher Retirement Fund do anything yet ?
Bush as Govenor nearly bankrupted it when he robbed it of excess funding to cover his deep tax cuts for business just before Enron and World Com and other stock dived nearly destorying the retirement fund.
What do you think Bush has been doing with excess Social Security Funds ?
He has been robbing it to cover his deep tax cuts for business.
Face it Bush has effectivly lowered the standard of living in the USA so the North American Union can come into existence.
Like the Eroupean Union eventually there will be trading blocks and hopefully no more using the U.S. Military in other countries at all.
But lowering the wages and benifits so the Central American Ecomony can be included is almost a must for the North American Union to work.
How low can it go without crashing the Economy ? Will it be low enough or raise the wages and values of Central American Economys, who know but eventually it will happen. Since they feed America for the most part I guess it has too.
Why don’t you take the lead and organize a protest, Foster?
TVA is raping us to pay bonuses to Bush appointees who have no clue what they’re doing and don’t care if they do or not.
Our money is going into the pockets of failed CEO wannabes like Tom Kilgore and meanwhile, poison is entering our drinking water and soil because they won’t spend the money on safety.
Let’s wait until spring and have a Power-Out. See if we can get the Tri-Cities residents and owners to shut off their power for just one day (with exceptions, of course).
It would cost TVA millions.
Only a local newspaper has the power to do this, Todd.
You up for it? I’ll shut my business and home down for a day. Who else?
I think a lot of people would participate if it was a People vs Big Gov’t Crooks type of event.
We can make them lower the bills if enough people get involved.‘
This is not a politically partisan thing. We are all getting screwed.
Excellent article, Mr. Foster. What bothers me is that the taxpaying public are the ones bearing the brunt of all the increases everywhere. How about the executives taking some pay cuts? How about no bonuses? That’s what I find ridiculous. My husband and I are both fairly young seniors but on fixed incomes. The Texas Teacher Retirement fund which is one of the largest and strongest in the nation hasn’t given retirees including me a cost of living raise in nine years!! Yet, the managers of the fund are making a million or more a year with bonuses each year. Now we hear that TVA will pass along the cost of the clean-up for Kingston debacle to all of us. Doesn’t make sense one bit. And, why do our property taxes continue to rise? Most of those dollars go to schools: we have no children and I taught school for 30 plus years. Enough is enough. When do seniors get a break? My husband and I worked hard our entire lives, paid our bills, even have our home paid totally. I worry that one day when one of us dies, the other may be forced to sell our home we love to pay for taxes and utilities. Very sad….
I thought my nose was going to get frost bite last evening, also my fingers. I wear warm socks and a heavy sweater around the house, now I am going to have to start wearing gloves and a muffler. We’ve changed the light bulbs, the water heater has always been set low, we try to conserve at every point we can in the house, I don’t know what more we can do. I am so tired of freezing in my own home but grateful to have a home, for now anyway. Worried about paying the taxes by Feb.
UNPLUG ANYTHING YOUR NOT USING. YOU WILL SAVE MONEY !!!!!!!1
GET A REGULAR PHONE THAT DOES NOT HAVE TO CHARGE A BATTERY OR USE POWER TO TRANSMIT FROM BASE TO PHONE.
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