I've been watching a series of articles in Tennessee Magazine that discuss the way increasing demands affect the price of power at the local level. There was an estimate that electrical power rates will increase as much as 19% by 2035 - in part due to stricter regulation of environmental controls to reduce the environmental impact of coal fired plants.

And yes - it does appear that Mr. Obama wants to be the next one to get a NOBEL Prize for being a Greenpeacer...

The article calls on end users to try to schedule whatever they can in terms of usage (such as washing and drying clothes for one) for "Off Peak Hours" when demands on the system are the least. The reasoning behind that is because during peak use hours, if more energy is needed (used) than the system itself can provide - TVA and/or the local coop has to "BUY POWER" from outside sources - which is more expensive than producing and distributing it themselves.

There are also what are called "PEAKING PLANTS" that TVA uses to provide extra power during maximum use times that rely on more expensive fuel sources such as natural gas. Obviously - these "Fill-In" plants cost more to operate, and the price is then passed down the line to consumers.

But WAIT! It gets much worse...

In a few months (April, 2011) TVA will implement what they are calling "Demand Billing", that will charge distributors (Local CO-OPS) different rates depending on the month of the year - such as the winter months, or the middle of summer, at which times their rates will be higher...

Another point made in the article is that the price for many older plants to comply with new legislation will be too high to continue their operation, so they can be expected to just shut down. This comes at a time of increasing needs - industry in particular will cause higher demands than ever on the existing system so there is a two-fold necessity for newer plants designed from the beginning to comply with clean air act requirements... Just when we need them most, the older plants will go offline.

Lastly - the price of materials to build new plants is higher than ever. World wide steel prices rose 42% between 2009 and 2010, while copper reached an all time high at the close of 2010.

It don't look good...

More info is available at www.tnelectric.org

As I see it higher light bills means less cash available to put food on the table, so we ought to all be watching this with eagle eyes. - And I guarantee ya, come april first; all those air conditioners are going to cost more to run than they ever did before.

 

PART II: This is all bad news, but what can I do about it?
~A lot...

The first thing I did was to begin auditing my past several years energy use - to see where I was dishing out the most cash and get a handle on why it was.

The result was a bar graph chart that points the finger at december through march as high heating cost months, and a similar high COOLING cost in july and august. That told me right there that the major expense on the bills throughout the year were maintaining a livable temperature in my home itself.

One of the factors that stood right out is insulation, and the way heat is either conserved or removed from the unused spaces above my living areas.

In winter you just don't want a constant breeze running through the attic of a single story basic shack like mine, because any heat that rises to the attic will be blown out all over the great outdoors - so you lose an important "Reservoir" of heat that reduces the amount you have to heat the home itself. SIMPLE SIMON: If you have a warm attic, the house down below is going to be cheaper to maintain an average temperature in. If you have an attic as cold as all outdoors - you have no barrier as a hedge against the winter except for the blown in insulation or batting that is on top of the ceilings of your rooms below.

*For the most part - heat rises. A "COLD" attic means that you are directly applying heat in the rooms below, and as soon as it penetrates the ceiling it is GONE. In military terms what you want to do is create a secondary layer of defence because GONE heat = GONE power = GONE MONEY!!!

Most single story houses have open vents under the roof edge at both ends that are intended to provide ventilation in summer. In practice, these can pretty much turn your house into a refrigerator in the winter months and MY answer was to block the vent at one end of the house by simply stapling a pair of triangular covers over them that were made from scrap pieces of styrofoam.

It still left one vent open - but the majority of the heat that escaped to the attic was held there instead of being wasted, and that meant that the ceilings from one end to the other were warmer from then on and less power was needed to heat the house under it. I did this in the middle of last month, and I can see the results of it on the electric meter right outside the kitchen door. I SPENT 25% LESS POWER THIS MONTH!

You can audit your own electric KWH (Kilo Watt Hour) use easily if you know what day of the month your meter is read by the power company. As a matter of fact - knowing that you can check it four separate times each month to give you an idea of when and if your use is climbing...

This puts the ball in your own hands, instead of finding out at the end of the month that whatever you were doing wasn't working. It can also be a source of encouragement if you wonder how your gameplan is working out.

Most single story homes in TN are cheaply constructed, and the attic is a prime offender that can be a valuable place to make easy modifications to get your energy cash outlay under control! I strongly recommend putting up a second layer of insulation right underneath the roof itself. This can be easily done using plain old "Pink Panther" insulation available at any materials supplier, and it can be installed with nothing more complicated than a staple gun. It's a "DO-IT-YERSELFER", so the price is even nicer than you think.
(I never charge myself for my own labor...)

This prevents the roof itself from radiating heat tothe outside, and is a major project that I'm going after this year before summer gets here.


IN THE SUMMERTIME...

Insulating the inner side of the roof itself will make it harder for heat to penetrate from the shingles downward, so the attic will be much cooler. Once again, the temperature of the attic will determine the requirements of the house below for cooling it off.

If your attic is 140 degrees, it will not only prevent heat from rising up out of your living areas - it can also radiate downward into your personal space, so guess what? You are paying extra to offset the existence of a broiler that is right on top of the place you are trying to cool down...

Finally: FANS are far cheaper to run than air conditioning units with compressor systems. If an attic ventilation fan is in the gable ends - it will exhaust hot air (if it is controlled by a thermostat) anytime the temperature becomes excessive.

The styrofoam covering I put up was a test - for the long run I intend to install plywood covers at the attic end with a set of exhaust fans that have "Flaps" that pop open when the fans run. The fans will cut in when the temperature gets too high and blow the flaps open. In the winter, the flaps will seal off the attic from random wind taking a short-cut across the top of my house.

This is all stage one. This year I'm into a direct attack on obvious stuff.

But the first thing anyone should do (I think) is to comb your old bills and lay out a graph so that you can REALLY SEE what happens over the course of a year.

 

I've been watching the news and they say because of this TVA upcharge, the average MLGW bill will go up just over $3/month. Doesn't seem like much of a need. I'll bet mine is much more than that.

 

Wasn't MLGW in hot water in the recent past for overbilling customers in order to supposedly do some upgrades?

I'd trust anything MLGW has to say about as much as I'd trust a cigar from Bill Clinton

 

Its all just another way to keep us poor folks broke! Atleast the big shot's keep their bonus's and schedule vacation trips.
What happen with "Do More with Less". Same goes to the leadership as applies towards us.

 

My solution is a grass roots approach - I'm looking for ways to keep the money that has been spilling out of my pockets and into theirs in my own pocket. If I can succeed at it, I can plan my own road trips (IE: Vacations).

Since there is no sign of big money taking pity on me - the initiative is in my own hands.

One person forking over 25% less for one month may seem like a drop in the bucket - but FIFTY BUCKS in my hands that might have gone away is a lot to me...

If you shaved a quarter of your electric bill off and stuck it in the bank every month - what could you do with it? Over time it could become a bass boat, intake manifold, super charger, etc...