You could say that I'm fixated on the price of gas, and you'd be right. Today, I filled the tank and paid $2.039 per gallon. We're SO close to less than two buck gas. Will we make it? Somehow, I doubt it.
The oddest thing about this is that what I paid today was LESS than what they were charging in central Illinois. I suspect the cost is artificially increased there because of all the farm trucks being used right now.
It's always something!
I blogged earlier about the obscene amount the CEO of Exelon, the parent company of ComEd, is paid ($27,000,000 a YEAR!). I have to agree with Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, of Illinois. He says that the company, which is seeking to raise the cost of electricity in Northern Illinois by 22 to 55%, needs to consider tightening their belt first.
I realize that rates for electricity have been frozen since 1997, but an increase of 22% the day of deregulation is purely greed. "We can, therefore, we will" take you all to the cleaners, and there's not a darned thing you can do about it.
Conservatively, I'd guess that we pay approximately $1,500 a year for electricity. ComEd is proposing to increase that by $330 to $825 for the year.
I have the sense that we are recreating the golden age of the Robber Barons.
For more information on this situation, visit this site.
Comments (10)
I hate to brag but I don't get an electric bill. Yeah for me! Yes I'm a brat.
Posted by janet | October 19, 2006 6:48 PM
Posted on October 19, 2006 18:48
Janet, my dear......
:-P~~~~~~
Seriously....good for you! I'd LOVE to retire to a passive solar house, but I don't think they work terribly well here.
Posted by Buffy | October 19, 2006 10:18 PM
Posted on October 19, 2006 22:18
the big diy stores are selling wind turbines for the home here which just might be worth looking into.
Posted by bod | October 20, 2006 1:49 AM
Posted on October 20, 2006 01:49
Wind turbines? To generate your own electricity, right?
My Dad had been collecting batteries before he died. I think he was planning to put up a windmill, but he didn't have the chance to get to it. Since they lived on a hillside in SW Missouri, I suspect that he wanted a back up source of electricity for the times when the power co-op was down.
Posted by buffy | October 20, 2006 8:44 AM
Posted on October 20, 2006 08:44
We used a miniature windmill (maybe 1-foot diameter) to generate electricity to run our radio, when I was a kid. It was mounted on the roof of an out building. Our lights were connected to the rural electrification lines. Nothing else required electricity.
Now, to open the garage doors we use electricity--and to run the heat pump, the refrigerators, the 4 vacuum cleaners, the computers, the fans, the clothes washer and dryer, the dishwasher, the oven, the controls on the gas range, the sewing machine, the "kazillion" hand tools, the leaf blower, the hedge trimmer, the clocks, the 15 radios, the 3 TVs, the 3 record players, the 3 CD players, the computers and peripherals, the typewriter, the 5 ham radio receivers and transmitters, the ice-cube makers, the toaster oven, the microwave oven, the slow cookers, the deep fryer, the meat grinder, the food processor, the food mixer, the igniter to the gas fireplace, the birdbath heater, HH's mattress warmer, the pottery kiln, the stained glass grinder, the oral irrigators, the shavers, the toothbrushes, the hair dryers, the foot warmer, the heating pads, the back vibrator....*pant* *pant* I'll get back to this once I catch my breath--NOT!
Posted by Cop Car | October 20, 2006 9:55 AM
Posted on October 20, 2006 09:55
Ooooooooo! A Mattress warmer!
Posted by buffy | October 20, 2006 3:12 PM
Posted on October 20, 2006 15:12
Mom & Dad used mattress warmers on their beds for years before they talked me into trying one--when I lived in Albuquerque. I no longer bother putting one on my bed (if it's really that cold, I'll wear a pair of light-weight socks to bed), but HH puts one on his bed early in the fall, and takes it off late in the spring.
Posted by Cop Car | October 20, 2006 9:32 PM
Posted on October 20, 2006 21:32
$2.08 here - but that is where it used to be 10 cents more expensive than Hillsboro; now Hillsboro is 6 cents more expensive - go figure.
Anyway, with OPEC deciding to reduce its output, the price per barrel is going up again (funny, I never heard on the news about the price per barrel going down - but it is $20 cheaper per barrel than it was a couple of months ago). So, don't get used to the low prices.
Since the Northeast hasn't really seen cold weather (its in the 50's - pretty close to what our summer temps were; we just turned the heater on last Friday, but it only runs at night), we haven't started using the heating oil up, so there is a good supply. Once the weather turns cold, and heaters go to full-time use, prices will go back up.
Posted by bogie | October 21, 2006 4:30 AM
Posted on October 21, 2006 04:30
The only way to get money back from these companies is to buy their stock.
Yes, they are robber barons.
Posted by susan | October 23, 2006 8:05 PM
Posted on October 23, 2006 20:05
Cop Car, I think I'd enjoy a mattress heater for the last two or three hours before I have to get out of bed, but Dear Husband would melt.
Bogie, I was surprised that we weren't back to three buck gas the day OPEC announced that they were restricting production. Yesterday, October 23rd, I filled my tank at $2.03 and I think that's about as low as it will get in this area. We were surprised to see it so much higher in the farmland of Illinois and Indiana. Usually they beat us hands down on the cost of gas.
Susan, you're right. Buy up all their stock!
Posted by buffy | October 24, 2006 3:53 PM
Posted on October 24, 2006 15:53