Ode to the January Electric Bill

The first thing to consider about your January electric bill is that it is in fact for December. December when winter in the high country hits with a vengeance. Typically we have about a dozen days with no sun (nix passive solar) and below zero nights and gale force winds blowing snow.

I have never understood how the winter solstice can be the beginning of winter. It seems more like the middle. It is definitely the darkest. And we are totally unprepared for it. Oh sure you have stocked up on firewood but you are out of practice bringing it in before the snow storm. And after days when you went barefoot in your house and sat on the deck to bask out of the wind in the sun during the mid day nothing in your body is prepared for the cold. I am definitely in denial. During the first week or so of cold I turn the heat higher than usual, switch on all the lights to minimize the dark, and cook too much warm comforting meals.

The second thing to consider about your January electric bill here in our rural electric coop is that it covers 39 days. Yes! from November 22nd to December 31st. And two holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, with family, cooking, visitors, entertaining, and the first winter cold. And it is where you notice the dreaded winter fuel adjustment because Plains Electric charges us more for what we use in the winter as if that will make us use less. And when was it the monthly meter charge went from $10 to $20? I thought we raised that just for the part time residents!

The good news is I actually used less KWH per day than I did in November. God, but we had a cold November when they billed us for just 22 day on the December bill. No doubt this bill will make me more prone to have a fire every single night. But it is to be noted that conservation won't show up until the March bill. I will promise myself to be more aware next December but will no doubt have forgotten it when the darkest and coldest days of 2020 roll around.

The good news is that I have no air conditioning bills! A friend in Phoenix pays $600 to $900 for 6 to nine months. Oh, part of that is for the chiller on the swimming pool! I should post that on my refrigerator!!!