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Thread ID: 147572	2019-01-24 18:26:00	Death, Mayhem, Fire From The Sky!	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1457597	2019-01-25 06:10:00	Well --- Montana is a lot more expensive than SoCal. In SoCal we got shocked when we saw a bill over $18.00/month for a 4-bedroom, 2.5 bath, gas kitchen, gas drier, gas water and gas heat and electric everything else. At 1400 sq. feet, with a laundry washer/drier, dishwasher, no AC but we had a swamper, the bills were averaged-out for the whole year. In Montana, a 1600 square feet home, with a propane gas stove, wood heat, electric hot water and exterior security lighting, an electric water well pump and (unused) electric dual forced air heaters, 4 bedroom, two full bath, my shop with compressor, arc welder and wire welder, LED overhead lights, wood heat, power saws and other power tools and electric garage door, we get hit with $80.00 - to - $100.00 a month electric bills. OK - I use somewhat more electricity here - but it is very much more expensive. One thing I like about SoCal Edison v Montana Ravalli County Co-Op and Bonneville Electric Company - is that in SoCal you can 'buy' electricity from any other source on the power grid. It works this way: Suppose you see that another electric utility somewhere else in the US and Alaska has a better price for electricity than you are currently getting, you can have SoCal Edison get that electricity for you - at that much lower rate. If, for instance, Tennessee Valley Electric and Gas Co-Op has a better electric rate, I could make SoCal Edison only charge me at that rate. This change can only be once a year. But it really helps to be able to buy it cheaper somewhere else. Montana does NOT offer bidding and out-of-state electrical rate shopping. Montana does NOT average-out either. What you get each month is what you pay. I think our lowest price in Montana so far was a bill of $70.00 for one month, not in the winter. So how does that pencil-out as to it being cheaper to live here in Montana? Easy - there's no sales tax in Montana. California has about 13.75% in Hemet where we lived. The only thing that was tax-exempt was milk, butter, bread and bottled water. The California state tax was only around 8%, but there were county and city taxes to pay too. So - as far as it being more expensive here - when I moved from SoCal, I took a 13.75% pay raise.	SurferJoe46 (51)
1457598	2019-01-25 06:18:00	Yes, we can swap suppliers as well. Ken	kenj (9738)
1457599	2019-01-25 06:50:00	@ Kenj -- that's very nice that it can happen where you are. I miss it - the thrill of the hunt, the silence of the stalk, and the final blood of the order to change suppliers! I miss that.	SurferJoe46 (51)
1457600	2019-01-25 06:51:00	I once tried to turn my dishwasher into a lawn mower - but she said 'No'.	SurferJoe46 (51)
1457601	2019-01-25 06:52:00	OK - bedtime for me - I gotta finish my tea and peanut butter cookie. G'nite, Mates.	SurferJoe46 (51)
1457602	2019-01-25 20:45:00	Why don't socal electricity suppliers lower their rates to match out of state suppliers? Or it political, e.g. difficult for regulation, or is to conserve electricity generation within their own supply system?	kahawai chaser (3545)
1457603	2019-01-25 21:17:00	Why don't socal electricity suppliers lower their rates to match out of state suppliers? Or it political, e.g. difficult for regulation, or is to conserve electricity generation within their own supply system? I think they will let the consumer do it, since if they tell everyone where the electricity is cheaper, they'd all demand it at a lower rate. Caveat emptor, and all that. Same-o with actually dropping their prices to help people get the lowest rate - there'd be so much competition between the states' utility companies that the price of electricity would go negative and not only would the utility have to deliver and maintain the grid system.... ........... but they'd have to send users monthly checks for being allowed to let them use their electricity in the first place. Like the old days of 'gas wars' where four gas stations on the four corners of an intersection would start it off by one of them dropping their price a couple of pennies just to win a few more customers. Then one of the other stations would drop HIS price a nickel. Then one of the other two would drop his price a dime. Then they'd be running back and forth just to change the price posters as fast as they could. Tit-for-tat. I saw the prices drop from $1.69 to $ 0.06 in an hour! .... and these were the days when we gave out four free matching stemware or a set of steak knives, checked the oil, washed the windows, emptied the ashtrays, vacuumed the floor mats, checked the tires and gave out free Green or Blue Chip trading stamps.	SurferJoe46 (51)
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