Smeco bill lower

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bilbur

New Member
I went from the top energy consumer for my neighborhood in the winter to close to the bottom for the summer. I hate to be cold so my heat pump runs constantly, I am loving the temperatures this summer.
 
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Hodr

Guest
Not directly related, but I thought I would share.

My parents live in a desert region in Southern California. They already work hard to conserve water (natural desert landscaping, short showers, low flow toilets, etc.) as do most of the people in their community.

Their water company is a "co-op" and always sends out letters with their bills urging people to conserve, but this last month they also sent a letter saying that because they sold less water than usual they needed to hit everyone with a blanket fee (like $30 or so) to cover the costs that are normally paid for out of the normal fees on water usage.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Also noteworthy, since the community was built on originally privately owned land the water rights were never included in any property purchase. So if you stick a well on your property, the water company will tax you on the water you pull out of your own well.
 
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officeguy

Well-Known Member
Hodr said:
Their water company is a "co-op" and always sends out letters with their bills urging people to conserve, but this last month they also sent a letter saying that because they sold less water than usual they needed to hit everyone with a blanket fee (like $30 or so) to cover the costs that are normally paid for out of the normal fees on water usage.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
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The same mechanism motivates some states to collect an extra tax on hybrids and electrical vehicles.

Also noteworthy, since the community was built on originally privately owned land the water rights were never included in any property purchase. So if you stick a well on your property, the water company will tax you on the water you pull out of your own well.
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Water rights out west are goofy and rarely travel with the land. Land in the desert is not worth much, water rights or access to public water are what allows one to develop subdivisions. Now with the drought, the socialists want to come to a more 'equitable' distribution of water rights. What they are asking for is communist style 'land reform'. Senior water rights are something you inherit from your grandfather or purchase for big money. Taking them away is no different from taking money out of someones bank account.
 
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Tilted

Tilted

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vraiblonde said:
Mine was always higher in the summer because I run the A/C.
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Yeah, but the baseline summer rate has been lower than the baseline winter rate. So you may have been paying more because you used more energy, but you were paying less per unit of energy used. What happened just recently is that both baseline rates were adjusted down significantly just as we were switching from the winter to the summer rate, which made the effect of the decrease seem even bigger (and even the small adjustment they do off of the baseline each month was negative for that same month) - unless, like you, someone was using a lot more energy now. The baseline rate we're paying now is nearly 20% lower than it was a couple of months ago.
 
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sm8

Active Member
Hoping not to burst your bubble but did you make sure it is not lower because of the capital credit that is supposed to be coming out soon?
 
SoMdDude

SoMdDude

New Member
vraiblonde said:
Mine was always higher in the summer because I run the A/C.
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My bill is ALWAYS lower in the summer, ALWAYS, winter averages about $350-400, summer $150-225 , keep the house at 72-73 in the summer and
well the heat pump runs all the time when its below 35 lol
 
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