The Power Company is my Secret Santa?

While I haven't always enjoyed the ever increasing electric rates, I was quite pleased when I opened the electric bill this month. They had a note saying they appreciated me as a valued customer and because of my excellent payment history they were crediting my deposit back to me. After they said that they said they had asked for and had been approved for a rate change starting in January. I thought "Oh great they soften us up with a deposit refund and then raise the rates again." I continued reading and it is a rate reduction not an increase.

What does a deposit refund mean to a person who has not used the heat yet, turns off lights when not in use, and unplugs appliances when they aren't needed? It means that the money I had waiting in the account for this months bill can stay there. The bill is at zero. But wait, there's more. I still have enough credit to cover next months bill, and possibly take a few dollars off of the February bill as well.

The extra money will go towards the final vet bill we are paying and the remaining credit card bill. DEBT FREE is so close I can almost taste it! Years ago I never would have believed my income could be reduced to a third of what it was and I could manage to pay off my debt on the reduced income better than I was doing before.

Stumbling Upon Savings

Our electric company has decided that they need to raise their rates by about 30% during a time when many community members are unemployed. I was shocked when I received my bill and it was double the usual. I called to see if it was a mistake. I thought they read the meter wrong, sent me my neighbors bill, or even worse someone was plugging a drop cord into an outlet late at night and stealing electricity. When they assured me there was no mistake I began to worry how I was going to keep up with the increasing bills.

One week later, something happened. My dryer broke. I pulled out the switch that I was fairly certain was the problem. I called around and found it would cost about $50.00 to replace but there were no returns if that wasn't the problem. in the meantime I started hanging my laundry to dry.

When I received the next bill with a savings of $100.00 I gave up on getting the dryer fixed for now. The little bit of extra work I do now is worth the savings to me.