well, this is curious.
i got my first electrical bill today, and this is what it says:
$30 - set-up fee
$7.40 - delivery charge
$5.12 - tax
$1.84 - electricity
i didn't get my $68 credit on this bill, but i got the 8% rebate. it comes up to $43.78, so if i did have my rebate, i'd actually have the balance applied towards the next bill. even if you remove the set-up fee, i'm still paying $13.78 for $1.84 worth of electricity. that's 23.41 kwh used, fwiw - 72% off peak, 14% mid peak and 14% on peak..
yes, very low electrical usage - but it's also only from the 1st to the 12th. i was in and out on these days, but i also left a lot of lights on. i can maybe use this to calculate a base rate for lights, the fridge, battery charges & cooking, which would be about $5/month. but, i don't even think i had even turned a computer on. i had the laptop on during the week to listen to music, actually. i was expecting december to be of minimal value; this is not of much use at all, other than to double check rates when i get an actual bill.
the delivery charge is the flat rate i was talking about, which is actually lower than i thought. on a normal month, it would be a fixed charge of $18.78 + $0.0237/kwh when you add up the charges.
if i'm able to guess that my base electrical usage is (23.41/12)*30 = 58.525 ~ 60 kwh, my delivery charge is going to be around $20.20 for base usage. if i double that in actual usage, i'm looking at less than $25, anyways. and, if i repeat the usage statistics, that works out to:
25 + .095*120*.14 + .132*120*.14 + .065*120*.72 =
25 + 9.4296 < 35 < 68
let's say i'm equally likely to us electricity at any given time. then, my off rate usage should be 50% while my mid rate and off peak usage should each be 25% . then, at 120 kwh, the electrical component would be $10.71, rather than $9.43. but, i think i can probably to a bit better than that, in terms off minimizing use in peak periods.
flipping it around, (68/1.13)-18.78 = $41.40. so, i need to solve for
.095*x*.25 + .132*x*.25 + .065*x*(.25*2) + 0.0237*x =
.25*x (.095 + .132 + .065*2 + 0.0237/.25) =
.11295x = $35.18 ====> x =312kwh.
my accounting suggested to me that a more likely range for me, on an average month, is around 150 kwh. and, i haven't calculated for the hst rebate.
in short, i don't expect to pay electricity, here. it should balance out under the rebate. after a few months, i should have enough of a balance to plug in the heftier gear without paying for it, too. but, i'll need to call to make sure, tomorrow.
christmas ended for me this morning, so i'm going to lose the rest of the day to things i need to do, like laundry and budgeting. i'll be back at inri070 probably tomorrow.