[infocus]

Last month was 483 kwh and my total electric bill was $50.58 with tax and the fuel surcharge (that was $12.58 - yikes!) I have a 930 square foot apartment and I heat with electric. I average around $50 a month when we are really careful, though my highest bill was $75 last winter when it got cold. Surprisingly, the winters tend to be higher than the summers, even though we live in a fairly moderate climate with very hot summers. I noticed a huge difference when my upstairs neighbor moved in - my electric bill seemed to drop by at least $15 a month. I think that helped to keep my summer bills from going as high.

Has anyone checked into wind power? I am going to sign up for it. Normally, it is a bit more expensive than regular electric, but right now you actually save a bit since the fuel surcharge is so high on the regular electric, and the fuel credit you get with wind power more than makes up for the extra cost of wind power. You can sign up for 3 months at a time, then reevaluate fuel costs at that time. The way things look, fuel will not be going down anytime soon. I was so worried about having all electric heat when I moved in here a year ago, because it used to be so much more expensive than gas heat, but now I feel lucky when I hear how much people are paying for gas heat.