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electric bill

Posted By: MTness on 2006-07-10
In Reply to: $256.00 for June electric bill in Calif. - Skyrocketing power bill?

Yes, our electric bills have been outrageous. Last month was $199.00, and my new bill came in and is $256.00 also! I too live in California, and we get shafted with the utilities in this state. During winter months my gas bill was as high as $175.00 which is almost five times what it used to be 7 years ago, and my paychecks keep going down in the transcription field!.


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$256.00 for June electric bill in Calif.

Am curious if anyone's else is outrageously high.  Mine typically is $150-200 for summer months. 


I keep temp at 82 during day, 78 at night.  Temperatures here soar to 95-100 though.  But, I live alone and have gas hot water, gas stove.


Working at home has its pluses and minuses!  Leaving the air off for 8-10 hours a day while I was at the hospital working saved me a lot of cash in this utility bills.


 


 


Wow! I'm in North Central Florida. Last month's electric bill was $165. sm
I have electric everything and keep the thermostat set at 73. Some folks here with a different electric company have had bills triple to quadruple their normal. You may want to do some investigating.
I think it's unprofessional not to pay..I simply state, if you don't bill, I bill directly...

This has only happened once, and I had my check cut same day.  This is business and I will not beg someone to give me my money.  I simply stated it as a fact. 


I'll trade you your $88 bill for my $350 bill.
I would love to have such a small bill like that.
Our electric went up 68% and gas sky rocketed. sm
I have gas heat and with the heat wave and humidity now and in the summer, my air conditioner will be running and my monthly bill is $380 just for air conditioning. My heating bill in the winter runs about the same.

That is $4500 a year for gas and electric. So, I would take your oil contract any day compared to my bills.
Wow, that's really high for electric
We have total electric (includes heat, air, and all appliances), and our bill is around $200 in the winter, $100 in summer. We get a break on the rate for having total electric. I feel lucky......
About $125 in PA - total electric, about
Pretty happy here, bill runs about the same in winter and includes heat :)
Used to, but compared electric bills
I used to never turn my computer off. Then my grandchildren visited me for 3 wks. Because I did not want them playing on my computer (they had their own laptop), I kept mine off when I was not working. When the electric bill came it, it was almost $60 less, so from that point on, I began turning it off between the hours of 5 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. plus my days off (and I get more done around the house as well) -- continued with the same savings. Figured I can buy a new tower for $720 a year in savings.
I think those descriptions are for electric and gas (heat)...

Not internet.  Internet is different because it is not based off of square footage.  To me, that would sound like because my living room is larger than my office, I use the internet more in my living room, which is untrue.... Plus, I never use the internet in my bathroom or kitchen. 


I write off the percentage that I use it, that is how my tax guy said to.... I mostly use the internet for personal use about an hour a night and a couple hours on weekends.  Otherwise it is work only.  That is where I get the figure for 75% work, 25% pleasure use. 


 


Ditto, electric went from $120 to $205 in this nonstop heat!- nm
x
But, yes to all that you have and the room, electric, heat, just remember though
you have to keep the house for at least a year or two once you start claiming it, if you think you may move in the next year, don't take the write off, just on your text books, software, computer, that you can but not the room itself. See your CPA for further details as to why.
I use an electric afghan, safer than a heater
Hi: I paid about $35 for an afghan-size warming blanket I think on Overstock.com. I just make a little semicircle of blankie and keep the foot pedal in there. To warm my hands, I use 2 gooseneck lamps from Target, they were $10 each, one on each side of my desk, amazing how much heat from a light bulb. Wise
I just bought a new electric can opener at Wally World

and, get this, it comes with a "Users Manual."


This is the el cheapo $6.74 can opener and I'm thinking "hmmm, am I missing something here?"


My take on this is that if you don't know how to plug in and use a $6.74 electric can opener, there is a very good chance that you probably can't read to start off with.


It's 4 pages!


HOW TO USE: (Page 3)


1.  Raise lever, place can under the guide bar and against the geared wheel (See DIagram A to identify parts)


2. Press down on lever to pierce lid of can (Daigram B). This automatically starts thye cutting action. the can opener will continue to cut until the lid is completely severed from the can.


3 Grasp the can, then raise the lever to release the can.


4.  Carefully slide the lid away from the magnet, using caution to avoid being injured by the sharp edge of the lid.


I'm sure they do this so some stupid bozo won't sue the company because they weren't instructed on proper use of the can opener.


Electric motor repairman. I'll never match his pay.
But the more you make the more you spend. 
The old clunkity clunk electric typewriter days

Way back when, I didn't even know it was "transcription."  I did some transcribing as a secretary at a clinic with 8-10 docs. Office manager showed me how to use "a tape player that you operate with a footpedal." (never heard the words "transcriber" or "transcription"). Only had a Dorland's Med. Dictionary and IBM Selectric. Wasn't until several years later at first actual medical transcription job, realized previously had already been doing medical transcription, "typing" the doctors' chart notes and letters (plus answering phones, sorting/distributing the doctors' mail & journals, bookkeeping/accounts payable, payroll, etc.) for ridiculously low file-clerk type pay for what was really an administrative assistant type job. 


You wanted a laugh though: One time, in a hospital transcription dept., me & the other ladies were in the breakroom, giggling about something in the newspaper, someone made a great joke about whatever the subject was, & we were laughing so hard, the security guard came running down the hall and into our breakroom to see what was going on (he thought he heard screaming!)  When he saw us all cracking up, he just shook his head, laughed, & told us to get back to work!


% of mortgage, water, electric, gas, trash pick-
x
all that PLUS, when I started 13 years ago, electric typewriters were still used (smile!) no message
xx
deduct telephone, electric and portion of house payments.
Hope this helps!
My mother lives with us. We bought small electric space heater for her (sm)
as we usually keep the furnace at about 68 and keep a humidifier going. Makes a big difference. Older people get cold, so I have told her she might want to make sure and wear warmer clothes and don't hesistate to use the space heaters to provide comfort level in the family room and her bedroom for her.
Ole Bill for me too...

Believe it or not, my bill was $35.
But then my apartment complex pays for AC and heat - yea!
Bill in NY
The rates in NY have gone up too, but we just paid $175 so I feel very lucky after reading some of the amounts.
$440 last bill

I bill

once a month and pay my MT's once a month. Payable upon receipt. I've only had a few times where the check didn't come but that was a small account at the hospital and the bill was going to the wrong department, etc. As a business owner you should be prepared to have SOME cash flow, just for occurrences such as these. I have had accounts miss a payment but when I send the next month's bill, they paid right away. Then again, there were some months when I forgot to send THEIR bill, so fair enough. I have never really been stiffed.


p.s. a contract is only as good as the two people signing it...


Yep, except the game with Bill
was minus the odor and the little white crabs marching around the stogie.
Mine went from $19 to $138 from one bill to the next.
We expect it to go even higher despite using wood heat in the shop now.
Heating bill
I just got socked with an over $500 bill for a fill of propane
That is what I am doing now---I bill at .10 a line BUT -sm
it is a 50 character line. I have no idea if the docs know it or now though as I took it over from another MT. So I do my billing with the just the line counts showing, no character totals, and take it from there, comes out to about a .13 line if by 65 characters. I plan on doing the same when soliciting new accounts as no one wants to go over .10 around here. Yes the line blurs a little here but you gotta do what you gotta do--- if the docs weren't such cheapskates maybe the line would not have to be tweaked or crossed.
You know, it may be because of Bill Cosby!
Doesn't that take you back?
bill clinton nm
x
how can you *bill for your time* when all that --sm
the MTSO sees is your line count? am I missing something here??? Please explain. thanks
Pt should worry more about the bill
Yuk.
If there is one bill you NEVER ignore

mortgage.  Always, always keep in touch with them even if you don't have the payment.  Your not alone in your dilemma.  The mortage companies have been very flexible and willing to work with payment issues in the past year.  Not sure if the options are still available since they've started foreclosure proceedings, but there are payment plans and now the popular "modification" loans.  Pick up the phone and call them - do it ASAP.  Explain your situation, decreased income, ARM adjustment and see if there is an option to keep you in the home at a payment that is comfortable.  I know many of the lenders are waiting for the exact guidelines on March 4th under the new stimulus plan to come out.  Hopefully this will be the saving grace some are hoping for. 


I wish you luck though, I know you're in a touch situation.  I was there too so can truly sympathize.  My loan is currently pending modification, but I first started with a payment plan.  My fingers and toes are crossed. 


it fits the bill for me! i'm frugal too :)
x
FOX NEWS??? BILL O'REILLY???
Great source of "unbiased" news there...lol.
Would rather have Bill and his sexual escapades...
than W with his useless and tragic war anytime...
Does anyone know when the Safe ID bill comes up for vote?
(regarding our medical records being sent out of the country).  I have already emailed my senators and am encouraging everyone to do the same.
Mine was a bill collector
You just get yelled at all day and threatened. What a miserable job, listening to people cry about their problems, etc. I felt bad for them.
I worked beside a bill collector once (sm)
and she was NOT very nice. I really think she enjoyed badgering people on the phone. People cussed her, hung up on her. I used to work insurance billing in the same office and once in a while had to call patient's concerning their accounts. I worked with them on payment arrangements, I mean something is better than nothing. I brought in more than she did.
Anyone getting socked by heating bill yet?
My latest was $88 - hmm...I've almost never had my heat going since I use space heaters. Hmm...odd.
Seriously, I think it's Bill Cosby playing...
mind games with us because I do the same thing with Jello! I never make it, but I can say I have at least 3 or more boxes of the pudding and the Jello at all times. My children often see it and beg me to make it. What's the deal? Really, I think it's a leftover 'Bill Cosby' thing for me. I don't know what makes me buy it, I don't even like it. It's an illness. I'm sure of it.
The doc charged $500 I don't see that as a rip off - the hospital bill though - sm
for $5K is a bit outragous and has nothing to do with the doctor actually. I hope she has insurance.
Bet Hillary's is higher than Bill's!?!?!?!
!
a little factual HX on Bill and Hill...sm

when in Arkansas, Bill was governor earning $32,000 yearly


when in Arkansas, Hill was an attorney earning $267,000 yearly.


So calling her DUMB only makes you look MORE DUMB. 


Check your Verizon bill... sm

When I first signed up for DSL, they added all kinds of charges and extras - one was for a backup dial-up account in case DSL went down for some reason!!  Yeah right!   I was able to get at least that one removed, if not more, and now my monthly fee is around $35 or so.


We live in a rural area and waited forever for DSL, but I know my mom is also very happy with her cable, which, as someone else mentioned, might be a good option.  I know it's really fast. 


I believe the total bill was close to $400.00 sm
but keep in mind that this was about 8 years ago. Also, your pooch may have needed much more care than mine did--and also it could be more depending on what area of the country you are as well. I'm in a small rural community with only 3-4 vets in the area.
Not laughing at your bill.. that bites..but
in California gas & electric has sucked big time for decades! I average around $2000 a year...throw in some rolling blackouts too.
Not OP, but Bill Clinton is STILL sexy,
and unlike Bush, very intelligent!!
A $300+ bill is typical for us in Arizona. sm

We use the payment plan so our bill is the same every month. They average all 12 months and come up with a month payment.  Our winter bills usually would be as low as $70 if we weren't on the payment plan.


Can't live here without AC - no way, no how.


DId it cost a lot to run it/electricity bill go way up? nm
nm
Yes it can vary, that is up to the MTSO how they want to pay/bill - sm
I used to work for one that billed out as a line being 60 characters; she also had another account that was 50 characters (which gives the Dr. the impression they are paying less as the rate is .10; which is actually .13/65 char). This was a smaller MTSO though, all the larger companies I have worked for have all been 65 char/line.