Bangor Hydro Cutting Electric Service To Nearly 40% Of It's Customers (loan, how much)

[msina]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

It did appear that most heating fuels did go up a lot this past winter.

I would recommend that everyone seriously consider adding on an additional method of home heating using a bio-fuel.

Wood may appear expensive, but it is local, and can not possibly go up in price as fast as petroleum does.

A lot of us have access to wood and wood by-products for free.

Peat too!

I am not saying that everyone should rip out their current systems. But if this past winter's heat was too expensive for you, then, ....

You're right, even as an alternative heat source a wood stove is smart. We will be house hunting here and will be sure to have a wood stove of some type in whatever home we do find. This house is a rental and wasn't ours to change but it was always meant to be temporary. You do have good advice.

[bringselpup]

Now if we all could just raise our paycheck in a blink like the oil man and the gas company do we'd be all set.

Originally Posted by msina

This winter heating fuel was quite high. There are some people that had to "rob Peter to pay Paul" in order to heat their homes. Now I'm not saying everyone falls into the same category but, there are people that are doing the right thing while struggling with higher costs. I do agree that many people spend unwisely, I also see that prices are rising on most things very quickly.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Some of those 'inserts' are really nice

Your old chimney may need a liner, I have never installed a liner, but on another forum that I frequent liners are a common topic. They seem easy to install.

I would seriously recommend that you consider a wood stove that also heats water. It just gives you so many more options. It does not require that you use it to heat water, but, .... domestic hot water or baseboard heat or radiant floors can all be feed from such a wood fired stove.

Anything that helps to move the heat away from the fireplace/wood-stove area, and delivers the heat to bedrooms, kitchen, bathrooms, etc is a much better system. One room that is too hot, while other rooms are too cold, just does not work well.

We definitely need some liner work as well as some new brick work. Some of the bricks are so loose they can be pulled out of place. I want to rebuild it from below the roof line to it's present height.
Our house is a cape cod style house with a large central chimney and low ceilings. It was built to be heated with just a fireplace and a kitchen stove. We have a wood fired kitchen range in the kitchen now that we fire up when it's extremely cold out...well below zero. During the ice storm of '98 when our power was out for over a week we heated with just the kitchen stove and the fireplace and were quite comfortable. The kitchen wood stove has a water tank on it that I could probably rig into the heat system if I wanted to get serious about it. The fireplace is an old heatilator style with cold air vents on the bottom and hot air ducts on top. It works pretty well for a fireplace but it's old and the metal is very brittle from the many firings over the years. I have had it welded once as it was smoking up the house. I'm afraid it's days are numbered. That's why I want to put in the wood stove. This will save me the cost of rebuilding the fireplace and at the same time save on wasting wood by just burning it in an open fireplace.

[Maineah]

Just an addendum to the coffee brandy aspect to paying one's bills. Mainers spent nearly $12,000,000 on A**en's Coffee Brandy in 2006.(latest accurate data PPH) That's twelve million dollars!
Bangor hydro deadbeats owe some 13.8 million in unpaid bills in 2008....do we see a pattern here??? Do you think this is just a coincidence?

[bringselpup]

Tomorrows headlines will scream ALLENS COFFEE BRANDY SEEN AS ROOT OF MAINE'S ECONOMIC WOES

[juststoppinby]

As hard as it is for some people to imagine, there are those out there that do have to make a choice between food, medicine, heat and electricity. Granted there are a lot of people that just choose not to pay their bills. However I for one will not lump those that are behind on their bills into a catagory of lazy, coffee brandy swilling drunks. Before anyone jumps to conclusions, I am not behind on my bills. They are paid and are paid on time. Also, just to ease some minds, my family is not behind on their bills nor are they drunks. There are those that struggle every single month. There are those that get sick, hurt, lose spouses and lose jobs. I understand that they should call and make payment arrangements. Unfortunately there are also those that are just going to play the game. Maybe it is just me but I really thought this thread turned hurtful and at times was just plain out of line. I know that I don't post often on here but I read this board every single day. I enjoy it, have learned from it, I have laughed with you, prayed for you and wished you well in your moves to and from Maine. Perhaps I am out of line here but I felt I need to voice an opinion for the people out there that have fallen on hard times.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by sdstlouis

As hard as it is for some people to imagine, there are those out there that do have to make a choice between food, medicine, heat and electricity. Granted there are a lot of people that just choose not to pay their bills. However I for one will not lump those that are behind on their bills into a catagory of lazy, coffee brandy swilling drunks. Before anyone jumps to conclusions, I am not behind on my bills. They are paid and are paid on time. Also, just to ease some minds, my family is not behind on their bills nor are they drunks. There are those that struggle every single month. There are those that get sick, hurt, lose spouses and lose jobs. I understand that they should call and make payment arrangements. Unfortunately there are also those that are just going to play the game. Maybe it is just me but I really thought this thread turned hurtful and at times was just plain out of line. I know that I don't post often on here but I read this board every single day. I enjoy it, have learned from it, I have laughed with you, prayed for you and wished you well in your moves to and from Maine. Perhaps I am out of line here but I felt I need to voice an opinion for the people out there that have fallen on hard times.

Perhaps a sense of humor would go a long way in seeing the facetious nature of drawing an inference between one paying their bills and drinking 12 million dollars worth of coffee brandy. For some seeing humor in ridiculous inferences is difficult. No offense intended for those who may not see the abject humor involved I will post a disclaimer.. Not everyone in Maine who is behind on their bills is a deadbeat alcoholic. Please don't eat dog food to pay the mean electric company. I realize times are tough annually for 40% of Bangor Hydro customers. Please don't take everything you read literally.
We elitists below the Volvo line drink too!

[txmom]

Originally Posted by sdstlouis

As hard as it is for some people to imagine, there are those out there that do have to make a choice between food, medicine, heat and electricity. Granted there are a lot of people that just choose not to pay their bills. However I for one will not lump those that are behind on their bills into a catagory of lazy, coffee brandy swilling drunks. Before anyone jumps to conclusions, I am not behind on my bills. They are paid and are paid on time. Also, just to ease some minds, my family is not behind on their bills nor are they drunks. There are those that struggle every single month. There are those that get sick, hurt, lose spouses and lose jobs. I understand that they should call and make payment arrangements. Unfortunately there are also those that are just going to play the game. Maybe it is just me but I really thought this thread turned hurtful and at times was just plain out of line. I know that I don't post often on here but I read this board every single day. I enjoy it, have learned from it, I have laughed with you, prayed for you and wished you well in your moves to and from Maine. Perhaps I am out of line here but I felt I need to voice an opinion for the people out there that have fallen on hard times.

I totally agree with you. Most people are honest and hardworking. My attempt at humor (paying the electric bill versus buying milk for the kids) was actually supposed to be a somewhat serious observation that people are having to decide between paying their electric versus providing food for their family.

The guy that is painting our trailer said he is behind on his Bangor Hydro bill, to the tune of $1100. He is a very hard-working man (don't think he is frivolous with his money at all).

This past winter our little family spent close to $3800 on kerosene to heat this double-wide trailer. I just sent off the check for the last fill-up of the tank. That was in addition to the electric bill of over $100 per month ($140 during the coldest month, because we had an electric heater going in the kid's room). I consider myself extremely fortunate that we were able to pay all of our bills on time, and feel the utmost compassion for struggling families throughout Maine.

[bringselpup]

It is easy to have a little fun with the Coffee Brandy but you are absolutely right. Pretty much everyone with a boss is living on a fixed income. You go to the pumps and purchase fuel of some sort and the price is another notch higher.

Can't you just see the line outside HR. Yep sorry boss I know I got a dollar an hour raise yesterday but the spot market for crude jumped again today. I'll need another 50 cents on top of that.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Maineah

Perhaps a sense of humor would go a long way in seeing the facetious nature of drawing an inference between one paying their bills and drinking 12 million dollars worth of coffee brandy. For some seeing humor in ridiculous inferences is difficult. No offense intended for those who may not see the abject humor involved I will post a disclaimer.. Not everyone in Maine who is behind on their bills is a deadbeat alcoholic. Please don't eat dog food to pay the mean electric company. I realize times are tough annually for 40% of Bangor Hydro customers. Please don't take everything you read literally. We elitists below the Volvo line drink too!

Well no, dog food is far too expensive.

Fortunately people food is much cheaper