Austin elec rates going up fast - why?

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by afterdark80

Thanks. This is exactly what I looked at when making my argument with the delusional one.

You didn't look very hard, since I posted that a few posts before you posted

[afterdark80]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

You didn't look very hard, since I posted that a few posts before you posted

Didn't need to look, found the facts that validated my comments on my own before I posted.

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

The privately held companies make a profit for every kW they sell, so they encourage people to use as much as they can. They 'lure' you with the lower $/kW and sometimes offer 'gift cards' or rebates for exceeding certain thresholds. The generation and transmission costs for AE are essentially intertwined, but it is still a substantial cost. The breakdown for AE (generation and delivery) is not really analogous to the breakdown on the bills you will see. The cities want to minimize use so they do not have to build another power plant.

With your set-up, your usage does not really look out of line, I guess. Larger users (2,000 kW+, maybe?) typically do better on deregulated utilities where they do not incentivize conservation.

I don't feel like we really use that much power but I guess we do..the meter doesn't lie most of the time. Truth is the house is big, there's no added insulation or anything beyond whatever was required in '89, we added a new roof but I'm not sure if that makes a difference... the pool is a major power consumer and we just weren't going to spend the money to upgrade to an "energy efficient" pool pump..but the onerous ONCOR charges are what bolster our bills, not really usage. That is why the provider per kwh thing only saves you a couple of dollars really, so we don't fall for the lures... We use Reliant energy, they've been pretty good..we used to get bills of 400-500 when we were with TXU. now we change providers like hats and end up keeping our bills to a manageable level. You're correct in that deregulated ville, energy conservation is not incentivized.

I just don't believe that Austin's codes thirty one years ago was vastly different than Wilco's. Our home was built pretty well. So I don't know why Austin power consumption is lower other than individuals actually making an effort to not consume a lot of power. Maybe it's the punative means (tiers), I don't know.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by riaelise

[...]

I just don't believe that Austin's codes thirty one years ago was vastly different than Wilco's. Our home was built pretty well. So I don't know why Austin power consumption is lower other than individuals actually making an effort to not consume a lot of power. Maybe it's the punative means (tiers), I don't know.

The COA required higher energy efficiency construction standards for a long time; houses constructed outside any municipality (not just Austin) often are significantly lower in overall energy efficiency for a same-era construction. In addition, many of the older homes were upgraded via AE incentives (appliances, insultation, weatherstripping, etc).

Of course, Austin does have a lot of apartments to help offset the larger SFH and that does help as well in the numbers game.

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

The COA required higher energy efficiency construction standards for a long time; houses constructed outside any municipality (not just Austin) often are significantly lower in overall energy efficiency for a same-era construction.

And many outside a municipality are significantly higher in overall energy efficiency.

Millions of us have invested in energy efficiency WITHOUT the government telling us to do so because it makes financial sense.

My guess is that houses in the Austin suburbs are MORE energy efficient than in the city since on average they are much newer.

"The median age of Austin real estate is 30 years old"

Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by Roadking2003

And many outside a municipality are significantly higher in overall energy efficiency.

Some, maybe, but not most. Anyway, the per sq ft energy efficiency inside the COA was about 15 percent higher than in non-municipal areas some 10 years ago or so. That was across the board regardless of house age. Not sure if it is still the case.