City of Austin monopoly on Utilities, who knew? (Houston, Ross: how much, house)

[BatWing]

So my utilities bill was over $850 bucks recently and don't even run my AC unit but for 4 hours a day since I work so much and never home. I hardly water my yard, hardly turn on the stove and I'm gettin' highway robbed by City of Austin. When My Utilities bill in Houston barely broke $150 a month.

So I go searching for a replacement. RUDE AWAKENING. City of Austin has got a padlock on Utilites and if you don't live near Perdenales forget trying to switch.

Not sure if you people knew this but..it SUCKS!


So what can us citizens of Austin do(if anything) about this GROSS EXTORTION of taxes/fees by the Utilities???

[centralaustinite]

CoA energy rates are among the lowest in the state!

You need to seriously improve the efficiency of your home, I bet your ducts leak like crazy.

[Komeht]

You need to think about a serious retrofit if your utilities are 800/mo.

How much space are you cooling? How old is house? What kind of insulation? Do you have old single pane aluminum windows? Etc...

[unihills]

Has to be an error unless you have a crazy water leak but you should see a pond by now. You can see how many Kw you used compared to previous months. I have an old 1900 ft house with old single windows and don't get over 150-175 worst summer bill. Water leak? You can see water usage on your bill too and compare to previous months. If I remember right, it's around $0.10/kw for power, not out of line for any provider in central TX. I can guarantee your issue is not with the price per Kilowatt.

Are you cooling with window units or something? Also I think it's cheaper to keep the a/c on a higher setting when you're gone than to turn it off and have to cool a 100 degree house when you get home.

[BatWing]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

CoA energy rates are among the lowest in the state!

You need to seriously improve the efficiency of your home, I bet your ducts leak like crazy.

I had my house re-insulated(attic fluff), duct work checked for leaks when I bought the house in 1999. back then my rates were reasonable being only $150 low end and $250 high end. this $850 bucks of madness came outta nowhere RECENTLY after that recent rate structure hike CoA forced everybody outside thE city limits to pay. They called it mandatory. I call is BEEE ESSS!!!! I'm paying for some other deadbeats Utility bills, I just know it.

[BatWing]

Originally Posted by Komeht

You need to think about a serious retrofit if your utilities are 800/mo.

How much space are you cooling? How old is house? What kind of insulation? Do you have old single pane aluminum windows? Etc...

What I did immediately was started to only cool the room I was in,for example if I'm in the Den, I close all the vents everywhere else. but my bill hasn't changed. this is the 3rd bill I got over $600 bucks. it's crazy!...CoA is ripping me off. I asked them to re-read my meter they have YET to show up and give me some result readings. I called them and sat on the phone for 3 hours arguing/debating with the lady at CoA and all she had for me was "Well sir the new rate change is mandatory"... HECK NO! can't be.

[G Grasshopper]

My neighbor had a sudden increase in the water bill. They blamed it on the fence contractor, then blamed it on the gardener and on every other possible (and impossible) scenario. Finally 6 months later, when their mushy yard turned into a lake that came over into my yard, they realized they had a leak. They had let the water main leak for 6 months before a winter freeze broke it completely. It would have been much cheaper for them if they had been proactive rather than living so long in denial. I'm not saying you have a broken water main, but maybe there are some things to check out that could be leading to your high bill.

[BatWing]

Originally Posted by unihills

Has to be an error unless you have a crazy water leak but you should see a pond by now. You can see how many Kw you used compared to previous months. I have an old 1900 ft house with old single windows and don't get over 150-175 worst summer bill. Water leak? You can see water usage on your bill too and compare to previous months. If I remember right, it's around $0.10/kw for power, not out of line for any provider in central TX. I can guarantee your issue is not with the price per Kilowatt.

Are you cooling with window units or something? Also I think it's cheaper to keep the a/c on a higher setting when you're gone than to turn it off and have to cool a 100 degree house when you get home.

They retrofitted my house with that "Smart Meter" in 2010 I think, eversince then my Utilities bill skyrocketed and fluctuated between $500 to now $850. before that I could pay my Utilities bill with lunch money. Now I gotta allocate at least a $1Grand just in case my bill spikes again...

Also, I have those BIG HEAVY curtains that block out the sun...lol...so my house is like DARK even at noon. so I know the curtains are doing their job keeping the heat/cold out as the seasons change.

I fixed ALL the toilets, they used to "buzz" meaning the water was still running, so I fixed that stuff in 2008. no leaking toilets since. but my bill just started to go crazy in 2010 AFTER the Smart Meter was installed.

I asked them to come and remove it and put my old one back on but all I got was "We can't do that sir, it's the new meters we have"

CoA is a Criminal Enterprise, I'm convinced.

Any other ideas people? Anybody else having a spike in Utilities like this?

[BatWing]

Originally Posted by G Grasshopper

My neighbor had a sudden increase in the water bill. They blamed it on the fence contractor, then blamed it on the gardener and on every other possible (and impossible) scenario. Finally 6 months later, when their mushy yard turned into a lake that came over into my yard, they realized they had a leak. They had let the water main leak for 6 months before a winter freeze broke it completely. It would have been much cheaper for them if they had been proactive rather than living so long in denial. I'm not saying you have a broken water main, but maybe there are some things to check out that could be leading to your high bill.

So do you suggest I call CoA to come and check my water main? any advice is appreciated. thanks

[unihills]

Originally Posted by BatWing

What I did immediately was started to only cool the room I was in,for example if I'm in the Den, I close all the vents everywhere else. but my bill hasn't changed. this is the 3rd bill I got over $600 bucks. it's crazy!...CoA is ripping me off. I asked them to re-read my meter they have YET to show up and give me some result readings. I called them and sat on the phone for 3 hours arguing/debating with the lady at CoA and all she had for me was "Well sir the new rate change is mandatory"... HECK NO! can't be.

Where is your t-stat located? If you close all the vents and cool air doesn't get to the t-stat the a/c will run forever. I've read that closing all vents but one room will not improve energy usage because of what it does to air pressures, imbalances and so forth.

It's hard to discuss rationally unless you tell us how many Kilowatts you used on your bill and what the total charge was for electricity. My latest bill is for 465 Kilowatts and electric charge is $47.46. That's $0.102/kilowatt. What are your numbers?

Of course by the time you add in water, trash, etc. The total bill is $129, so electric is not even half of it.