Help! APS Bill new home owner

[scott7876]

Very helpful thread. We are planning a move to the west valley in the near future, so I found the info here useful. I see there are areas in the Phoenix metro not covered by APS. Who is the provider in those areas?

[wase4711]

that would be these guys..
https://www.srpnet.com/

[scott7876]

Thanks for that info. I haven't looked too deeply at the APS website yet, but is there a fee to switch APS plans, and can you do it when you want, or do you need to stay with a plan for a period of time?

[wase4711]

no fee to switch plans, and, during your first year, they were letting you switch at least once if not twice, but, they change the rules all the time, so you need to talk to them and see what their "current" policy is; we changed twice in the first few months, but, thats over the last year, when they were making all sorts of plan changes for everyone, so they might have been more flexible..

[scott7876]

Thanks!!

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by wase4711

good tip!

I bought a large, counter top Breville toaster oven, and use it to make most meals during the summer for the same reason; uses a ton less energy that the GE wall oven, and, it doesn't heat up the kitchen area anything like the wall oven does..

It has 2 shelves, so I can cook more than one thing at a time, and its even large enough to make a pizza in..

We have an over the range micro convection oven. 1500 watts max, I think. It works just as well as the range using less demand - which is the name of the game in my rate plan.

[wase4711]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

We have an over the range micro convection oven. 1500 watts max, I think. It works just as well as the range using less demand - which is the name of the game in my rate plan.

Is that an actual oven, or is it a "enhanced" microwave?
I'd like to get a small, REAL oven like that, so I could free up the counter space the Breville is taking up now

thanks

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by yukon

Try cooking in a slow cooker. Less energy, and won't heat up the kitchen/house like using the stove and oven do.

If one really wants to go all out on the energy saving frontier... use the slow cooker outside in the summer. Takes less electricity to run the cooker (well, maybe... I don't know if they are just open loop or have a temperature control?), and no extra heat gets added to the house.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by hikernut

If one really wants to go all out on the energy saving frontier... use the slow cooker outside in the summer. Takes less electricity to run the cooker (well, maybe... I don't know if they are just open loop or have a temperature control?), and no extra heat gets added to the house.

My 4 qt slow cooker heats up the kitchen a bit, but the 6 qt does not. I'm not sure why, either, unless the heat is dissipated more evenly in the larger cooker.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by wase4711

Is that an actual oven, or is it a "enhanced" microwave?
I'd like to get a small, REAL oven like that, so I could free up the counter space the Breville is taking up now

thanks

It is an oven, in that it has heating elements in addition to a microwave source. You set it just like an oven - temperature, time. It comes with racks that you put in and you can use metal pans etc. The food browns up just like in the oven. It also has a combo microwave and convection setting where it both heats the food and nukes it to cook things faster. We generally use the micro-convection instead of the stove even off peak. The one limitation is that it struggles to get/hold a temp over 400 as the heating elements are only 120 volts so have an amp limitation.

I would think you could get a counter top unit. Look up "convection microwave ovens".