Vampires!

Today, I was sitting at my desk and opening up bills in preparation for finalizing my March budget. At the top of the stack was my BTU bill, which is my electricity, water, sewer, and garbage bill combined. I was blissfully looking over this bill of $146.91 and musing to myself how much I didn't want warmer weather to come.

Our air conditioner unit stopped cooling at the beginning of October last year. I know that some of you in colder parts of the world will be wondering how I even know, but down here, we tend to kick on the a/c a couple of times a month during our colder months, with the possible exception of January. I tend to fuss over this with DH, as he will kick it on when opening a window would suffice. So, this year, when the a/c quite cooling, I saw my chance to "win" all winter long! I would be a fool to say it was just about saving money. That was just a bonus to "winning" the point. And win, I did. Or so I thought.

The bill that came less than a week after the a/c did was $244. A welcome relief after the hot summer bills hovering around $300. The next month, my bill was down to $151! Woohoo. Now, the paragraph above you should tell you there was a bit of gloating. Yes, and dancing, and paper waving, and tons of smack talk. But, it was all in good fun and since it was about saving money, it was humorously accepted.

Now, March is almost upon us, and miser I may be, but there is no way I am going another month without a/c. We have already had some mid-80's temp wise and it's just a matter of time. I promised I would call the a/c people at the beginning of next week. I'll book a Spring check-up and mention the cooling. But, I have been dreading what this will do to my electric bill.

Tonight, I was talking to DH about turning in the service call next week and I mentioned the low bill. He started asking me questions about what we could do to keep our electric bill low year round. (Really? He's actually thinking about saving money now? How can I tell if he's one of the Pod People? We've come a long way, baby!) We started in on thermostat settings, but then we got off onto the subject of electricity vampires.

What's an electricity vampire? It's an appliance that quietly sucks electricity even if it is turned off. The television is the best example I can think of. If it is turned off, it still uses electricity. The remote sensor is constantly awake so that it will turn on the TV when you hit the button. Any appliance with a clock or tiny red standby light is also a vampire. I have even heard that cell phone chargers are vampires, even when not plugged into the device that it is supposed to be charging. Almost any type of appliance can be a vampire.

What's the garlic? You can fix this seepage of money by unplugging or plugging these items into a power strip and flipping the red rocker switch to the off position when you leave the house or go to bed. But, you may loose some convenience.

I am perfectly happy with some of my vampires. Tivo and a small cable package are our most constant luxury items. Tivo must stay plugged in to record and receive updates. We can count on one hand how many movies we've gone to since DS was born. We don't rent movies anymore because we are rarely home together to enjoy them, so we ended up with Tivo. (Oh, Tivo, how I love you and could devote an entire post to your glorious purpose.) I have other vampires that I adore. The coffeemaker has beautiful abilities to brew coffee before we wake. The dishwasher will start at 2 am. The cordless phone is a biggie. All of these items lend themselves to a happier home.

I am considering purchasing a few more power strips, with the rocker switch to provide a true "off" when thrown. I would love to keep Tivo plugged into the wall and move the stereo and TV onto its own power strip. I could unplug the washing machine and power down the computer at night. But, how much of a difference is this going to make?

Since I've been thinking about this topic most of the night, once I began to write, I signed on to my utility company's site and pulled up my 12 month history. I was thinking of vampires and air conditioning and saving money. Then, I saw it. (OK, what you are about to read, it's confidential, or should I say DON'T TELL DH!) Last years bill for the same time period, $6 more! That's it. I saved $6 by not having a functional a/c. Now, I know my kilowatt hour pricing has changed a bit, and my water pricing may have changed as well, but dang!

So, now I'm wondering, if I tame the vampires, will it make a significant change in my bill? I've got to decide if I want to invest in a few more power strips if I really want to make a change. Is it going to be worth it? Maybe I'll root around and see if I can't come up with some strips that may be hiding away. I'll definitely be watching my 12 month history closer.

Oh, and unless it costs a million, billion dollars to fix the a/c, it's getting fixed next week. However, unless they come when DH is home, I'll probably tell him they couldn't make it out till the end of the month, or our first 90+ degree day. Which ever comes first.