Posted on 09/18/2017 8:23:56 AM PDT by george76
In 2001, Colorado electricity consumers enjoyed some of the lowest electric rates in the country. The 15 years since haven’t been so kind to ratepayers. For more than a decade, elected officials, PUC commissioners, industry and advocates have told Colorado ratepayers that they could transform the state’s electricity generation away from coal and toward industrial wind, solar and natural gas with little cost to ratepayers. However, the actual numbers tell a much different story.
Colorado electricity rates have risen sharply – 62.1 percent – across residential, commercial and industrial sectors, despite a slight decrease in recent years.
Colorado electricity rates have increased 17.2 percentage points more than the Mountain state region (Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming) collectively, where rates increased 44.9 percent over the same time period.
The 62.1 percent increase is 1.75 times more than the cumulative rate of inflation at 35.4 percent.
The rise in electricity rates has outpaced the rise in household income which has averaged a meager four percent over the last 10 years.
Public policy may be to blame in part. Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) data suggests that in 2012, part of the dramatic increase was due to the renewable energy mandate.
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Between 2005 and October of 2015… natural gas prices delivered to electric utilities declined by almost 60 percent and coal prices have remained essentially flat.
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During this same time, U.S. cumulative inflation rate was 35.4 percent. That means the cost of powering Coloradans’ homes and the state’s economy has increased 1.75 times (nearly double) the rate of inflation
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Governor Ritter and other renewable energy advocates said the NEE in Colorado wouldn’t cost ratepayers more. A 62.1 percent electricity increase, over the last fifteen years, across all sectors, shows just how wrong they were.
(Excerpt) Read more at i2i.org ...
A year ago my electric bill was $217/mo. Throug simple conservation measures bot it down to $106 this month.
Eat sh!t, Black Hills Energy.
If you have a standard electric hot water tank, you’d be surprised how much that adds to the bill. There are electric tankless water heaters now, or gas is probably cheaper overall if you have a line to your house.
Colorado Ping ( Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)
Yep. Mine’s been over $200 a month since 2011.
In 2000, it was maybe a little over $100.
We’ve got natural gas, thank God.
Tankless doesn’t work that well up here because in the winter time our incoming water is usually under 40F and most tankless heaters only provide a 70F heat rise, otherwise I’d have installed one a long time ago.
The feasibility of those has pretty much been debunked, evidenced by their hardly ever being advertised in my large metro area anymore.
I've even had plumbers who sell them steer me away from them. And they ARE expensive.
Must be the legal pot.
Depends upon your groundwater temps I suppose, they’re going strong in residential here. Going strong in RV’s too, much less power draw plus the space for the tank is freed up for storage or other use, both of which are big pluses in an RV, especially one set up for dry camping without utility hookups.
On of the biggest selling points for the tankless heaters is the “instant” hot water claim. But that’s if you have the unit in close proximity to the tap. That’s not always doable, and there are numerous taps in most houses.
The successful installations have a very small reserve tank to provide preheated water for the first few seconds before freshly heated water kicks in from the unit, and there’s only one in the house. That’s the economical implementation. Putting one at every hot water outlet is more of a luxury thing and won’t save a dime, probably costs more but instant unlimited hot water does have an appeal, especially with a house full of people taking showers and such. No more running out or waiting.
We put in a ground source heat pump system when we built new in 2002. Incoming water temp in the Missouri Ozarks is around 59 F.
Sytem has four 200 foot wells under the driveway. House has heated main floor via a storage tank in the furnace room, heated via the geo-thermal...
Of course if you’re stoned you don’t mind sitting in the dark.
I’m sure they’ve improved since I last checked them out (10 years ago.) I’ll look into it again.
The average sheeple loyally goes to his (or her) cubical each work day. He comes home at night, and is electronically mesmerized by multiple entertainment distractions and favorite adult beverages or chemicals.
He has automatic payroll deposit, automatic bill pay, automatic voting for "D", as he slides through life in a "happy" figurative stupor.
They are clients of the Deep State. That is their purpose in life, fed and fattened by the Deep State who make all their economic decisions.
Too much reefer exhaust, solar panels can't get any Old Sol.
I haven’t retrofitted one into my house yet, but I do have a smaller one with reserve tank in an RV, took some fiddling to get it so it would work well with “navy showers,” turning the shower on and off to conserve not just hot water but water period, a concern when dry camping since you’re limited to the contents of a 50 gallon potable water tank. I’ve been pretty impressed, was dubious at first but cheap and original 10 gal tank system needed replacing anyway.
Ground source is super nice but very expensive, it’s seldom seen outside of custom built homes for owners who plan to stay there for the rest of their lives. Radiant in-floor heat is just awesome, I envy you that. I’ve been looking at far infrared electric in floor radiant for retrofitting, cheaper than even electric heat pump, greatly enhanced comfort, easily installed. Company out of Canada. Will be playing around with a short roll of the film bought cheap off of eBay to see if it lives up to the billing before committing.
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