Open Forum → How much does it cost...

You know... its not only broadband that has the gazillion and one surcharges.

New York ...

anyone want to explain how... $45.33 in electricity costs...$55.69 to deliver??!!

Charge for electricity Kwh -- $42.38

(ok this I understand -- I use some watt type things that get charged in units)

Merchant function charge -- $1.88

(its says "charges associated with procuring electricity, credit and collection related activities and noncollectable accounts)

I am assuming this is the charge it takes for someone to accept my payment - cause you know -- it takes money to accept my money - oh and if someone else does not pay their bill - I should pay you to not collect it.

GRT and other tax surcharges -- $1.07

(its says "taxes on ConEdison gross receipts from sales of utility services and other tax surcharges)

ummm ok -- so... you need to tax me on your selling me the watts that make my world go round ... oh and... you need to tax my tax hence the surcharge on the ... tax

Ok -- soooo far ... it adds up to $45.33

NOW....

$16.07

(it says "charge for basic system infrastructure and customer related services, including customer service accounting, meter reading and meter maintenance. A billing and payment processing charge of 0.94 is included)

ok -- here you are charging me to ... me to bill me... oh wait ... did you not already do that in the magic "merchant function charge"? ... and... lets see ... customer service ... on the off chance that I might want to call you ... to... I dunno... say hi?

$30.72

(it says "charge for maintaining the system through which Con Edison delivers electricity to you)

ok... you also get my tax dollars for this ...and ... grants... tax abatement ... investment dollars ... and I lived in a fixed area with no hope of new lines ...but ok... I will pretend you maintain me I am not saying zero dollars here -- but really ... You delivered me $42.38 -- you charge me ... $32.72 to pipe it into my light bulb.

$1.04

(it says "SBC/RPS charge - the system benefits charge/renewable portfolio standard charges New York State renewable energy, environmental and other related public policy funds)

ok ... I have to go look this one up ... it sounds like to me ... money that goes into some well somewhere and gets distributed to a group of very special people. And I am ...not...one of those special people.

$1.56

(It says "temporary NY State surcharge - this covers new fees imposed by the state)

I wonder if I can temporarily refuse to pay this one

$ 2.41

(It says "see earlier definition")

ok... that by far is my favorite one ... cause I do not know which definition they mean ... do they mean the one that says, me, customer, who has no choice but to accept what ever shows up in my mailbox?

SO... is it this way in all the states? Does anyone ever go with the alternative provider? Do you really save any money?

Here I am working to get my electricity bill under control -- I managed to lower my USAGE by 52% from last July -- and yet ... I am paying more in all the other charges than ever before!!

South Carolina with Santee Cooper

From last month:

Customer Charge: $6.85
Energy charge: $1,075.76
Fuel Adjustment: $250.71
Demand Sales Adjustment: -$4.88 (Yes, a credit!)
Franchise Fee: $66.42

The 'Customer Charge', I believe, is a base rate for all customers. The next two are pretty self-explanitory. The Demand Sales Adjustment...well.. I'm not sure, i'll have to look.

But yeah, it doesn't seem as crazy as all of what you've got going on there.

A $1300+ electric bill? is this at a business?

Here in texas I pay a straight kwh bill, just sales tax on top of it.

Well maybe they don't need those extra costs since you guys down there are running your a/c 24/7.

Halfway, I rent a room to my company and run a mini 'data-center'. But it's a residence

Same here in Jersey... The delivery and all the other blah blah blah charges are equal or more than my actual usage. I would much rather pay a fee and reasonable tax on top. Imagine if I went to buy a shirt and they broke down the pricing the same way?

Shirt - $15.00
Delivery - $7.00
Sales tax - $1.15
Stepping foot into the store fee - $3.55
Using the escalator fee - $0.95
Fee for walking by and looking at our display - $0.45
Fee for paying in person instead of our web site - $5.00
Total - $33.10

How many KWH were you billed for? Back home here we pay a $6/month fee for "basic service/connection" plus around $0.09 per KWH.

WOW, as it's over 6% of the "energy charge"

lol, our overstock warehouse pays $52.17 per month for water and sewer. Our actual usage?....0...eventually it adds up to a unit or two of water which adds a couple bucks to the bill cause you get charged for the water coming and going.



Electrical and gas not so bad here but the wonderful PUD has nice cheap power for our other warehouse...after the $18.50 base fee !

Neither location has many junk fees on it, except our water bill.

Your post made me laugh out loud ! Same bills here on Long Island - first with LILCO and now with LIPA.

Bizarre.