Update on our electricity bills

[mattlistener.livejournal.com]

I've learned from talking to other electricity suppliers that the 65% jump in the "Basic Svc Fixed" rate on our NSTAR bills was due to hurricaines in the gulf last year. We didn't see the price-jump until now because our electricity through December had been bulk-purchased last June. So, your first electricity bill that covers a period entirely within 2006 will be representative of your bills for the first half of 2006. Mine for two people in a two-bedroom went from ~$60 to ~$100.

Of the four competitive suppliers listed on NSTAR's website for A1 service (ours), only one actually offers service for residential customers -- Dominion. The other three say they do because you only get one shot to register with the regulators, and if you *ever* want to offer a form of service, you have to register for it at the outset. However two of those three said they intended to start offering residential service this Spring.

Dominion's number (866-275-4243) was busy signals almost every time I called. The one time I got through I got a recorded message saying their rate for residential service was 11-something. Since ours is now 12-something, I didn't consider it worth any further hassle.

My guess is that this rate-shock will trigger a whole lot of electricity shopping, and hence competition in the next few months. I'm going to call the other suppliers again in April and see whether there's more options available.

(no subject)

[mattlistener.livejournal.com]

One more point -- several things I wrote in the prior post assume that you have the "fixed for 6 months" option selected in your NSTAR preferences. I'm guessing that's the default because I don't recall making a choice. The other option is to allow your rate to vary each month.

In either case, NSTAR does rate-shopping for its customers and tries to deliver the best rate available on the market whenever it buys electricity. If you have the 6-month option sometimes you'll pay less for a while after the market goes up, other times you'll pay more for a while after the market goes down, so it should be a wash in the long run compared to the 1-month option. (Though if you're going to change to the 1-month, right after you feel a big rate-hike would be the best time to do it.)

The benefit I see of having the 1-month option would be that you're helping make the market more fluid and competitive, which is good for customers. Utilities able to offer a lower rate would get rewarded more quickly, and when the cost of doing business goes up (like recently), higher rates will more quickly create an incentive to create more supply. (Such as existing utilities starting to offer residential service.)

Just remember to focus on the kwh consumed part of your bill to understand your own usage patterns, rather than the dollar bottom line.

Powerbook G4 repairs locally?

[xmasfruitcake.livejournal.com]

I have a G4- about one year old. The cd/dvd drive sounds like a monster. It will not accept a disk but repeatedly (as in every 3 seconds) tries to accept one. Sounds like chewing metal. I was told by the genius bar at the Mac store it would cost about $700 because there is a slight dent on the keyboard casing which suggests I may have been responsible for the broken drive, thus making my AppleCare useless for this. I also inquired with Tekserve in NYC and they suggested about $400. I'm wondering if anyone knows anything more local and less expensive. I'd really like to have this disk drive replaced asap. Thanks!

permit woes

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know if there's somewhere I can park my car without a permit for a day or two? I live on Irving Street. My temporary permit expires on Monday. The paperwork I needed from the RMV to get a real permit arrived on Friday, well after the Parking Permit office closed at 12; I don't know if they're open Monday; and Tuesday I'm out of the area from 7:45am to 7:45pm. If it's not open Monday, the earliest I can get there is Wednesday at 9, which means I'm permitless for at least one full day.