Electricity Price Increases

[WinterDeere]

BTW… in all of this, I should point out that you can move firewood across county lines in PA, but it must be kilned first. The prohibition applies only to green or air-dried wood.

Kiln profiles for firewood are cheap and fast. Unlike framing or furniture woods, they’re not trying to get the stuff down below equilibrium moisture content, just hot enough to kill any invasive species.

 

[ultrarunner]

I’ve seen those at the grocery store… 3 pieces for $20 in a box… guaranteed to burn hot or something like that.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

All my firewood comes from my property. I do know people who get firewood permits from BLM or USFS, but if you don't cut your own it's less convenient that turning on the heat pump. Buy one or buy the other. I like wood heat because my electric bill doesn't go up in the winter. Max 30 degrees of cooling at midday is way cheaper than max 60 degrees of heat mostly all day and night.

 

[WinterDeere]

I’ve seen those at the grocery store… 3 pieces for $20 in a box… guaranteed to burn hot or something like that.

Yeah, but also sold by the ton or pallet load (1/3 cord?), here. Most commercial operators process onto a pallet, shrink wrap, then kiln prior to transport.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yeah, but also sold by the ton or pallet load (1/3 cord?), here. Most commercial operators process onto a pallet, shrink wrap, then kiln prior to transport.

No big or pallet sales here with no new installs, a bounty to remove and no burning on cold winter nights…

 

[WinterDeere]

No big or pallet sales here with no new installs, a bounty to remove and no burning on cold winter nights…

Kinda sucks for everyone in northern Cali, no? I mean, no great loss for those in Los Angeles, but the Sierra Nevadas can get cold!

Eureka, anyone?

Eureka, California - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ultrarunner]

Kinda sucks for everyone in northern Cali, no? I mean, no great loss for those in Los Angeles, but the Sierra Nevadas can get cold!

Eureka, anyone?

Eureka, California - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There are very large Air Management Districts with some covering many counties.

Last I check there were still more remote area not governed by a special air district…

 

[ponytug]

There are very large Air Management Districts with some covering many counties.

Last I check there were still more remote area not governed by a special air district…

Yes, much of the Sierras are still ok for wood burning, most days, and the Tahoe area has programs for the replacement or removal of less efficient wood stoves due to the bowl like nature of the lake area.

So, @WinterDeere, it isn't the Wild West, but the Sierras are not as restricted as the SF Bay Area and LA, where the geography tends to trap smoke under some weather conditions, leading to spare the air days (no wood burning, and attempts to limit driving and small engine use).

All the best,

Peter

 

[JTKub]

I just got my October bill today. $184.19 for 735kwh over 32 days. Most of it is taxes and fees. This is about $40-50 more than I paid last year.

They "smart metered" everyone in my area about 6 months back. My monthly usage didn't change between my old 50yr/old mechanical meter and the new plastic POS, but my bill sure did.

 

[mjonesnh]

I just got my October bill today. $184.19 for 735kwh over 32 days. Most of it is taxes and fees. This is about $40-50 more than I paid last year.

They "smart metered" everyone in my area about 6 months back. My monthly usage didn't change between my old 50yr/old mechanical meter and the new plastic POS, but my bill sure did.

Wow! Just run my numbers here in middle TN. with power through TVA. Using your 735 KW and TVA Min. customer charge at $39 and .11/ KW it would have been $119.85 here. Easy to lose track of what people actually have to pay in other areas of U.S. Have read in CA. rates are on the order of 4-5 times as much as TVA customers!

 

[Jstpssng]

Wow! Just run my numbers here in middle TN. with power through TVA. Using your 735 KW and TVA Min. customer charge at $39 and .11/ KW it would have been $119.85 here. Easy to lose track of what people actually have to pay in other areas of U.S. Have read in CA. rates are on the order of 4-5 times as much as TVA customers!

I just recieved my bill today; 35.10 for 127KW. His bill would have been $203.13 here.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yes, much of the Sierras are still ok for wood burning, most days, and the Tahoe area has programs for the replacement or removal of less efficient wood stoves due to the bowl like nature of the lake area.

So, @WinterDeere, it isn't the Wild West, but the Sierras are not as restricted as the SF Bay Area and LA, where the geography tends to trap smoke under some weather conditions, leading to spare the air days (no wood burning, and attempts to limit driving and small engine use).

All the best,

Peter

Much argument at the BAAQMD I attended is Bay Area smoke travels a hundred miles inland and causes problems…

 

[Carl_NH]

Just got bill in NH for 381 KWH was $107.00 of which $65 is delivery and $42 cost of electricity - which is interesting - we used 3X you did Jstpssng, and paid about the same. ($35x3=$105.)

How do you use so little power? We have gas stove, electric dryer, oil boiler HW, and 1.5 HP well pump then lights etc in 3K SF house and 2 of us,

 

[ponytug]

Much argument at the BAAQMD I attended is Bay Area smoke travels a hundred miles inland and causes problems…

They aren't wrong, but somewhere between "absolutely zero particulate emissions" and the current occasional "Spare the air" day ought to have some amount of wiggle room. I do understand where they are coming from in that for the last few years the Bay Area air quality has been, on average "crappy" to use the technical phrase, so the air pollution rules do need to be tightened, but that gets harder and harder to do if things like restaurants and home barbecues get a free pass as they are a larger and larger fraction of the remaining PM2.5, VOC, and NOX sources. Yes, that will kill even more restaurants, or raise the cost of dining out or both.

The Central Valley isn't exactly a bastion of clean air all by itself either, as I have been reminded of over the last few days when we had 100+AQI wind coming our way from the Central Valley.

If it is not one thing it is another.

@Carl_NH FWIW: I can recommend a heat pump dryer. We went from 5kW/hr to 0.5-0.7kW/hr in about the same dry time, with clothes more uniformly dry.

All the best, Peter

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Much argument at the BAAQMD I attended is Bay Area smoke travels a hundred miles inland and causes problems…

I remember 50 years ago the orange smog rolling over the east hills. Sometimes it was so thick you couldn't see across the bay on what should have been a crystal clear day.

 

[Carl_NH]

@Carl_NH FWIW: I can recommend a heat pump dryer. We went from 5kW/hr to 0.5-0.7kW/hr in about the same dry time, with clothes more uniformly dry.

All the best, Peter

Is that the Miele or which model and brand? Will look at this the next replacement cycle - our Electrolux W&D are 8 Yrs now and we typically get 15-20 years from a set, running 3 loads a week on average.

 

[ultrarunner]

They aren't wrong, but somewhere between "absolutely zero particulate emissions" and the current occasional "Spare the air" day ought to have some amount of wiggle room. I do understand where they are coming from in that for the last few years the Bay Area air quality has been, on average "crappy" to use the technical phrase, so the air pollution rules do need to be tightened, but that gets harder and harder to do if things like restaurants and home barbecues get a free pass as they are a larger and larger fraction of the remaining PM2.5, VOC, and NOX sources. Yes, that will kill even more restaurants, or raise the cost of dining out or both.

The Central Valley isn't exactly a bastion of clean air all by itself either, as I have been reminded of over the last few days when we had 100+AQI wind coming our way from the Central Valley.

If it is not one thing it is another.

@Carl_NH FWIW: I can recommend a heat pump dryer. We went from 5kW/hr to 0.5-0.7kW/hr in about the same dry time, with clothes more uniformly dry.

All the best, Peter

Several wood fired restaurants couldn’t get permitted here..

I have a cat equipped stove and only seasoned oak and ask how am I a problem?

The answer given simply to hard to enforce clean burn and burning trash in a fireplace so blanket burn ban it is on many cold winter nights with billboards inviting neighbor to report violator neighbor…

 

[DarkBlack]

Several wood fired restaurants couldn’t get permitted here..

I have a cat equipped stove and only seasoned oak and ask how am I a problem?

The answer given simply to hard to enforce clean burn and burning trash in a fireplace so blanket burn ban it is on many cold winter nights with billboards inviting neighbor to report violator neighbor…

I’d move, but that’s just me

 

[Jstpssng]

Just got bill in NH for 381 KWH was $107.00 of which $65 is delivery and $42 cost of electricity - which is interesting - we used 3X you did Jstpssng, and paid about the same. ($35x3=$105.)

How do you use so little power? We have gas stove, electric dryer, oil boiler HW, and 1.5 HP well pump then lights etc in 3K SF house and 2 of us,

It's just me. I have a fridge, electric water heater, freezer and well pump but my power bill rarely goes over $35.

 

[WinterDeere]

The answer given simply to hard to enforce clean burn and burning trash in a fireplace so blanket burn ban it is...

This is why I get irritated when I see irresponsible burners around here, burning wet wood and smoking out their neighbors. Enough cases of that, and folks start complaining to the township supervisors, until someone gets fed up enough to want to shut down the rest of us.

We have one outside wood boiler guy one road over, on something like 0.5 acres, who just rolls stinky smoke out all winter long. He's sometimes blanketing neighbors out as far as 0.3 - 0.4 miles downwind with that acrid smoke that only smoldering of wet wood can produce, to where it'd almost be a miracle if his closest neighbors didn't complain about him.

Like you, I burn cat stoves and only feed them with hardwoods that have been seasoned under a roof for 3 - 4 years. The only thing you'll usually see coming out of my chimney is ripples of heat, like looking across hot asphalt in July. Zero smoke, excepting 15 minutes at start-up, and I can go months without a restart.