<p>They don't like Sean:-)<br>
One of my annual reviews showed an overage of 400+. They applied it as a credit to the next set of bills until it was gone.<br>
GA Power. Yeah.</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Jun 25, 2011 12:08 PM, "Ron Frazier" <<a href="mailto:atllinuxenthinfo@c3energy.com">atllinuxenthinfo@c3energy.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution">> That's very strange. Sawnee EMC will credit any overage to your next <br>
> bill. However, if you come up short, they'll want the difference.<br>> <br>> Ron<br>> <br>> On 6/25/2011 9:48 AM, Drifter wrote:<br>>><br>>> I would urge one and all to stay away -- FAR away -- from Ga. Power's <br>
>> "Budget Billing service." The company, in cahoots with the <insert <br>>> adjective of choice> Public Service Commission has rigged this <br>>> "feature" to steal your money. The annual contract specifies in the <br>
>> fine print that if the company over estimates the charges, they KEEP <br>>> your money. You don't get it back! Which means, of course, that they <br>>> have a HUGE incentive to over estimate your electric bill. I <br>
>> discovered this painful fact when they offered to reduce our monthly <br>>> payment by more than 20% after the first year in our current house. So <br>>> I went back and totaled up the previous 12 bills and discovered that <br>
>> we had overpaid by nearly $300. When I asked for the money back, I was <br>>> told, "Sorry, Charlie; the contract says we keep it."<br>>><br>>> BUT . . . You can do the math yourself and not waste your money. Ga. <br>
>> Power is perfectly willing to let you overpay your monthly bill most <br>>> of the year to build up a credit pool to apply to the summer months. <br>>> That's what we are doing now and it is working well.<br>
>><br>>> Sean<br>>><br>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------<br>>><br>>> On Friday, June 24, 2011 08:14:01 pm Ron Frazier wrote:<br>>><br>>> > I've had some similar thoughts and concerns with my PC equipment, as<br>
>><br>>> > well as several fans and air cleaners, etc. that I have. Here are some<br>>><br>>> > things to consider.<br>>><br>>> ><br>>><br>>> > You may wish to consider budget billing, which will make your payment<br>
>><br>>> > the same each month. It won't reduce consumption though. If the<br>>><br>>> > budget amount is too low, and if the winter or summer is particularly<br>>><br>>> > harsh, you may get a big bill at the end of the year for any shortage.<br>
>><br>>> > However, in general, I like the same payment all the time concept.<br>>><br>>> ><br>>><br>>> > The Kill-a-Watt device was mentioned in the thread. I particularly<br>
>><br>>> > like the Kill-a-Watt EZ, available from Home Depot and others for<br>>><br>>> > about $30. It has a neat feature that can calculate the time a device<br>>><br>>> > has been on and show you accumulated energy usage, as well as<br>
>><br>>> > instantaneous usage.<br>>><br>>> ><br>>><br>>> > Here's how you can gauge the impact of running any device. Be<br>>><br>>> > especially wary of any device which runs 24 hours / day, as the<br>
>><br>>> > kilowatt-hours add up quickly. Here's what it would cost for each 100<br>>><br>>> > watts of consumption on a 24 hour / day basis. Using 100 W (or .1 KW)<br>>><br>>> > for 1 hour is .1 KWH or kilowatt-hours. The national average cost for<br>
>><br>>> > 1 KWH is about $ 0.10. So:<br>>><br>>> > .1 KW * 24 HR / Day * 30 Days / Month = 72 KWH / Month. 72 KWH / Month<br>>><br>>> > * $ 0.10 / KWH = $ 7.20 / Month to run a 100 W device all the time.<br>
>><br>>> > With electronic equipment, this can really add up. My laptops<br>>><br>>> > typically pull about 30 - 50 W of power, so they cost about $ 2 - 3 /<br>>><br>>> > Month to run all the time. My desktop, plus a couple of monitors (one<br>
>><br>>> > is my wife's), pull about 300 W, so running that all the time costs<br>>><br>>> > about $ 21 / Month. You can use this type of math to gauge what type<br>>><br>>> > of equipment you want to run and for how long. Those air cleaners I<br>
>><br>>> > mentioned pull about 50 W and so they cost about $ 3 / Month to run<br>>><br>>> > all the time.<br>>><br>>> ><br>>><br>>> > Sincerely,<br>>><br>
>> ><br>>><br>>> > Ron<br>>><br>>> ><br>>><br>>> > On 6/4/2011 12:30 PM, David Hillman wrote:<br>>><br>>> > > Our electric bill went up by $15 last month. Either Georgia Power is<br>
>><br>>> > > passing on some extra fees or we have to look at how we can use<br>>><br>>> > > electricity more efficiently. Right now we have 3 laptops and 4<br>>><br>>> > > desktops that are plugged in mostly all the time. One of the laptops<br>
>><br>>> > > (Macbook Pro) is usually plugged into a 21" NEC monitor pretty much<br>>><br>>> > > all the time. One of the desktops is a dual 604 pin Xeon server with<br>>><br>
>> > > 4 hard drives--that's our VM server. The other desktop is a P4<br>>><br>>> > > Prescott machine that acts as a security gateway appliance--it's<br>>><br>>> > > running Untangle 8. The last desktop is a Core 2 Duo 2.66 Ghz<br>
>><br>>> > > machine for general use and media serving. Is that too much.? I<br>>><br>>> > > was contemplating adding an old HP 4U server to the mix, but I<br>>><br>>> > > thought better of it. My latest trip to Fry's had me thinking<br>
>><br>>> > > about replacing all of the servers with some of those Mini-ITX<br>>><br>>> > > boards.<br>>><br>>> > ><br>>><br>>> > > However, some of the boards feel pretty cheap and the others have<br>
>><br>>> > > way<br>>><br>>> > ><br>>><br>>> > > more stuff than I need. Supermicro has a couple of dual Atom<br>>><br>>> > > Mini-ITX server boards, but they are pretty expensive. You get what<br>
>><br>>> > > you pay for with those boards, though.<br>>><br>>> > ><br>>><br>>> > > I was thinking it would be a good idea for someone to make a Mini-ITX<br>>><br>
>> > > server board with reconfigurable pin headers (future expansion), a<br>>><br>>> > > couple of USB ports, and maybe 5 or so PCI-E x1 slots. The PCI-E<br>>><br>>> > > slots can later be filled with a couple of LAN cards and a RAID card.<br>
>><br>>> > ><br>>><br>>> > > Some of the boards should have silent Atom chips and the others<br>>><br>>> > ><br>>><br>>> > > should have 775 sockets. There are a lot Core 2 Duo chips that could<br>
>><br>>> > > be reused for light server use. We have about 5 Dell machines in our<br>>><br>>> > > office with dead motherboards, but perfectly functioning C2D chips.<br>>><br>>> > ><br>
>><br>>> > > Even better, make them compatible with CoreBoot (LinuxBIOS).<br>>><br>>> > ><br>>><br>>> > > What do y'all think?<br>>><br>> <br></div>