From the Mayor
William Acee
Update on electric bills
This month and most likely next month you will notice very high electric bills.
There are two main factors. First there were many cold and windy days in the
last billing cycle. Cold weather results in more electricity being used on heat.
This happens every year in the heating season. The second factor is that when
heat usage is high it pushes us to purchase additional electricity from the
market; this is over our contracted allocation of low cost hydroelectricity. At a
time when more and more people are choosing electricity as their preferred
energy it puts added pressure on the market price, natural gas is used to
generate the power for the market priced electricity thus pushing the
wholesale price higher. So when we purchase supplemental power over our
base allocation it is more expensive. Simple supply and demand. This year
was worse because it was colder, and demand for natural gas is higher,
Here are some practical tips and info that can help you with reducing your
costs. First, it’s important to note our billing cycle is from the 15th to the 15th of
the month. A comparison to this month’s electric rates is the equivalent of
fuel oil at $3.69. Check our WEB site for our energy efficiency rebates.
Tightening up a leaky house can save money on energy. Weather stripping
around leaky doors along with good insulation can be a huge help. Windy days
can really raise your heating bill. We continue to offer energy audits as part of
our energy efficiency program and those details are on our WEB site. During
the energy crisis of the 1970’s there was an expression; “find the holes and
plug ‘em”.
Personally, my son Jeff keeps turning my heat up and I keep handing him a
hoody. I also used some weather stripping around some leaky doors and that
reduced the air infiltration. Also, I only heat the living space that I am using on
a room by room basis, so I can maximize the heat. I keep the rest of my house
at a lower temperature. I hope this helps but as always call the village with
questions and we will help where we can.