Times of Use - HYDRO

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Zakk

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I'm not sure how many of you are about to be raped by the new 'time of use' increases, but I was just on the phone with London Hydro, and based on my usage from the last 12 months, my monthly bill will likely be $600-$700 per month during the summer months this year.  That's insane.

Okay, I have a pool, a hot tub, 4 wasteful kids and a wife who gets all lost looking when I explain that a light switch has both 'ON' and 'OFF' functions. 



So tank wise, according to them it was hard to plot what difference my LED lighting made to the cost to run the tank, as it was summer and the usage is all over the map (depending on daily temps I guess). 

ANYWAY.  During the summer, they jack the rates through the roof from 11am-5pm, then higher than it is now from 7am-11am and 5pm-7pm.  So what might be a solution to running a tank?  I can kill things like dosers, phosban reactors etc, but lighting?  How messed up is it to run tank lighting from 7pm-7am?

Since I pay utilities at all my income properties, I stand to be absolutely, royally screwed this year.  Who knows, I may have to give up the hobby.

So thoughts from anyone?  I know some of you are going to be affected too.

**posted in the general reef section since tanks are fairly high-draw items**
 
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Gietz

Guest
holy shit that BS, lucky i dont pay Hydro lol and plus one on Neo comment solar panel and in 10 years have them pay you!
 
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Zakk

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I can't run this place on solar. 

8 TV's
salt tank
fish tank
lizard tank
freezer
2 fridges
ice machine
6 computers
hot tub
pool
lights lights and more lights
4 kids, 2 adults.


I went to the city about putting in a windmill of some kind, since I live on a big slope that gets hurricane winds, but 'nope' it's an eyesore (!).  If I didn't think I'd go all mad max weird, I would move to the goddamn country!!
 

Petercar (RIP Dec 2017)

Distinguished Member
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Location
Sarnia, Ontario
Even if yu put up those big solar panels yu still can use it for your own hydro ....I see some farms have windmills. But they do shit out every once in a while ...so there's not really any option to havee another way to get hydro
 
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phi delt reefer

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My tank lights dont come on till 7pm just so i can save a.few bucks.

I would change all the rental agreements to now make renter pay utilities, drop.the cost of.rent obviously.


In the mean time u can install thermostats that maintain a certain temp throughout the year to prevent renters.from over cooling the place.

U need to sit down with your family and start working together on an electrical plan. Time of use is just the start man. We only pay for half of our water costs, the other half is subsidized. That will change as well trust me. Sell all but two tvs. Sell the hot tub. Look into turning thag pool into a skatepark.
 
Z

Zakk

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phi delt reefer link said:
My tank lights dont come on till 7pm just so i can save a.few bucks.

I would change all the rental agreements to now make renter pay utilities, drop.the cost of.rent obviously.


In the mean time u can install thermostats that maintain a certain temp throughout the year to prevent renters.from over cooling the place.

U need to sit down with your family and start working together on an electrical plan. Time of use is just the start man. We only pay for half of our water costs, the other half is subsidized. That will change as well trust me. Sell all but two tvs. Sell the hot tub. Look into turning thag pool into a skatepark.

I am comparing my overall tax/expense lists with those of my family in Texas.  I'm paying probably 40% more in BS to live 'in this great country' than I would down there.  New increases (oh sorry, time of use) and taxes (oh sorry sewer surcharges) and outright bullsh*t (oh sorry, debt repayment charges), are making it hard to live here.  I can't stand it.  The HST/GST bill I pay every year is more than most families make in total, and I sure am not seeing any of that in benefits of any kind (hell there aren't any doctors here, they all left for the states!  I don't have a family doctor!!!). 

Ooops, ranting, sorry, you can see that I've been doing my 2012 budgets/projections lately.
 
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Zakk

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Ooops, maybe I did post this in the wrong spot... didn't know I was so worked up :)



I wonder what my neighbours will think if I run my tank 7pm-7am?  Would I have to black out the room during the day or risk messing up whatever schedule these things like to have as regular?
 

Darryl_V

Super Active Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2011
Location
Woodstock, Ontario
The way I see it is if you paid more in taxes than most families make in a year....well you made a hell of a lot more money than most families make in a year.  Something to complain about.......hmmm

And like I mentioned my tank runs about $30-$40 a month in electricity.  Im sure yours is the same or less.....probably less.  The pool, the hot tub....the 6 computers the 8 t.v.'s the 4 kids etc etc probably all cost more in electricity.......so to look at a $600 electricity bill and blame it on your saltwater tank is a little confusing to me. 

P.S. I suggest getting rid of the kids to lower your hydro.

:)
 
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Zakk

Guest
Darryl_V link said:
The way I see it is if you paid more in taxes than most families make in a year....well you made a hell of a lot more money than most families make in a year.  Something to complain about.......hmmm

And like I mentioned my tank runs about $30-$40 a month in electricity.  Im sure yours is the same or less.....probably less.  The pool, the hot tub....the 6 computers the 8 t.v.'s the 4 kids etc etc probably all cost more in electricity.......so to look at a $600 electricity bill and blame it on your saltwater tank is a little confusing to me. 

P.S. I suggest getting rid of the kids to lower your hydro.

:)

no no no, not blaming the tank at all (or I wouldn't have mentioned all the other hydro-suckers).  I can adjust all the other things, sorta, but how to minimize the impact of the tank is the question.  I'm going to have to put the kill-a-watt back on the tank now that pretty much everything is running on it and see what it will actually cost me if I run it full out during the 'peak' period,

Oh and as for income... that's a mixed bag.  I gross maybe half a million every year, with my wife and my own income, and the income of my rental company.  What we NET is almost a criminal fraction of that.  The rental company is a deferred profit company, meaning all profit goes back into the business.  Someday I will have to extract that (and pay income tax AND capital gains tax).  What I'm saying is that my cost of doing business is increasing WAY faster than inflation... criminally high to be honest.  When you look at my hydro bill of 5 years ago (~$250 per month) and what it might be this summer (~$650), and then take that percentage increase and multiply it over all my properties, it REALLY hurts.  So I'm just going down the list and looking at everything that takes hydro.... the tank is on the list, and this is a group that perhaps is unaware about how much of an increase some of them may be in for...and what we can do to help counteract it. 

Our plan is to move to texas and away from this socialist economy.  Every dollar they claw away from me delays the move... but that's another story.  ;D



*** edit... I looked at the amount I had to pay in HST, and then at the average canadian household income.... okay I didn't pay that much :)
 

Darryl_V

Super Active Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2011
Location
Woodstock, Ontario
The sign of a socialist country......I think not.
CANADA-CORPORATE-TAX-RATE.jpg
 
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Zakk

Guest
Darryl_V link said:
The sign of a socialist country......I think not.
CANADA-CORPORATE-TAX-RATE.jpg

Fair enough, except that doesn't take into consideration a few things.  The downloading of costs, fees, tarrifs and other 'cost of doing business' to those same corporations.  Back in 1960 gas was what, 3 cents a gallon, and nobody ever thought of turning off a light bulb.  ALSO, there could be changes to the provincial tax rate that may coincide with that same graph.  I think you can agree that many corporations find it too expensive to do business here, and they leave.  I plan to do the same thing.  It's not a 'one graph to bind them all' kind of economy any more.  So you figure in my corporate tax rate, then my provincial tax rate, then this whole new HST/GST bullshit, and on top of all that...they want to charge me for fixing infrastructure (which last time I checked would have been included in my property taxes)...and suddenly it becomes almost impossible to make a living, or it sure makes it less worth my while to risk my financial future by investing any more in Canada. 

As for my personal distaste for 'socialism'...if I want to spend extra to get ahead of the crack whore in the emergency room, I should be able to.  ;D
 

Blob-79

Super Active Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2017
Location
Tillsonburg
Zakk link said:
...if I want to spend extra to get ahead of the crack whore in the emergency room, I should be able to.  ;D

ya and what about the single mother who works her ass off making minimum wage just to survive thats in line just after the crack whore...who cares about her right. :?
 
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Zakk

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Blob-79 link said:
[quote author=Zakk link=topic=2200.msg17175#msg17175 date=1329877059]
...if I want to spend extra to get ahead of the crack whore in the emergency room, I should be able to.  ;D

ya and what about the single mother who works her ass off making minimum wage just to survive thats in line just after the crack whore...who cares about her right. :?
[/quote]

She shouldn't have screwed that guy after the bar, and she maybe should have stayed in school.  ;)
 
Z

Zakk

Guest
Blob-79 link said:
thats just disturbing.....ur one of those guys that hates obama arent u

No idea.  I'm actually one of those head in the sand kind of guys...no news, no radio, no newspapers...nada.  I only know what changes happen to my bottom line every year... well that and the 15 years my wife and I worked at a hospital. 

I actually am totally unpolitical, unreligious but unfortunately opinionated.  I don't know anything about Obama, and I would have to google it to find out who the prime minister of canada is.  **it's Steven Harper, I guess I did know that**

However, I do think that if you escape the system, you can do very well.... except I haven't been able to figure out how to do that and still use hydro.  ;D


***edit  I did not, however, know that S. Harper has been prime minister since 2006!!  Holy cow... Whatever happened to Chrétien?? Man time flies when you don't care who's in charge. 
 
Z

Zakk

Guest
Blob-79 link said:
wtf is S. Harper? lol

atta boy.  ;D  I'm going to start a head in the sand club. 


Unfortunately it will likely be in texas, and there is that trouble with fire ants and all...
 
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