How will you afford utilities if prices double or quadruple?

[RDenner(aka FeelingWeird)]

Reading a lot about utility prices going up, even without climate change legislation being pushed through. God forbid these measures are accepted and are piled on top of the obvious increase coming our way due to dollar decline and our inability to supply our own basic energy needs.

At what point do you stop paying your current utilities. I had a very rude wakeup call about 6 weeks ago. Had pushed the water bill PAST the last straw and after the kids had gone to school and I was doing some cleaning, I walk up to the kitchen sink and turn it on and NOTHING. I immediately understand the problem but pray that it isn't what I think it is. Sure enough I head outside and the water access panel by the street is painted red and the grass is gone from around it, they turned me off.

I sheepishly called the utility and they said that I needed to come up with 800 bucks to turn it back on. I seriously almost cried right there on the phone. It was a 450 dollar bill, and 200 bucks to turn it back on and a 200 buck deposit. I have no idea how she did it(she must have heard the desperation in my voice), but she was able to get me on a repayment schedule that only required me to pay 300 bucks for now, and then I was placed on a repayment schedule.

Long and short of this personal story is that I was without water for 36 hours. Apart from the embarassment of having to explain this to my wife, it was really freaking scary. My Berkey light water filter was almost empty(I keep it full now at all times) and I only had a 1/2 case of bottled water and that was it.

Had they demanded 800 bucks from me to turn it back on, it mine as well have been 8000 bucks at that point. I didn't have the money.

At what point do you just let the electric company turn you off? Is it twice your current bill, FOUR times? How about gas or water? These are private monopolies that can turn you off and you have to PROVE your hardship or your ability to repay. and in some cases they really don't give a fuck if you can pay in the near future. I called the electric company recently for the same problem. I owed them over 450 bucks and they were going to cut me off if I didn't come up with at least 295 or so. I didn't have it, but 2 weeks later my wife was going to get her first check. NO GO. I have paid them since I moved out of my home in 1989. For all those years I have had an account with them. Sure I pushed many times on my due date, even getting cut off once back in the 90's, but I always paid them. THEY WOULD NOT BUDGE.

The water company being a true public utility was able to work with me on a repayment schedule, but gas and electric DO NOT. You have to prove to them your case and in the mean time you are cut off if you don't pay.

At what point do you just let your house go dark and rely on a generator for a few hours of electricity a day? How about letting the nat gas get turned off in favor of 3 or 4 hours of propane provided heat from a refillable tank?

I am still a ways away, I think I could absorb a doubling of my current utility prices, but not triple and certainly not quadruple. These are no longer academic questions, they are serious question that will be answered by many(or are already being answered).

What about you..

Robert

[Diogenes]

Reading a lot about utility prices going up, even without climate change legislation being pushed through. God forbid these measures are accepted and are piled on top of the obvious increase coming our way due to dollar decline and our inability to supply our own basic energy needs.

At what point do you stop paying your current utilities. I had a very rude wakeup call about 6 weeks ago. Had pushed the water bill PAST the last straw and after the kids had gone to school and I was doing some cleaning, I walk up to the kitchen sink and turn it on and NOTHING. I immediately understand the problem but pray that it isn't what I think it is. Sure enough I head outside and the water access panel by the street is painted red and the grass is gone from around it, they turned me off.

I sheepishly called the utility and they said that I needed to come up with 800 bucks to turn it back on. I seriously almost cried right there on the phone. It was a 450 dollar bill, and 200 bucks to turn it back on and a 200 buck deposit. I have no idea how she did it(she must have heard the desperation in my voice), but she was able to get me on a repayment schedule that only required me to pay 300 bucks for now, and then I was placed on a repayment schedule.

Long and short of this personal story is that I was without water for 36 hours. Apart from the embarassment of having to explain this to my wife, it was really freaking scary. My Berkey light water filter was almost empty(I keep it full now at all times) and I only had a 1/2 case of bottled water and that was it.

Had they demanded 800 bucks from me to turn it back on, it mine as well have been 8000 bucks at that point. I didn't have the money.

At what point do you just let the electric company turn you off? Is it twice your current bill, FOUR times? How about gas or water? These are private monopolies that can turn you off and you have to PROVE your hardship or your ability to repay. and in some cases they really don't give a fuck if you can pay in the near future. I called the electric company recently for the same problem. I owed them over 450 bucks and they were going to cut me off if I didn't come up with at least 295 or so. I didn't have it, but 2 weeks later my wife was going to get her first check. NO GO. I have paid them since I moved out of my home in 1989. For all those years I have had an account with them. Sure I pushed many times on my due date, even getting cut off once back in the 90's, but I always paid them. THEY WOULD NOT BUDGE.

The water company being a true public utility was able to work with me on a repayment schedule, but gas and electric DO NOT. You have to prove to them your case and in the mean time you are cut off if you don't pay.

At what point do you just let your house go dark and rely on a generator for a few hours of electricity a day? How about letting the nat gas get turned off in favor of 3 or 4 hours of propane provided heat from a refillable tank?

I am still a ways away, I think I could absorb a doubling of my current utility prices, but not triple and certainly not quadruple. These are no longer academic questions, they are serious question that will be answered by many(or are already being answered).

What about you..

Robert

They used to have gas meters in England with coin slots, the gas ran as long as it was paid for, it ran out you popped in another shilling. We might just see a return to a similar system.

[Grower]

Wow. What a good question.

Living out in the country, my utility bills include phone, cable for the computer, and electric. I share garbage pickup with Dad. The electric is the only one that matters, of course. Still, we'd get by without it, uncomfortably. I've set up most of my doom preps on the basis of no electricity. The important parts include a hand pump on the well, a woodstove, and outdoor cooking gear (for summer). Lots of oil lamps and a 60-watt portable solar battery recharger kit so I can plug one or two things in, such as a computer, a lamp, a fan, and the like.

So I'm prepped for it, physically, but not mentally. I think part of prepping for these scenarios is getting our minds ready for it. We had electricity off for 3 days about 5 years ago, and by day 3 the darkness was really getting to me, more than anything else (it was December).

Do you guys know anybody making those decisions right now? Neighbors, family, friends? What can people do to help each other if it gets to be an epidemic? I wonder what communities will do? I mean, they can't just watch as house after house falls dark, can they? Hm. Well, I guess Detroit did. I was thinking more small-scale, like towns.

I just don't know. Utilities aren't like eating out, where you can simply stop doing it. I suppose I'd cut off one thing at a time. Cable first (ack!), then phone, before electricity. Make use of food preps as able. Try to cut WAY back on usage. The little fridge in the basement would go, turn the thermostat down to 60 and keep the wood burner going. Dry clothes on lines and drying racks by the stove. Keep the lights off as much as possible. I remember my grandmother only EVER kept one lamp on at night in the whole house, in the room where she was sitting. Just frugal.

I'll be interested in reading replies.

[lynnie]

We are going to have two (or three) generations in a home, just like much of the world, and by home I mean a typical home and not some huge luxury. Heat to 50-55 in winter and switch from AC to fans in summer.

I don't know your situation and true hardships do exist, but utilities are a business and most of the folks I know who "can't pay" manage to buy beer and ciggies and lottery tickets and rent movies just fine. My sympathy is with the utilities for the most part anymore.

[RDenner(aka FeelingWeird)]

Cable and phone are going out the door for us at the end of the month. Keeping internet and cell phones. 2 cell phones are about 65 bucks and can be cut further as I can do without one now. We bought a newer Vizio biggish screen TV back last year with this thought in mind. We are running our PC(actually typing on a 42 inch LCD screen ) through out TV. I have a TV capture card to pull the digital signal from the air(and can use the PC as a DVR) and we run HULU.com and TVSHACK.net for movies and reruns of TV shows. To be honest we don't watch as much as we used to, but this is really a good way to keep entertained when you are sick of reading and you have nothing else to do.

That will save another 85 bucks a month. I am trying seriously to cut our electric by 50% this winter so that when the inevitable doubling of rates comes(and then trebling) I can more easily absorb it, but at about 250 a month we will have to probably stop paying it in our current situation.(right now we are about 1/3rd that amount and trying to get it lower).

I am having problems FORCING myself to do the really shitty stuff that I know needs to be done now while its a choice.

Got to go, finish my thoughts later

Robert

Wow. What a good question.

Living out in the country, my utility bills include phone, cable for the computer, and electric. I share garbage pickup with Dad. The electric is the only one that matters, of course. Still, we'd get by without it, uncomfortably. I've set up most of my doom preps on the basis of no electricity. The important parts include a hand pump on the well, a woodstove, and outdoor cooking gear (for summer). Lots of oil lamps and a 60-watt portable solar battery recharger kit so I can plug one or two things in, such as a computer, a lamp, a fan, and the like.

So I'm prepped for it, physically, but not mentally. I think part of prepping for these scenarios is getting our minds ready for it. We had electricity off for 3 days about 5 years ago, and by day 3 the darkness was really getting to me, more than anything else (it was December).

Do you guys know anybody making those decisions right now? Neighbors, family, friends? What can people do to help each other if it gets to be an epidemic? I wonder what communities will do? I mean, they can't just watch as house after house falls dark, can they? Hm. Well, I guess Detroit did. I was thinking more small-scale, like towns.

I just don't know. Utilities aren't like eating out, where you can simply stop doing it. I suppose I'd cut off one thing at a time. Cable first (ack!), then phone, before electricity. Make use of food preps as able. Try to cut WAY back on usage. The little fridge in the basement would go, turn the thermostat down to 60 and keep the wood burner going. Dry clothes on lines and drying racks by the stove. Keep the lights off as much as possible. I remember my grandmother only EVER kept one lamp on at night in the whole house, in the room where she was sitting. Just frugal.

I'll be interested in reading replies.

[SabreKai]

In order for me to have problems with paying the utillities, I'd have to be unemployed. So far thats not happening. If it did, I'd start by disconnecting the satelite tv, the internet and my phone. I'd stop spending money on anything that wasn't purely survival related. I'd kill of my credit card so I wouldnt be spending on that and paying for the priviledge. I'd close off my LOC for the same reason.

Basicly I'd pull back into my shell and wait for summer. Then I'd flog my house and go live on the boat. End of utility bills.


Sabre
8 days n a wake up

[Chesyre]

cut off enough peoples utilities and you won't need to be worrying about no EMP. chainsaws , huntin rifles and ragespite will shut down the grid

[onemintomidnight]

Reading a lot about utility prices going up, even without climate change legislation being pushed through. God forbid these measures are accepted and are piled on top of the obvious increase coming our way due to dollar decline and our inability to supply our own basic energy needs.

At what point do you stop paying your current utilities. I had a very rude wakeup call about 6 weeks ago. Had pushed the water bill PAST the last straw and after the kids had gone to school and I was doing some cleaning, I walk up to the kitchen sink and turn it on and NOTHING. I immediately understand the problem but pray that it isn't what I think it is. Sure enough I head outside and the water access panel by the street is painted red and the grass is gone from around it, they turned me off.

I sheepishly called the utility and they said that I needed to come up with 800 bucks to turn it back on. I seriously almost cried right there on the phone. It was a 450 dollar bill, and 200 bucks to turn it back on and a 200 buck deposit. I have no idea how she did it(she must have heard the desperation in my voice), but she was able to get me on a repayment schedule that only required me to pay 300 bucks for now, and then I was placed on a repayment schedule.

Long and short of this personal story is that I was without water for 36 hours. Apart from the embarassment of having to explain this to my wife, it was really freaking scary. My Berkey light water filter was almost empty(I keep it full now at all times) and I only had a 1/2 case of bottled water and that was it.

Had they demanded 800 bucks from me to turn it back on, it mine as well have been 8000 bucks at that point. I didn't have the money.

At what point do you just let the electric company turn you off? Is it twice your current bill, FOUR times? How about gas or water? These are private monopolies that can turn you off and you have to PROVE your hardship or your ability to repay. and in some cases they really don't give a fuck if you can pay in the near future. I called the electric company recently for the same problem. I owed them over 450 bucks and they were going to cut me off if I didn't come up with at least 295 or so. I didn't have it, but 2 weeks later my wife was going to get her first check. NO GO. I have paid them since I moved out of my home in 1989. For all those years I have had an account with them. Sure I pushed many times on my due date, even getting cut off once back in the 90's, but I always paid them. THEY WOULD NOT BUDGE.

The water company being a true public utility was able to work with me on a repayment schedule, but gas and electric DO NOT. You have to prove to them your case and in the mean time you are cut off if you don't pay.

At what point do you just let your house go dark and rely on a generator for a few hours of electricity a day? How about letting the nat gas get turned off in favor of 3 or 4 hours of propane provided heat from a refillable tank?

I am still a ways away, I think I could absorb a doubling of my current utility prices, but not triple and certainly not quadruple. These are no longer academic questions, they are serious question that will be answered by many(or are already being answered).

What about you..

Robert

Just out of curiosity, how do you expect to handle paying the utilities when they double when it looks like your barely hanging on as it is. or are you rolling the dice they go belly up and forget you bill by chance?

[n0c0sm0s]

I had moved from Vegas to Henderson about 3 weeks before I was laid off.  How did I handle the utilities?  I didn't.  The electricity was off even before I was evicted.  I'm staying with a friend for the time being.  Unemployment wasn't even close to cutting it in terms of paying rent/utils, carp payment/insurance etc.  I was sitting in my living room when the lights went out.  Charged my cheap cell phone (Cricket - $45 a month for unlimited everything) and called some friends to find a place to live.

[Wishful]

Cutting back is a great strategy but that can only take one so far.  Some things can go, like cable, etc. but most of the cities around here mandate that you have trash and sewer service.  If you do not pay it, they put a lein on your house - you have no say in the matter. 

I was checking out Craigslist and came across this solar system for about $5,500 http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/mat/1479955918.html.
I dont know anything about the company or details really, but this may be a nice alternative to shoot for at a reasonable price if it is legitimate.  It is listed on So Cal website but sounds like it originated in HI.

Snippet:

The kit includes:
a) Our patent pending Ready2Go power system with 2400W output inverter and 2.6kw (220 amp hours) storage capacity, using AGM maintenance-free batteries. We also have a 2000 watt version with pure sine wave and an outdoor version 2400w pure sine wave inverter… all systems still for under $6,000.
b) Solar array of with a set of four 130 watt Kyocera panels. These panels are 25.7” x 56.1” each and we provide four of them.
c) 12 volt charge controller
d) One roof mounting kit.
This is everything you need to get going on a real solar powered system. If you are comparing systems. We provide 2.6 kilowatt of storage and enough panels to charge the system in one day.
Most importantly, since the Ready2Go is a self-contained unit IT DOES NOT REQUIRE AN ELECTRICIAN TO INSTALL. This is a significant savings on its own. Also since the panels are direct current they too do not require a licensed electrician to install if you choose to install them yourself. However we do have licensed electricians that we work with should you choose to have them install your system.
Don’t confuse this with the boxed set you find at Costco or Home Depot, which will only charge your cellular phone or keep power to your laptop. This offer is not offered on our website or on the mainland yet, so please call if you would like more details.

[kmaine2]

First Robert, I would recommend reading Sharon Astyk. She has some great insight and adaptive strategies for such occasions.
http://sharonastyk.com/2009/08/27/thinking-differently-about-heating-and-cooling/
http://sharonastyk.com/2009/08/13/let-there-be-light/


Second, 250.00 seems like a crazy amount of money for an electric bill.  We are a family of 4 and ours was 30.00 last month.

Is every light bulb a CFL? They save a ton of money. Are your electronics on power strips? Are you minimizing phantom load? is your freezer full? if it isn't fill milk jugs with water. A full freezer and fridge are more efficient and this also gives you stored water in an emergency.

That new TV is an electricity Hog. If you have a smaller one you can use and save the big one for family movie night and the big game.

As for water, do you have water saver aerators on your faucets. Can you limit shower times, or the amount of showers taken, are you using your hose for your garden or could you do some water catchment for it?

I knew a guy who moved to Maine over 30 years ago to homestead. He told me that when he first came here rural areas did not have electricty. When it finally came he would drive by homes and see one light on so that the old timah's could read at night.

just some suggestions....

[pamplemousse]

Good lord Robert, I think onemintomidnight has it right.  Forget when the utilities double or triple, it's NOW, baby.

As I recall, you were considering some very drastic moves for keeping your house warm last winter.  And the situation hasn't improved any, it appears.

We need to get you a comprehensive plan to seriously scale back on the utility usage and help you meet your repayment schedule.

Here's my opening frugal shots:
The water to my upstairs toilet is turned off.  If you want to flush, you have to use the leftover bath/shower water, a bucket, and force flush.  I do this for three months, and it saves me $120-$140 annually.

If I had to cut the electric bill, I'd do a better job of turning off and unplugging all appliances that are not in use, like the computers.

If my house is cool, not cold, I make sure to bake dinner, or a loaf of no-knead bread.

Every little bit.

[AreWeThereYet]

Are you sure you don't have a leak ?  $450 water bill ?
My bill is typically $15-$16.00 per month for 3000 gallons.

Is water that expensive by you ?  If so then you have bigger problems then if the electricity goes out.

[cjr]

General bit of advice. Save some money for emergencies by cutting out unnecessary purchases like bottled water and pop. Totally worthless products that must go first as we power down

[Big Scotsman]

Robert.

I'm just curious.  Do you have a back up plan if things really get bad?

Do you have any friends or family that live in the country if TS(Really)HTF.

We are pretty set as we've got a place with a well, backup generators, gardens, chickens, steers, and milking goats, yet I still have several backup and bug out plans. 

It may not hurt to to research what you may have to do to the hell out of dodge.

Great post by the way, I'm sure that will get a lot of people thinking.