Re: What do I need to conserve power on my old Linux box?

On Wed, 01 Nov 2006, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.hardware, in article
<0onn14-j22.ln1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, John-Paul Stewart wrote:

It could still cost more than that...the above was just a best-guess
estimate. I took a quick look at the SCE website but couldn't find any
definitive rate information, just a lot of complex rate tiers. So your
actual cost could be more or less than that. (Good luck deciphering
your electric bill, though! If it's as hard to follow as the SCE
website, you may never know!)

In the US, electrical rates (among others) are "set" by the individual
states (usually something named approximately "Public Utilities Commission").
The idea is that the state is protecting the public from the monopoly of
the utilities companies, while at the same time seeing that those companies
get a "reasonable" price for their product. The companies propose various
rates, and the state agency may (or may not) approve them. Some people like
the idea, some don't.

The rate plans always seem to include a base fee, and then the fee for the
power used. This might be a flat fee per KWH, a progressive fee (increasing
or decreasing) as a function of KWH, a "time-of-day" fee, or many other
combinations. These different plans can make a _very_ significant difference
in the total cost to the consumer, and if your utility company offers a
choice, you really should look at them, and run "what if" calculations to
see which plan is best for you. One size does NOT fit all.

As an example of the complexity, the "Combined Advantage" plan I'm using
with APS makes 7 calculations (there are actually 19 costs, but they lump
into these seven) to come up with the final bill:

Total KWH 0.028407 $/KWH
On Peak (09:00 - 21:00 Mon-Fri) 0.03113 $/KWH
Off Peak (other times) 0.01020 $/KWH
Peak Demand 11.81 / KW of maximum use hour
Daily fee 0.493 $/day
Monthly fee 0.35 $/month
Taxes 11.45% of sum of above

Then to make life more interesting, the rates are different between summer
and winter. The above are the "summer" rate.

Around here (province of Ontario in Canada), residential electricity
rates are regulated at 5.5 to 6.4 cents per kWh.

Set by the provincial authorities, or national?

So your equipment could cost me as much as $15.58 CAD (approx. $14 USD)
per month.

At "last kilowatt" costs, it would be US$17.12 added to my (summer) monthly
bill. Winter costs would be lower - perhaps US$12.37, but that's a wild
guess as they increased the rates in May of this year, and I haven't seen
a winter rate bill yet. This ignores the difference in heating/cooling costs
that this 338 watt heater (equivalent) is adding.

IOW, electricity rates *will* vary from the estimate I provided earlier,
but not by an order of magnitude.

Order of magnitude (10:1) - no, but they can vary quite a bit. The last
time the local power company showed me the comparative costs, choosing the
"wrong" rate plan could increase my annual electrical costs by 70%. That
gets your attention.

Old guy
.

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