Notification – Your CON EDISON bill has arrived

My latest optimization project has been the electric bill. I bought some of the new breed fluorescent lights for the kitchen, they have a nice soft light and don’t seem to flicker as much as the standard office kind. They put out the same light as a 65 watt incandescent (regular) bulb, but only use like 12 watts each. As much as it annoys me to do, I’ve been putting the computer to stand-by at night. Consumption went from 421 KWH last month to 399, but my bill went up by $20. 

A bill from CON EDISON has arrived. 
Billing Details
 Payee Information
 
Current balance: $119.28
Minimum payment: $119.28
Due by: 12/30/2005
Payment option: Manual
 Payee: CON EDISON
  
Receive, review, pay, and organize all your bills online.
http://www.paytrust.com

Am I the only one surprised by this? I knew that heating oil prices would be up this winter, but I hadn’t read anything about electricity going up. My landlord pays the heating bill, so I’m sure I’ll see that reflected in next year’s rent negotiations.

I know I probably read too much Paul Krugman, but I am definitely one of those working people who feel like supposed positive economic trends do not seem to trickling down into my checking account. There seem to be a lot of these little attack vectors that while each are small are having a significant net-effect on my balance sheet.

Oh, btw, I use this service called Paytrust, which is a deluxe third party bill pay service. My bills actually get sent to their address in South Dakota and they scan and OCR them. I can do all sorts of fancy things with it from there, and it is all online, so I get almost no bills in my mailbox at home and can receive and pay them from wherever I happen to be. Recommended.