Enmax fixed vs. floating rates...

[BigNumbers]

Well that hurt… guess running the hot tub and electric garage heaters cost some money…

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

Well that hurt… guess running the hot tub and electric garage heaters cost some money…

I received my email today too and it looks the same. Stupid electric heater in the garage sucks a lot of juice when it gets cold. You are kicking ass when it comes to gas usage though. Well below "efficient" homes.

[Sylvanfan]

I'm one of those idiots who has floating rates.

I ran some numbers over the past two years. In 2020 I was working in the office for the first 3 months, and have been work from home since.

2020 I used a total of 17964kwH of Electricity at an average price of 7.05 cents per kwH. Delivery charges for the year were $1644.90. Average bill was $254.82

2021 The total usage came down to 17740 despite being WFH all year, but the cos per kwH went up to 10.32 cents per kwH and Delivery charges were $1704.56. Average Bill was $309.83.

I do notice that in February and March I used about 150kwH extra those two months in 2021 than I had in 2020 working from the office. Even at 25 cents per kwH...I'd burn that much in 3 days driving to and from work. January was not a good comparable as my 2020 bill had 9 extra days in the Billing cycle vis 2021.

I would expect that prices will normalize a bit in the coming months, but certainly worth looking into fixing rates if you can get in the 7.5 cent range. In that time frame lowest per kwH price was 5.77 per kwH, and highest was 15.14. Median splits from 8.27 in month 12 to 8.61 in Month 13. Average is 8.69 per kwH. These last 6 months have certainly pulled things up. In the 18 prior to this the avg cost was 7.5 per kwH.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

I'm one of those idiots who has floating rates.

I don't think that makes you an idiot. I was on floating rates until October of last year. If anything you've given back some of the savings you realized in years prior.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I received my email today too and it looks the same. Stupid electric heater in the garage sucks a lot of juice when it gets cold. You are kicking ass when it comes to gas usage though. Well below "efficient" homes.

At nearly 4000 kWh of electricity consumption though (assuming that's for 30 or 31 days), there might not be much need for NG heating with all that potential waste heat from electrical devices/appliances.

[Wormius]

We’re up almost $200 this bill from last month. Guess I’ll be going back to the office to use all of their utilities.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

I don't think that makes you an idiot. I was on floating rates until October of last year. If anything you've given back some of the savings you realized in years prior.

I haven’t seen a floating rate compared to my fixed atco rate the last 3 years where you would have saved any money.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I haven’t seen a floating rate compared to my fixed atco rate the last 3 years where you would have saved any money.

Gas not so much.

Electricity 100% you saved money over RRO.

[OptimalTates]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

I don't think that makes you an idiot. I was on floating rates until October of last year. If anything you've given back some of the savings you realized in years prior.

Certainly depends when you locked in. Some people are still on sub 6 cents with ENMAX. I'm at 6.25.

https://ucahelps.alberta.ca/historic-rates.aspx

Over the last 2 years there's only been 4 months (April, May, June, and November 2020) where it was lower with the lowest being 5.4. The other 20 months, including almost all of the higher usage months, were higher. January 2022 it was 15.2.

Chart says 23-month average was 8.27 for regulated rate. Not weighted so for someone like me who doesn't have AC my summer usage is a lot lower. I'm quickly guesstimating I probably saved about 50% on actual electricity price. Which works out to be about 0.0000000000000000000000000001% difference factoring in everything else on the bill.

[Ahuch]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Gas not so much.

Electricity 100% you saved money over RRO.

Pretty much this. With that said, I'm pretty sure I pay more on my gas bill than I should but I have that sweet, sweet satisfaction of never giving a penny to Direct Energy Regulated Services ever again.

I had to update my address with them like 5 times and they still send weird mail to my old address sometimes, like CCs expiring and stuff. Pretty sure they aren't investing any money into their billing systems

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Wormius

We’re up almost $200 this bill from last month. Guess I’ll be going back to the office to use all of their utilities.

Slight tangent here but on this topic, has anyone who has been WFH had their employer partially compensate them for the increase in costs? I understand there is the tax writeoff portion and I suppose there is savings from not having to commute so maybe most companies justify it that way. My employer provided us with equipment (monitors and maybe a laptop) but no direct compensation to pay for the increased cost at home.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Slight tangent here but on this topic, has anyone who has been WFH had their employer partially compensate them for the increase in costs? I understand there is the tax writeoff portion and I suppose there is savings from not having to commute so maybe most companies justify it that way. My employer provided us with equipment (monitors and maybe a laptop) but no direct compensation to pay for the increased cost at home.

I found that I was better off using the $400 a year. Essentially the Den/Office that I use is like 5% of the square footage in my house. If I add a bathroom and the egress way to the Bathroom that it goes up to around 10. So with 10% of my bill, than factor in that I'm only doing 40 hours a week out of 168 for work...that's 2.5% of the utlity costs that I can attribute to working from home, which for me worked out to $123 on the year.

My company basically told our staff you still have a job and you didn't have to drive to work...you're winning.

As I stated earlier I noticed up to 150kwH bump per month which also was impacted at times by having two kids also doing online school. Heating really was unchanged.

[The Fisher Account]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

My company basically told our staff you still have a job and you didn't have to drive to work...you're winning.
.

Exactly

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Slight tangent here but on this topic, has anyone who has been WFH had their employer partially compensate them for the increase in costs? I understand there is the tax writeoff portion and I suppose there is savings from not having to commute so maybe most companies justify it that way. My employer provided us with equipment (monitors and maybe a laptop) but no direct compensation to pay for the increased cost at home.

You might have a stronger argument if your employer keeps you working from home once the WFH mandate is lifted as many are anticipating.

[Canadianman]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Slight tangent here but on this topic, has anyone who has been WFH had their employer partially compensate them for the increase in costs? I understand there is the tax writeoff portion and I suppose there is savings from not having to commute so maybe most companies justify it that way. My employer provided us with equipment (monitors and maybe a laptop) but no direct compensation to pay for the increased cost at home.

No, but that's because you likely saved a LOT more working from home than it cost you.

[flamesrule_kipper34]

Just a general question but we're about to move back to Calgary (won't have an existing service provider for electricity and nat gas). What are the best rates to get and/or where best to do some 'rate shopping'?

Any thoughts?

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by flamesrule_kipper34

Just a general question but we're about to move back to Calgary (won't have an existing service provider for electricity and nat gas). What are the best rates to get and/or where best to do some 'rate shopping'?

Any thoughts?

https://ucahelps.alberta.ca/

Or just use Enmax for both.

[RichieRich]

Originally Posted by flamesrule_kipper34

Just a general question but we're about to move back to Calgary (won't have an existing service provider for electricity and nat gas). What are the best rates to get and/or where best to do some 'rate shopping'?

Any thoughts?

General consensus on CP is to avoid Direct Energy

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

General consensus on CP is to avoid Direct Energy

They are nothing more than a middle-man that is prone to screwing up bills and their customer service is unable and or/unwilling to help when you have billing issues. Only recommend them to people you hate.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

Well that hurt… guess running the hot tub and electric garage heaters cost some money…

8 years ago I did the math on gas vs electric heaters for the garage - breakeven was 3-4 years to put in gas over electricity.