Inflation

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Mar 8, 2022 11:48:04 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Residents around here keep asking why our utility company doesn’t start burying the lines. The utility company said it will be very expensive. After the latest fiasco last month when about 1/3 of the area lost power for days, it came up again. Now the utility company is saying that individual homeowners can pay to bury the lines coming to their house, but they’ll still have outages because it has to come out to attach to the closest pole. IIRC, it will cost at least $5k for an individual homeowner to bury their power lines.

Ours are underground in this neighborhood. We’ve lost power twice since we’ve been here. Once for about 5 minutes, and once for about 30 minutes. It wasn’t storming either time. At my other house, it seemed like the power went out every time the wind blew even a little.

i've been wondering about that for decades!

[TheOtherMe]

Mar 8, 2022 10:31:50 GMT -5 bean29 said:

Mar 7, 2022 18:32:16 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I'm quite fine with paying higher gas prices when I think of what is happening in Ukraine.  I am not worrying every second if my house will be bombed today.

NIL realized yesterday not only will she likely never see her childhood home again, Odesa will have bombed out buildings and not look at all like where she grew up.  

Her mother fled with only one suitcase.  That was all that was allowed on the bus she took to Moldova.  Her father is being sent to Moldova by his work because he is ill.  NIL has not been told what his illness is but said they will have to figure out whatever treatment he needs without him going to Ukraine.  He is over 65 but it isn't safe for him to go there and his regular doctors may have fled or no longer have a building.  

My daughter's co-worker that I thought was from Ukraine, is actually from Moldova.  She is there right now because (her father) has heart problems.  DD said she will be there until sometime in April.  I am thinking Moldova must be getting quite crowded.  All the TV coverage seems to be about the refugees in Poland.  Did NIL's mother make it to Moldova?  Do they expect to stay there, or might they get to the US or Canada?  I am sure your NIL would feel better if her parents were close by. 

NIL's grandma and mother were born in Moldova.  Her mother is staying at a hotel in Moldova and plans to go to Romania if things get bad in Moldova.  She wants to stay close because Grandma refused to leave her home.  I totally understand that.

I don't know if the daughter in the US or the daughter in Canada are trying to get them here.  I do know DN1 said their place is much too small for them to stay there for more than a few days.  It definitely is.  

Her mother has an entitled air about her and she has been ordering new clothes sent to the hotel since she couldn't bring much.  She also needs to be entertained.  The last visit to the two daughters didn't go well because she kept expecting each daughter to just take a day off and do something like drive her to Minneapolis shopping.  

They both have jobs and they can't do that.  So when it would get to be too much, they would put her on a bus and send her to the other one.  Can't do that now that they are not in the same country.

[TheOtherMe]

I paid $3.79 a gallon for gas today.  I like that our small town full service station charges the same amount as the self service stations.

[bookkeeper]

Mar 7, 2022 8:18:45 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Mar 6, 2022 20:48:00 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

We filled up Saturday. The station attendant said they raised prices twice that day and it wasn't even noon yet. I thought that was bs. They didn't get two deliveries in that time frame.

I once asked a station attendant why they were out there changing the price when they hadn't had a delivery.  They said they get a call from someone On High when prices need to be changed and they do what they're told.  I agree- BS.  I'm sure that the new prices are HIGHER than the average cost of what's in the tanks than LOWER.

This is profit taking pure and simple.  Part of a supply and demand capitalistic society.  The energy industry gets to take their turn.

[Opti]

Mar 8, 2022 17:13:05 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I paid $3.79 a gallon for gas today.  I like that our small town full service station charges the same amount as the self service stations.

Lucky. Yesterday it appeared regular was now going for around $4.25/gallon and diesel fuel was now just under or over $5/gallon. One station had it at $4.99/gal, the other had big bold numbers declaring $5.09/gallon. I'll see if the numbers are the same or changed later today.

[teen persuasion]

Mar 9, 2022 8:56:09 GMT -5 Opti said:

Mar 8, 2022 17:13:05 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I paid $3.79 a gallon for gas today.  I like that our small town full service station charges the same amount as the self service stations.

Lucky. Yesterday it appeared regular was now going for around $4.25/gallon and diesel fuel was now just under or over $5/gallon. One station had it at $4.99/gal, the other had big bold numbers declaring $5.09/gallon. I'll see if the numbers are the same or changed later today.

Guess we are ahead of the curve, here.  That $3.79 was two weeks ago.  $4.19 was last week.  Monday we hit $4.49, and diesel was $5.39.  

[daisylu]

Gas last Wednesday was 3.39, this morning 4.29. This is going to start hurting some people very soon.

[Value Buy]

Wondering what everyone's heating bills are this winter.

[pulmonarymd]

Heat with oil. Locked in a contract for 800 gallons. No problem for me

[Lizard Queen]

Mar 9, 2022 10:41:48 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Wondering what everyone's heating bills are this winter.

Our furnace, stove and dryer are all natural gas. I don't know the most recent bill, but prior was $130, which is on the low side for us in the dead of winter.

[Opti]

Mar 9, 2022 10:41:48 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Wondering what everyone's heating bills are this winter.

I'd have to look but I think OK. It's the electric that really raises my bills. And luckily, we seem to be going into a phase where temps are warmer than average, and spring is coming.

[Opti]

Mar 9, 2022 10:30:16 GMT -5 daisylu said:

Gas last Wednesday was 3.39, this morning 4.29. This is going to start hurting some people very soon.

It's painful to me now. When gas prices go up, people often have to reduce spending on food to compensate if you are lower income. Was looking at housing, and moderate income started around $68K for one of the properties. 

[pooks]

Mar 9, 2022 12:15:29 GMT -5 Opti said:

Mar 9, 2022 10:41:48 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Wondering what everyone's heating bills are this winter.

I'd have to look but I think OK. It's the electric that really raises my bills. And luckily, we seem to be going into a phase where temps are warmer than average, and spring is coming.

We are on natural gas and I haven't received a bill that caught my attention, about $100 a month, but it was cold.

[Tiny]

Mar 9, 2022 10:41:48 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Wondering what everyone's heating bills are this winter.

ooo ooooo I can answer this one!   I've spent an extra $300 on natural gas this winter. 

ADDED:  FWIW:  I have family and friends who 'were caught by surprise' by much large than usual NG bills...  I feel their pain.    I started doing DIY budget plans for Electric and NG years ago - because I hated the 6 months of really small tiny bills and then 6 months of "WTF just happened? who has that kind of money not allocated to something else in their budget! so they can pay this kind of a bill!" bills.     That and paying attention when the news (or newspaper) says anything about local NG costs so I can adjust does the trick.  (electricty doesn't fluctuate much - they can add fees/charges but notice of that happens months before it takes effect. ) 


Yes, my heating (natural gas) bills went up -   BUT,  I while I do NOT use my natural gas providers "budget plan" (cause it SUCKS!!!)  I do a DIY budget plan - so that I send the same amount every month.   That way when Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb bills are  large - I still send the much lower "DIY budget amount" because I have built up a large amount (a credit) which now gets used up to pay the higher bills. .      

Anywho ----  back in SEPTEMBER 2021 -  when the announcement of higher natural gas prices was made  (how did they know Russia was going to invade Ukraine?  Q maybe)  - I did a little back of the envelope math (based on my typical winter usage and where I thought gas prices would go... AND how much "credit" my account had already built up ) and determined I'd spend about $250 more for heating over the heating months (Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar).  Since I had more "disposable income" for the Oct/Nov bills I increased my "DIY budget amount".  And then in December I was able to add an aditional $100.00 to the "old payment amount".   I actually used up all my "credit" amount with the January bill (that I paid in February -  My Bill had an amount due of $17.88       Since my February bill may be a bit more than my "usual DIY budget amount" - when I paid the Jan bill (the $17.88)  I did my regular older DIY budget amount (as that's what I would have paid anyway)  and I added $50.00 just "incase".   The February bill shouldn't be that bad - it's a short month and we had a string of bright sunny days (warms up my house during the day) AND a couple of nights with above average temperatures (so less heating overnight).  


So what that means is that over the course of Nov/Dec/Jan/and probably Feb -  I spent an extra $300 on natural gas.     

I saw this coming (it was announced in Sept 2021) and I planned accordingly.   So no hardship or inconvenience from the months with higher than usual bills.   

My typical NG spend is  about $1250 to $1350 a year - so for 2021 and 2022 I will have paid more than is typical.     

This is NOTHING like the 2 winters when the price of NG was insanely high (up to $1.50 a therm and higher - the price actually changed week to week!!!   and I had a $500.00 monthly bill for the coldest month of the winter.  ) 

I will re-evaluate my "DIY budget plan monthly payment" amount in April/May - after all the "winter heating bills are done"  and see if I need to bump up my payment to accommodate higher prices next winter. 

[minnesotapaintlady]

Mar 9, 2022 10:41:48 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Wondering what everyone's heating bills are this winter.

I heat with LP and prebought 600 gallons last Summer @ $1.64 which took me almost through.  When they filled the tank last month I had to buy 77 gallons @ 1.94 to top it off.  I don't know what it costs now.  The Googles say the average is $2.62/gallon in my state right now, but it said it was $2.54/month last month when I only paid $1.94.

[Deleted]

Our high bill was $70 last month but it's been an exceptionally warm winter here with many days in the 70 and 80's.  

[NastyWoman]

The weather has been generally mild here with just a few days of temps in the 40s sprinkled in and somewhat more, but still relatively few, in the 50s and I do like the house to be at least 68. As I mentioned before I went to Germany 12/15 and returned 1/22. Since I came back after my electric bill (all electric house) Would have been due I paid $100 for December, knowing full well that was too much but whatever. Since my return I have not had to pay for January or February and I still had a balance of over $20. I expect to have to start paying again this month.

But I paid approximately $40/month adjusting for the time I was gone.

[susana1954]

Mar 8, 2022 11:48:04 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Residents around here keep asking why our utility company doesn’t start burying the lines. The utility company said it will be very expensive. After the latest fiasco last month when about 1/3 of the area lost power for days, it came up again. Now the utility company is saying that individual homeowners can pay to bury the lines coming to their house, but they’ll still have outages because it has to come out to attach to the closest pole. IIRC, it will cost at least $5k for an individual homeowner to bury their power lines.

Ours are underground in this neighborhood. We’ve lost power twice since we’ve been here. Once for about 5 minutes, and once for about 30 minutes. It wasn’t storming either time. At my other house, it seemed like the power went out every time the wind blew even a little.

I can't even picture how that would work.  To have individual streets in a neighborhood, maybe, but to skip houses of people who aren't willing to pay?  And who pays to excavate and repave the road when the power line pole is on the other side?  It would defeat the purpose to run it across the road and then erect a pole in my front yard so that you could bury the rest of my yard!  That would be worse than overhead lines.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Mar 10, 2022 9:12:24 GMT -5 susana1954 said:

Mar 8, 2022 11:48:04 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Residents around here keep asking why our utility company doesn’t start burying the lines. The utility company said it will be very expensive. After the latest fiasco last month when about 1/3 of the area lost power for days, it came up again. Now the utility company is saying that individual homeowners can pay to bury the lines coming to their house, but they’ll still have outages because it has to come out to attach to the closest pole. IIRC, it will cost at least $5k for an individual homeowner to bury their power lines.

Ours are underground in this neighborhood. We’ve lost power twice since we’ve been here. Once for about 5 minutes, and once for about 30 minutes. It wasn’t storming either time. At my other house, it seemed like the power went out every time the wind blew even a little.

I can't even picture how that would work.  To have individual streets in a neighborhood, maybe, but to skip houses of people who aren't willing to pay?  And who pays to excavate and repave the road when the power line pole is on the other side?  It would defeat the purpose to run it across the road and then erect a pole in my front yard so that you could bury the rest of my yard!  That would be worse than overhead lines.

By me, the power is running down the main county road and some people have buried lines and some not.  Mostly the old farm houses have the lines running overhead and the "new" (less than 30 years) houses have buried.

[Cookies Galore]

Mar 9, 2022 10:41:48 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Wondering what everyone's heating bills are this winter.

My gas portion of my most recent PECO bill was up $21 from last year, so not really much of a change, especially since I'm sure pretty sure this winter seemed colder than last. We also have gas for everything (range, water heater, dryer, furnace). Electric was pretty much the same as last year.
February 2022 bill was $235, February 2021 bill was $206. Looking forward to those sweet, sweet $70 bill months when the furnace is off and the AC isn't on yet.

[Cookies Galore]

Mar 6, 2022 20:48:00 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Pennsylvania's taxes must be higher than the surrounding states. I never buy gas there if it can be avoided. It is always higher. My dad is driving a semi again. Based on his route he usually fills up in Pennsylvania. Friday night diesel was $5.51/gallon. He was very happy he wasn't paying that bill!

We filled up Saturday. The station attendant said they raised prices twice that day and it wasn't even noon yet. I thought that was bs. They didn't get two deliveries in that time frame.

I believe the gas tax is $0.58/gallon. I'm in SEPA so I see Delaware and New Jersey prices on the news often. Sigh...

[NoNamePerson]

Paid $3.55 this morning. And deduct 5% rebate. Yep I know it won’t last. Gas prices are all over the map in the county I live in. Passed station on way to library that was $4.15. I left library and saw one for 3.55 and hung a hard right. Put in my monthly $20.00. 

I feel bad for folks that are really gonna hurt.  

[teen persuasion]

Mar 10, 2022 9:28:32 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Mar 10, 2022 9:12:24 GMT -5 susana1954 said:

I can't even picture how that would work.  To have individual streets in a neighborhood, maybe, but to skip houses of people who aren't willing to pay?  And who pays to excavate and repave the road when the power line pole is on the other side?  It would defeat the purpose to run it across the road and then erect a pole in my front yard so that you could bury the rest of my yard!  That would be worse than overhead lines.

By me, the power is running down the main county road and some people have buried lines and some not.  Mostly the old farm houses have the lines running overhead and the "new" (less than 30 years) houses have buried.

Are we talking about all the poles stringing along the road from property to property, or just the lines from the transformers on the poles to each house?

Homeowners burying the lines to their house is a pittance in the spider's web of lines running along the street out here.

And I can't see individual property owners paying to bury the lines from their next-door neighbor's property line all the way to the other neighbor's property line.  My neighbor to the south is a quarter mile away!  There's probably ten poles between our houses.

[weltschmerz]

Wait til you see the price of bread!

'People will fight for whatever's left': Ukraine conflict could lead to global wheat shortages

Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s top wheat exporters. With one ravaged by war and the other shackled by sanctions, there are fears the conflict will have a large impact on global food supply.

www.ctvnews.ca/world/people-will-fight-for-whatever-s-left-ukraine-conflict-could-lead-to-global-wheat-shortages-1.5816626

[dondub]

Mar 12, 2022 21:55:27 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Wait til you see the price of bread!

'People will fight for whatever's left': Ukraine conflict could lead to global wheat shortages

Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s top wheat exporters. With one ravaged by war and the other shackled by sanctions, there are fears the conflict will have a large impact on global food supply.

www.ctvnews.ca/world/people-will-fight-for-whatever-s-left-ukraine-conflict-could-lead-to-global-wheat-shortages-1.5816626

We should all eat way less bread anyway..

[weltschmerz]

Mar 12, 2022 23:41:23 GMT -5 dondub said:

Mar 12, 2022 21:55:27 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Wait til you see the price of bread!

'People will fight for whatever's left': Ukraine conflict could lead to global wheat shortages

Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s top wheat exporters. With one ravaged by war and the other shackled by sanctions, there are fears the conflict will have a large impact on global food supply.

www.ctvnews.ca/world/people-will-fight-for-whatever-s-left-ukraine-conflict-could-lead-to-global-wheat-shortages-1.5816626

We should all eat way less bread anyway..

Can't. We're French. Baguettes and croissants are de rigueur and conducive to life itself. It would be easier to give up meat.

[dondub]

Mar 13, 2022 2:31:01 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Mar 12, 2022 23:41:23 GMT -5 dondub said:

We should all eat way less bread anyway..

Can't. We're French. Baguettes and croissants are de rigueur and conducive to life itself. It would be easier to give up meat.

I do love a pain au’chocolat!😎

[busymom]

The farmers here are talking about planting more wheat.  


As for gas prices, the average here is $3.99 now.  Ouch!

[stillmovingforward]

$4.89 over here.

[teen persuasion]

Mar 13, 2022 12:56:59 GMT -5 busymom said:

The farmers here are talking about planting more wheat.  


As for gas prices, the average here is $3.99 now.  Ouch!

That's still cheaper than even on the Rez, here.  In state, $4.49; on the Rez, $4.13.