College Station Utilities advertised on the 10pm news (kbtx ain't cheap) last night .... why the hell are they spending so much on friggin' advertising? Instead of giving our tax dollars to kbtx REDUCE OUR RATES!!!

College Station Utilities advertised on the 10pm news last night (kbtx ain't cheap).... why the hell are they spending so much on friggin' advertising? Instead of giving our tax dollars to kbtx REDUCE OUR RATES!!!

I have an 1800 sgft house with a standard roof. What am I looking at as far as approximate cost for spray foam under the roof deck?

CSU rates will go up in Oct. That is the only time that a rate increase will happen. High temps outside mean that bill will go up since you are trying to cool house down on inside. not rocket science people.

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. High temps outside mean that bill will go up since you are trying to cool house down on inside. not rocket science people

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Perhaps reading comprehension is a lost art these days.

People have compared previous July and August bills to the current one have seen increases of around $100. That's a pretty big increase over just 1 year. And yes, we've had previous summers with 30-40 straight days of 100+ temps.

Now, that it has been spelled out for you so you don't have to think about, you can try again to make a point.

facts are facts, whether it amounts to rocket science or not is for you to decide.

Fact - CSU charges almost the highest utility rate for electricity in the state (sorry, I don't have the reference here handy... IIRC, we are second-highest)

Fact - all CSU customers pay for Wind Watts, which is wind power bought on a multi-year contract. wind power costs more than other forms of power purchased by CSU. Part of the WW premium paid by CSU customers is earmarked for planting trees.

Fact - CSU has raised rates significantly over the past five years, IIRC more than 30% in that time. Does anyone know what wholesale electric rates have done in that timeframe?

Fact - approx 15% of CSU gross revenues annually are transferred to the general fund of CoCS as "return on investment" and used for purposes having nothing to do with power purchases, utility operations or infrastructure.

So, I think those who want to gripe about the size of their utility bill need to consider that, as a CSU customer, there is a lot more at work than just where your thermostat is set and how much insulation is in your attic...

I laugh at you people that keep it so cold and then gripe about how high your bill is.

We keep it at 78 when we are home. We'll take it down to 74 or 76 when guests are over, but it is usually pretty comfortable.

When we get home from work, we immediately change into light clothes (t-shirt and shorts) and turn on the ceiling fans.

68 at night? I bet you also turn your heat up to 75 during the winter.

If you can afford to throw money away just so you can bundle up at night, go for it. CoCS thanks you for your support.

My water bill is like 3 times normal....

Who in Texas actually uses a heater?? Much less up to 75?

Women.

codedog, the return on investment from CSU is capped by city council at 10%, for the three big ones, electric, water and sewer, it's in the budget book as one of those like budget charter items. And I haven't had a chance to verify this, bit I believe I saw in the electric presentation that their return on investment for the upcoming year is less than the current year. I will try to check that out

Wow - some of you folks have big-A houses. Could contribute to big-A utility bills. Keep it at 78, use ceiling fans, and look into rainwater harvesting for your plants and yard. And xeriscape. And simple economics tells us the more demand there is the higher the price will go, right?

fact - csu customers had to opt in to wind watts, unless they change it this yr. btw the earmarked amount is .5% for the trees.

fact - rates have gone up the last 5 years in oct, that is why every ones bill is higher each year.

all you have to do is call and ask and they will give you the current rates and might even have the previous years rates. same goes for wind watts info.

I believe you are mistaken, phantom. When WW started it was purely opt-in, but the participation rate was awful so council made it "available to ALL ratepayers" or something like that.

I just visited the city website, and one can still opt-in to paying a premium for their power. But, I'll try to get some more info this week and confirm just how the program works.

Fact: CSU bought some number of kilowatt hours of wind energy.

Fact: CSU sold to utilities consumers less (much less) of kilowatt hours of wind energy.

Fact: CSU must pay for the amount of wind energy that they bought----NOT the amount of wind energy that they sold to customers

Question: Who do you think pays for the wind energy that was bought by CSU but not sold by CSU?

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THIS!

wife used to work for CSU so she knows how it all works.

It's a fact that they don't have enough people signed up to pay for what they contracted for.

CSU is a city-owned enterprise.

The city has to pay their contract to Wind Watts.

The city doesn't get money except through taxes and fees.

So, if enough people aren't voluntarily paying for Wind Watts directly, then EVERYONE is paying for the shortfall.

[TO BE CLEAR THESE ARE EXCERPTS FROM A DISCUSSION I HAD VIA EMAIL IN SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009]

I had an extensive conversation with CoCS staff about Wind Watts last year. The gist: CoCS hedged on the wind contract and feels (or did in October, 2009) it is in the best interest of CoCS utility rates for the long term. I have several emails, but this one probably sums up Wind Watts the best. Its from David Massey, CSU Electric Utility Director:

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Over the past number of years, there have been customers of College Station who expressed an interest in obtaining renewable wind energy. In order to meet the wishes of customers and not harm overall rates, a minimum of wind capacity was contracted out of the South Trent Wind Farm in 2009. This contracted wind capacity was expected to supply between 4 to 5 percent of the overall energy needed for College Station. In essence, this amount of renewable energy brought College Station into what is expected of Retail Electric Providers (REPs) in the deregulated areas of Texas. The Public Utility Commission requires REPs to include at least 5% of renewable in their overall energy sales. Even though College Station is not forced to provide renewable power to customers, it is only a matter of time before municipal utilities will be forced to follow suit - and the cost only increases each year.

The wind energy purchased by College Station was expected to have a higher price associated with it because of transmission costs to get it out of West Texas and into College Station. The total extra cost for this wind energy was expected to add just under 0.1 cents per kwh in 2009 to the overall retail rate if no premiums were brought in at all. In other words, the regular residential retail rate would be 10.6 cents per kwh instead of 10.5 cents per kwh with no premiums added. The Wind Watts program was developed to offer customers the opportunity, if they chose, to obtain certified wind power at the 100%, 50% and 10% levels. The premiums charged to customers of Wind Watts would recover the extra transmission charges, scheduling charges and the cost of retiring the associated Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) that are required for certified renewable energy for the energy supplied to these customers. These premiums would lessen as transmission was built in West Texas and as regular carbon-based energy costs increased with the real possibility that wind power would actually be less than carbon-based energy in the future.

In reviewing costs associated with obtaining wind power during 2009, College Station has already seen a lessening of transmission costs. In addition, the wind premium has already been reduced effective October 1st because of increased costs associated with carbon-based power. It is expected that this premium will disappear completely within another 2-3 years as additional transmission is constructed in West Texas to relieve all transmission congestion. It is at this point that wind energy will be at less cost than carbon-based energy. College Station has signed a 20 year contract for this wind energy and the lower cost will greatly benefit all College Station customers over the remaining life of the wind contract. In fact, College Station's initial wind contract called for an increase in the amount of wind from South Trent to triple beginning in 2015. This will benefit customers even more in that more lower cost wind energy will be integrated into the overall power portfolio to all customers.

The electric utility industry is one that requires long-range planning in many aspects. Power supply planning and contracting is just one of those areas. College Station could not have contracted for anything less than the 5% we obtained in our initial wind contract. We were fully aware that a very slight premium would be required of customers for the early years of the contract with that premium being reduced by those participating in Wind Watts. However, long range benefits of this very favorable wind energy contract was the best long term strategy for the utility and one that will prove to save customers money in the long run. College Station had an opportunity to obtain wind energy through it's power supplier at a very favorable rate - we took advantage of this opportunity knowing that transmission costs would lessen in the future. This has occurred just as we hoped and College Station is in a very good position to reduce it's overall power costs due to this favorable wind energy contract.

This entire issue is a very difficult one to explain in an email so I invite you to give me a call sometime to further discuss anything needing further explanation.

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[This message has been edited by Nom de Plume (edited 9/8/2010 8:31a).]

[TO BE CLEAR THESE ARE EXCERPTS FROM A DISCUSSION I HAD VIA EMAIL IN SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009]

The initial question I had, which started a conversation that resulted with the above post, dealt with Wind Watts funding tree maintenance. Here's how that went down:

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I had a question that came up during your session on September 24th. There was discussion pertaining to the future maintenance of newly planted trees at the city corridors, and how that maintenance might be funded. Mr. Brown recommended revenues from the Wind Watts program be used in the future, or at least considered, to fund the maintenance.

My question is: if the Wind Watts program is currently not meeting goal, how would it be able to sustain another program? Are all of the monies collected through the program discretionary and may be used as such?

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Glenn Brown's response:

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A small portion of the revenues from the sale of wind energy (Wind Watts) has been designated in the budget to be used for additional trees in public places in College Station. During the first 9 months of the wind energy program, subscription to Wind Watts has been limited to residential electric customers in College Station. At this point we have approximately 700 residential customers exercising the option to subscribe to wind energy. The portion of this revenue being set aside for trees amounts to approximately $8,000 to $10,000 at this time. This would be sufficient to cover the cost of the O&M for the additional trees that the City Council discussed last week. The point that I was trying to make to the Council was if no other funds were available in the Parks and Recreation budget to cover any additional expense for maintaining these trees, it could be covered by the Wind Watts revenue designated for trees. I envision that as a last resort.
This fall staff from our Electric Utility will begin engaging our commercial customers regarding their interest in subscribing to the Wind Watts program, now that we are sure most of the residential customers that are interested have signed up. We believe the opportunity to purchase wind power will be appealing to some commercial establishments whose corporate missions embrace sustainability programs. Staff anticipates much more, if not all, of the wind watts program will be purchased through this effort.
And finally to answer your last question, when the Wind Watts program is fully purchased by our customers, both residential and commercial, it is projected that the portion of those revenues being allocated for trees could generate up to $200,000 annually. Obviously we have a ways to go before that level of revenue is realized, but out Electric Utility staff believes that it is doable.
Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

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To say I clearly understand all of this would be a lie, and I think highlights how complicated the details are. While poor financial choices have certainly been made by CoCS, I have trouble branding the entire Wind Watts program a debacle. But I have friends who disagree, so who knows. I guess time will tell.

I still do have a question, now a year later: what's the commercial Wind Watts buy-in currently?

[This message has been edited by Nom de Plume (edited 9/8/2010 8:31a).]

$473 this month, up $70 over last month.

I think I might pass $200 this month with a 30 year old, 1600 sq ft house in Bryan. A/C unit is 12 years old or so.

Comparable bills from last year, with a 1600 sq ft 3 year old house in College Station, was about $350.

2350 sq ft, built 6 years ago. We keep the house at 73 between 5pm-9am and 80 from 9-5. My wife occasionally works at home and drops it to 76 when she's around. Water 3x each week.

$271 for July
$255 for August.

Most of you must have really crappy insulation.

and yet they still complain.

From this thread, 3 things should be obvious.

1) People in apartments are screwed.
2) Most people have lousy insulation, yet do nothing to fix the problem themselves, and thus complain about the hidden taxes and fees from CS.
3) CSU apparently charges a 20 percent fee which is like a hidden tax on all utility bills, and apparently with other budget shortfalls they are going to try and raise this fee.

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Even though College Station is not forced to provide renewable power to customers, it is only a matter of time before municipal utilities will be forced to follow suit - and the cost only increases each year.

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I have a problem with this based on something I read recently about Bryan saying that they are looking into Wind power because the costs are finally getting low enough to seriously consider it.

So, it seems that the costs for wind power are GOING DOWN over time and NOT UP.

So if you have a 20 year old house and want to do more than add a little extra insulation, but really find out where the problems are and do some things like consider a radiant barrier in the attic, etc., who around here does that sort of thing (and does it well)? I need someone to help me figure out where we are losing our energy as well as doing something about it. (Please don't say the city energy audit....it's only a visual walk through and really doesn't help much).

ZTGA

I think Mr electric does a free energy audit and will tell if anything is the city's fault/responsibility.

My bill jumped up $159 this month compared to last. It seems like quite a large increase. How can I tell a mistake wasn't made?

Any suggestions would be nice.

$523 - 2600 sq. ft.
That bites.

We offer an energy audit for $89. The technician will check all appliances and cords, the breaker box, breakers and name plate ratings. He will amp out all the breakers to make sure appliances are not pulling more power and shutting down when needed. He will make recommendations that will possibly allow you to lower your monthly utility bill.

Ceiling fans are an effective way to reduce energy costs in both summer and winter. In the winter, heated air tends to rise and collect around the ceiling. Ceiling fans circulate the warm air and push it back downward. In the summer, ceiling fans create a cool breeze to keep air circulating so that it does not become too damp or stagnant.

I also spoke with our lead electrician and he highly suggests getting a timer for the water heater if you use an electric water heater. During the day when you are away from home and the water heater is not being used, it keeps reheating the water to keep it at the current temperature setting. By installing a timer for the water heater, the water will cool during the day and will draw less power because it will not need to continually reheat without reason.

He also suggests having dimmers installed to conserve energy and to change regular bulbs to CFL lamps that draw less power.

Ah, but do not put CFL on dimmer switches--the two are not very compatible.

LED in edison bases will overtake CFL in the near future, prices are plummeting. Just saw last week that Lowe's has a 40W equivalent LED lamp for only $18. Beginning of the year, those were $2-25. That medium base lamp is actually using 3-4W, and will dim. LED puts out even less heat than a CFL, and has fewer issues with glass and mercury and the like.

Our bill last month was just under $600.00. I do not have a leak and I am trying to figure out how my water was more last month ($220.00) when we were gone for a week on vacation. I think there is something wrong with the meter(skips numbers at a certain point?). Every 2-3 months there is a spike in the usage and cost and we are 3 people in a 2,000 sq ft home. We only water maybe twice a week or when needed. Anyone else notice this on their bills?

I just forked over $700. I live in a duplex, I set my A/C on 78* during the day and 75* at night. And I run the fans.

Request an energy audit. I just did and can't wait until they tell me what's up.

crap ! I wonder if your thermostat is working right

We added sprayed in insulation in the rafters ($4000+) to lower our bill a couple of years ago. It helped but from last summer to this summer our bill has doubled. (from approx $400 month to $850/month not including water). And with the appraisal district milking us for everything we have it is time to leave this town as soon as the kids graduate from high school.