Monday, June 4, 2012

Water and Electricity

My goal this month is to find ways for our family to conserve water and electricity.  I looked at last year's bills and our August/September bill was highest for both water and electricity.

I've already been busy at work talking to the City of Austin about our water bill.  I wanted to find out how they calculate our wastewater usage and found some really important information that I wish I would have known several months ago.  They track your water usage for three months in the winter (ours was from Nov. 19 - Feb. 19) and take the average amount of water your household used during that time and charge you that amount for wastewater for the rest of the year.  And they charge a lot more for wastewater than they do for water.

Water:
1st 2000 gallons is $1.17 per 1000 gallons
Over 2000 gallons is $3.08 per 1000 gallons

Wastewater:
1st 2000 gallons is $3.79 per 1000 gallons
Over 2000 gallons is $8.38 per 1000 gallons

So, I plan on finding ways to save water around the home year round but when it comes time for our next wastewater calculation period, I am going to be super conservative.  You may want to stay away because showers will be in short supply!

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