Energy Vampires

TVA has decided that my electric rates should go up because they need to produce more power.

Electric bills for more than 8 million consumers receiving power from the Tennessee Valley Authority will go up 7 percent April 1 because of TVA’s need to produce more power.

Mixed with a quarterly fuel adjustment charge TVA will announce next week, the total impact on consumers in the seven-state region could reach double digits, TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore said after the TVA board approved the rate hike Friday.

Of course, this new hike will negate the rate cut from Oct 2006, which negated about half of the rate hike in April 2006. In other words, even though TVA is still making money (16% increase), and enough to give their top people bonuses, and the threat of potential shutdowns this coming summer due to the drought, which we already saw last summer, doesn’t even seem to be discussed. But, I’m not going to rant about that.

As it stands, the average residential customer will be paying about $4 to $7 more a month. That customer uses about 1,310 kilowatt hours monthly.

Well, I pulled out my utility bills to see where I landed. I’m a few hundred kilowatt hours above the “average,” but then again there are five people living in this house, and that is during the winter months when the AC is not running (AC is electric in my house, heat is gas). TV’s, pc’s, radios, are on a good portion of the day and night — based on each person’s schedule — but overall, everyone here is pretty conscious of turning off lights, TV’s, radios, etc. when they are not being used. Not all of the time, mind you, but most of the time.

But, turning off lights, TV’s, radios, etc., can only go so far. What so many of us don’t realize is that many of our energy using components continue to draw energy all the time, and that stuff adds up. Fast. I’m not talking about your refrigerator. Have you noticed your DVD player does not actually turn off any more? It’s on standby. Or did you know that your cell phone charger, if left plugged into the wall socket, is always drawing energy? I bet you didn’t know that. Our homes are literally loaded with energy vampires.

A force as insidious as Dracula is quietly sucking a nickel of every dollar’s worth of the electricity that seeps from your home’s outlets.

Insert the little fangs of your cell phone charger in the outlet and leave it there, phone attached: That is vampire electronics.

Allow your computer to hide in the cloak of darkness known as “standby mode” rather than shutting it off: That’s vampire electronics.

The latest estimates show 5 percent of electricity used in the United States goes to standby power, a phenomenon energy efficiency experts find all the more terrifying as energy prices rise and the planet warms. That amounts to about $4 billion a year.

The percentage could rise to 20 percent by 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Righty-o. The newest, bestest electronics are munching away at our energy.

“About 40 percent of the electricity being used to power your home electronics is consumed while they are in that standby mode,” Walton said. “If you just focus on that piece, you will be making a big step.”

Ditto for things that charge, such as cell phones, PDAs, toothbrushes or portable tools, some of which trickle a charge even after the device that’s charging is at capacity.

They didn’t include cordless phones. Another energy vampire. Just saying.

The thing is, a growing use of energy is our addiction to electronics. I’m just as guilty as the next person in that. Cell phone, desk top computer, laptop, TV’s, etc. The problem with the Energy Star Program, is that the electronics that are compliant with the program are not necessarily low cost at the outset. Those low-cost items then become more costly in the long-run, unless one is vigilant in unplugging the item when not in use.  And really, how many people actually will unplug the energy vampires when not in use?

But that is a small something that could lower your personal energy use. Think about the implications if enough people really paid attention to their energy usage. TVA and other electric producers wouldn’t have much of a reason to raise their rates.