Oh. My. God.
May 16th, 2007 by B.
We just got our annual electricity bill in the mail and it seems we’ve paid too little in… to the tune of 1585,88€ (roughly $2150 u.s. dollars) too little. When we first moved in they set our electric at 60€, which we knew wouldn’t be enough, so we called and had them up it to 90/month. Even then we worried, but our relocation specialist assured us that would be enough to cover it. The bad part is that you don’t get a bill all year, so there’s no way to monitor your consumption (at least no way we knew about… is there a way? We have Drewag).
I called them today as soon as I got the bill and they’re sending someone out to check our meter, but barring that (and I can’t imagine that’s the issue) we used it and we’ll have to pay it. Painful.
I can totally see how we deserve it, too. Tons of computers and TVs and fancy light fixtures. In other words, american excess meets german practically. Still, it would’ve been nice to have seen a statement or had a warning mailed to us halfway through the year so we could have upped our monthly payment AND looked into cutting back our usage. If you’re going to screw me, at least buy me dinner first… sheesh. And I don’t even want to think about what our annual water bill will be when we get it in.
Ouch! thats a lot of electricity that you are using. I check my meter regularly but is easy to access in our our house. I guess that may not be the same with apartments. But its a wise move to make sure that the electricity company read the meter correctly.
Without trying to make it sound bad - USA consumers are known for their power and water consumption
Replacing fancy lights with energy saving bulbs will certainly help reduce costs as will turning off devices that are not being used. Now you know why we Europeans are so frugal.
Hope it turns out that they read your meter incorectly
Thanks Haddock… and I’m not banking on the fact that it’s a meter problem. I think we deserve the high bill, so I can’t really get all that mad or indignant. We moved to germany with an american mindset when it came to utility usage and recycling and lots of other stuff. Now we’ll have to gracefully take our lumps and cough up 1500+ euro.
The worst part is, it’s the water we worry about the most. Multiple baths per day and lots of laundry, lots of showers, running water when brushing teeth and other things have led us to brace for it. If the electricity’s an indication, water should clock in somewhere above 2K. Gulp.
this will be of absolutely no help to you, but…
hole-ee crap dude.
That is crazy! A bill once a year.
OMG…
I got up and turned off all the extra lights (and TV)
Damn. I know that hurts.
That’s what caused us to absolutely STOP using our dryer in Hungary. Same deal. Landlord presented us with the bill for our “overage” for the year, and I suddenly understood — really understood — why Hungarians do not use, or even own, dryers. Hang that shit up, all year round, baby. Our trash containers were always twice as full as our landlord’s as well. (and ours were bigger)
We’re a wasteful lot…
Yeah, we’ve been making a list of ways to cut back consumption… less dryer usage was close to the top of the list. I’m not sure I’m down with crunchy t-shirts though.
Oh wow, I guess I understand that when I go to Germany or Greece to visit relatives I’m reminded how to take showers, you know, wet down, soap and then turn the water on to rinse off. No standing under running water allowed ever. Here in Canada we abuse our water too, it’s not just an American thing. We all need to be more conscious…ciao
We get that every year - 500,- to 1.000,- Euros. Makes me cringe every Spring but I can’t help it. I’m addicted to having a hot bath. Remember the days when you could take a hot bath and not have to worry you were starving a small country? Those were the days…
Yeah, I’m pretty fond of my long baths. I have no doubt we’ll be over again next year, it’s just a question of how much. Hopefully under 1K.
If you can hang the stuff up outside, it doesn’t end up crunchy. I do use the dryer more in winter though when I can’t put the stuff outside. Rainer has allergies and we had to stop using the air filter because the electricity costs were so high the year we had it. It helped, but not that much! But definitely switch to energy saver bulbs. It’s easy and does make a difference.