Hydro and Electrical Matters

In October, 2009, John arranged to have our electrical service inspected, because our hydro bill had suddenly shot up. Here is what he reported.

"I called Jim(?) Johnson of Johnson Electric, who came down to the cottage and we talked about some of the problems we have been having.

He told me that the electric panel we have is top notch. They don't make them anymore, but he thinks what we have is very good and would not recommend replacing it. He also thinks the wiring we have is fine.

He suggested that the reason the hot water heater is tripping the switch so often is that the elements need replacing. He thinks he actually replaced them at our cottage about 10 years ago. He suggested that old elements tend to break and the two pieces to move apart. Electricity then starts to fire across the gap. This makes for a lot of hydrogen and oxygen, runs up the electric bill, and shorts our the circuit. He thought replacing the part now would simply allow them to corrode over the winter and shorten their lifespan, so he suggested spring was a better time. We will have to call him in the spring to get this done.

As for the heat, he thinks we really just need to get different electric baseboard heaters. The ones we have are likely drawing about 1500 watts, while each circuit likely has a load capacity of about 1800 watts. Two heaters on one circuit is going to trip the switch every time. Rather than rewiring the cottage, maybe we just need to replace the heaters. He told me of lost of pretty cool heaters which would do the trick, including some that go below the floor and look like regular furnace registers."

Hydro Service

Our service is provided by Hydro One. Their web site is here.

Usage:

Our meter is read once a year, in mid-June. For the rest of the year, readings are estimated every three months, so we pay quarterly at a more or less equal rate, even though our use is all in the summer. At the next June reading, it is brought into line so to speak and we start all over again.

Our usage costs are around $20-$25 for a three month period or around $7-$8 a month.

Delivery Charges:

Our delivery charge is the main part of our hydro cost. We are classified as Seasonal High Density. High density rates are lower than normal density rates. They are fixed by the Ontario Energy Board.

Delivery costs take into account the cost of maintenance and service calls. They are composed of a fixed charge and a fluctuating volume charge.

Hydro One explains that:

Delivery charges vary according to the classification or type of electric service you have at your residence. Your service classification is based on the customer density in your area: high or normal. Our rates reflect the cost to serve customers in each density classification, which means that rates are higher for customers in less densely populated areas.

Our current fixed delivery cost is $18.77 a month. This rate is the same for all of Ontario. Our average total delivery charge is $23.98 a month.

The Federation of Ontario Cottagers' Association has criticized this approach because it does not promote conservation. It recommends that users should pay more for actual usage and less for fixed costs. In an article in Cottage Life in the October 2007 issue, one David Zimmer made the same point. He wrote that he and his family tried everything they could think of to lower their hydro bill, reducing their use to almost zero, but it had almost no effect on their bill. So they now use hydro luxuriously, and again it makes almost no difference in their bill