I live about 25 minutes NE of downtown Milford, and about 35-40 minutes from Blue Ash. Downtown Cincinnati takes about 50 minutes, going on Columbia Parkway.
Modern Living: Part Eighteen
- Thread starter Ultramatic
- Start date
Williams 1926
General Electric 1926
My how times change! Today 5 cents worth of electricity won’t get you jack squat, maybe pay for a digital clock on your stove for a day. Last month our electric bill was, sit down, $555.92 for ONE month!
Eddie
$0.10 per kWh in 1926 vs. my recent billing @ $0.161/kWh ($156.32) ... seems surprisingly reasonable over this way.
Our rate per KWH is $0.40 at baseline tier one and $0.50 for tier two, WAY more than in Texas.
Eddie
I am aware, and also which is why, upon seeing your post appear amidst composition of mine, I stated the comparison as "over this way."
FrigidFaire
Member
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2026
- Messages
- 6
Nice pics of mid-century. Rattan furniture looks like Ficks Reed Company or a nice knock off.
My January 2026 bill was $164.17 using 1029 kwh. Works out to be 15.95 cents/kwh.
This company merged with Eureka in the mid 1940s to become the Eureka-Williams Co. I remember my mom's old vacuum cleaner from the early 1950s having that on the info plate underneath. The instruction book also mentioned the Oil-O-Matic heat.
We used 1218 KWH of electricity from 11-20-25 thru 12-21-25 and were billed $555.92 that averages out to $0.46 per KWH. The only state in the country with higher electricity rates is Hawaii.
Believe me, we are as conservative in our use of electricity as possible, but when it’s cold we have to turn on the heat, it’s as simple as that.
Eddie
Believe me, we are as conservative in our use of electricity as possible, but when it’s cold we have to turn on the heat, it’s as simple as that.
Eddie
I used 314 kWh last month and my bill went over $100 for the first time since I moved in here 31 years ago. Supply was 33.17, distribution was 37.49, transmission was 17.73, stranded costs -1.18 , public policy charge 10.87, conservation 2.94, total 101.02 for 32 days.
phillymatt53
Well-known member
I wonder...
Is that "public policy charge" anything like the "customer charge" that we have on billing here in Philly?
Because here it's just another sly way for us taxpayers to foot the bill and recoup the losses of those that don't pay their bills, a.k.a. loser bums.
It's so nice to be forced/mandated to pay for those types.
The term of "pulling your own weight" is long forgotten.
vacerator
Well-known member
No Matt, they ask for rate hikes regardless and now some are charging a fee for paying by credit card. The programs to help those in financial distress like Thaw are not funded by or compensated by the utilities. The line workers get raises same as the management and that costs money. Infrastructure improvements too.
phillymatt53
Well-known member
The nice Gas Company gentleman that came to install my new digital gas meter 2 years ago told me that the "customer charge" was actually used to pay for the losses due to the non-paying and in arrears customers.
He stated that since the gas company cannot turn off the residential gas during winter months, something had to be enacted financially to compensate for the losses.
And I've noticed that so-called charge is not fixed, it's increased a bit several times over the years.
I'm quite sure he was not handing me a bunch of crap, because he even told me that he was disgusted at having to pay into it too.
vacerator
Well-known member
Matt, how can you be sure? There is no way. Every utility has a customer processing charge. We're paying for the mailing and handling. Lot's of people are full of crap and love spreading it. Postage goes up, paper goes up, fuel goes up, ink goes up. Of course it increased a little bit each year or so.
Even if the utility company collects some small amount in their charges to fund programs to help those that are less fortunate in some way I’d rather that than the constant and regular rate increases to fund dividends to share holders and increase the wealth of the already wealthy. Or expect the ratepayers to pay in their monthly utility bills the Utility companies cost of equipment repair and replacement. And they can then write off these expenses as a cost of doing business.
A kind and humane society recognizes the responsibility that we all have to lend a helping hand to the needy among us. It’s a mitzvah.
Eddie
A kind and humane society recognizes the responsibility that we all have to lend a helping hand to the needy among us. It’s a mitzvah.
Eddie
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"The shadow of the coal shovel"
It's often forgotten that you not only had to shovel coal into the furnace, you had to shovel ashes out.
As a child I was puzzled by references to "ashcans." Weren't they just garbage cans? But that's what you put the ashes in before you lugged them up the basement stairs and out into the alley. Yuck. Give me the Williams Oil-O-Matic any day.
It's often forgotten that you not only had to shovel coal into the furnace, you had to shovel ashes out.
As a child I was puzzled by references to "ashcans." Weren't they just garbage cans? But that's what you put the ashes in before you lugged them up the basement stairs and out into the alley. Yuck. Give me the Williams Oil-O-Matic any day.
phillymatt53
Well-known member
Mike..... you HAD to be there in my basement in order to hear and understand the installer's description and demeanor.
Obviously, I cannot convey "in person" understanding by an internet keyboard to people.
We had a very nice conversation as he was doing his work, talking about his family, his kids, and what he knew what's going on with the company, etc.
A very nice gentleman, with no reason to make up stories.
That's all I'm going to say.
I never lived in a house with a coal furnace, but a few of my neighbors did. They all had coal bins in their basements, with a small metal door that opened out to the driveway. The delivery truck would place its chute into the opening and fill the bin. By the time I remember, the furnaces were equipped with automatic stokers. One neighbor would put the ash and clinkers in an old cesspool in their back yard to fill it up. I think the last coal furnace in the block was removed before 1970, and those homes are now heated by gas, oil, or electric. All the houses that used coal were built before WWII. When my dad's uncle and aunt built a new house in 1936, they put in an oil fired forced air system - coal wasn't even considered, as it was viewed as "old fashioned" by then by those who could afford better.
Actually, coal is much easier than wood to burn. I have a caboose pot belly stove that as soon as it got below freezing you could start a fire with a few charcoal briquettes, shovel a scoop of coal or 2, shut the draft down and it was good for 12 hours, shake it down, add a couple scoops turn down for another 12 hours, First time it hits 40 and no draft up the chimney and it was smothered out. Plus no creosote causing so many house fires. Far as I am concerned burning wood is WAY too much work, Today, I use gas for extra heat when it goes below zero.
phillymatt53
Well-known member
My grandparents on my father's side had a home not far from where I'm at now.
It was an obviously old home since it had a coal furnace.
I remember grandmom down in the basement shoveling the coal into it before bedtime, and again in the mornings.
She washed our clothes in an old square-tub Maytag with the wringers,, and I remember her pouring "bluing" into it to whiten things up.
The times I slept over (I was about 5-8) We slept in big old feather beds with feather comforters.
At night, the nearby factories would cling and clang all night and day.
Those were the days!
It was an obviously old home since it had a coal furnace.
I remember grandmom down in the basement shoveling the coal into it before bedtime, and again in the mornings.
She washed our clothes in an old square-tub Maytag with the wringers,, and I remember her pouring "bluing" into it to whiten things up.
The times I slept over (I was about 5-8) We slept in big old feather beds with feather comforters.
At night, the nearby factories would cling and clang all night and day.
Those were the days!
Oilomatician sounds like a new occupation Williams invented at the time. I wonder if any kids at the time wanted to be an "Oilomatcian"
My sister has a house built in 1930 that had a coal boiler, later replaced with a gas boiler in 1948, she still has the boiler today.
Yes, they like the heat from radiators but this system is wildly inefficient, costing her over $400 a month in gas bills on average.
Meanwhile, my house from 1972 with a gas forced air furnace that has a larger volume is less than half that.
A new boiler with a pump (hers works by gravity and convection) would be more efficient but would be very expensive. They may move before spending money on a new boiler.
My sister has a house built in 1930 that had a coal boiler, later replaced with a gas boiler in 1948, she still has the boiler today.
Yes, they like the heat from radiators but this system is wildly inefficient, costing her over $400 a month in gas bills on average.
Meanwhile, my house from 1972 with a gas forced air furnace that has a larger volume is less than half that.
A new boiler with a pump (hers works by gravity and convection) would be more efficient but would be very expensive. They may move before spending money on a new boiler.
vacerator
Well-known member
I lived in a house with a coal furnace in first grade. Converted to a gas add on burner the following year. Then my parents first owned home had oil. My dad was always cleaning it and it was dirty heat. The burner nozzle kept clogging. A year later he removed the monster, jacked up the house, took down part of a basement wall to remove the holding tank, and installed a new gas furnace.
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