The "regression" has taken place

[imperial70]

Got the water bill for the quarter.

The SpeedQueen AWN542S has been parked.

The Frigidaire Gallery GLTF2940 has been put back into commission full time.

Sigh,
paul

 

[jerrod6]

I get a monthly water/sewer bill.  How much was the bill that makes you retire your speed queen?

 

[imperial70]

It was double what it usually is. Expenses have been running up so I'm looking to put them back under control. Look as long as I'm "on the grid" and using public water and they want me to use less then that's what I'm going to do. The bill was $179. Not much, I know but it was double what I am accustomed to. If I was on the MWRA it would be 4X that much. But still it is double of what I am budgeting for.

 

[tennblondie78]

holy cow

where do you live? My bill runs about $20 a month and the highest it has ever been was $75 when I filled up my 18x36 pool. I have never seen a water bill that high before.

 

[stricklybojack]

Like she said..

holy crap that is on super-sized water bill, cold it be an error?

 

[imperial70]

I live in MA northwest middlesex county. No this bill is actually lower than most towns around here. But we are catching up because the State and Feds are on our cases about cleaning up our act with respect to water consumption and waste discharge. I'll give up the top load washer, but they will have to pry my Ultra Wash (a.k.a power-clean) dishwasher from my cold cold hands.

 

[dustin92]

We are lucky our township was grandfathered in as flat rate- ours is $100.50 every 3 months. No matter how much water we use. But something sounds fishy about $179 a month. There must be some issue with your meter- I don't know about cents per gallon or whatever, but you would have to have run a LOT of water for it to double. I doubt it was just the washer.

 

[nmassman44]

Nope my water bill did the same thing when we got the SQ toploader. The thing is here we pay for the water coming into the house and it seems like double the rate for water coming out. So water and sewerage for us every three months was a whopping $250. Then when I got the front loader, the water bill dropped some to $190, but I am still using the SQ washer. When I had the Maytag Samsung Neppie our water bill was a consistant $115 every three months. But that was when our rates were lower. Here we have a vicious cycle going on...they want us to conserve water so we install low water consumption toilets, showerheads, dishwashers and now washers. Then the water usage drops but so does their revenues. So to make up for the lost revenues they raise the rates, people cut back more and then they raise the rate again. Here in Lynn they are talking about raising the rates again. WTF!! Yet our water commision says they need the rate hike because of projects and main replacements. They dont cut back or tighten belts. Then you get the feds that want to change regulations and yet they dont fund any of the changes. Dont get me started! LOL

 

[DADoES]

 
<blockquote>But something sounds fishy about $179 a month.</blockquote> It's for 3 months, he said "Got the water bill for the quarter."

 

[dustin92]

Oopsie, missed that part . It still seems a bit high but not too outrageous.

 

[rapunzel]

$179 water bill for the quarter; I wish that was my bill. On average I pay approx. $350 per quarter and that has little to do with my SQ top loader.

As for raising the rates to combat falling revenues due to lower consumption, it's the same problem here. They price their services to motivate people to use less and raise them even more once they do. That's what happens when public utilities are privatized and profit motivates everything.

 

[washer111]

"They price their services to motivate people to use less and raise them even more once they do."
Which is exactly why I question the utilities "encouraging" us to save resources, when they are only going to put the price up.

A private company will not actively cull its business in such a way without consequences for the remaining consumer; that is, the price rise.

They only encourage "conservation" since it generates an outwardly positive motive.

Of course, if everyone decides to cut their utility usage by 50%, then who pays for the maintenance fees as a result? Well, in the end, we do, because we chose to be less wasteful. 

 

Now, it is a shame that you have to revert to what probably amounts to a fairly rubbish washer, but at least you'll save on clothes bills, as well as electric/gas usage (depending on your water heating) and detergent too. 

 

If you maintain any kind of a garden, you COULD setup some sort of system to reclaim water from the washer, and use it on your garden, and this would probably save similar amounts of water to storing the SQ for now. Perhaps you could do the same with the Frigidaire, and save a little extra. 

 

[imperial70]

Yes the bill is for the quarter, not monthly.

I certainly understand the concept of pay more for less. It seems to be happening for everything, right (Gasoline, food ....)

Gray water use. I do like the idea of using the rinse water for the garden, but I'm not setup for that type of use right now.

Like I said, I know there are communities that have it worse than I do. But it's all relative.

The Frigidaire isn't really a "Garbage" machine. It still gives true hot water wash, warm water rinse option (great for the winter to make sure fabric softener is dissolved) and has great cycle flexibility.

 

[washman]

When it comes to so calle eco friendly

logic and concepts, something just doesn't add up.

We're all supposed to be scared kaka less over climate change, a warming planet, etc so we're forced to buy eco sanctioned appliances, LED and CFL bulbs. Our erstwhile president mandated a massive in crease in CAFE standards. There's more fuel efficient vehicles on the road now that at any point in history.

So why are why paying nearly $4 a gallon for gas?

Why does my electric bill go up and up and up and up?

Why does my water bill keep going up?

If you follow and understand basic Econ 101, decreased demand results in lower prices. Thus, if demand supposedly has been lowered, why are prices going up then?

Something is rotten out there and it certainly is not in Denmark.

 

[DADoES]

 
Monthly minimum for water/sewer/trash pick-up is $70.82 for the small utility district immediately adjacent to the city limits that services the granny's neighborhood.  Water is bought from the city, sewer is sent to the city.  Water portion is $20.71.  Sewer $26.09.  Trash (mandatory participation) $24.05.  There's a property tax for the utility district which last year was $0.52695 per $100 of valuation.

 

[retropia]

Water here is plentiful and cheap, but modernizing the antique sewer lines in the city is not cheap, and that is what afflicts our bills. The EPA has sued the city over the sewer lines and part of the settlement was an agreement to modernize everything on a timetable. Our sewer rates are going up every year as a result.

For people who water their lawns a lot, it is possible to pay to have a second water meter installed for only the outdoor spigots, and no sewerage fees are charged on that second water meter.

 

[nmassman44]

We have both meters..one for the house and one for the lawn/outside faucets. That does help quite a bit for us.

 

[imperial70]

something is rotten out there...

Yes, it is. It's called a "world" economy. So now we have more nations competing for the same oil. I think that is what happened to oil prices. We all want cheaper goods (including software, hardware for servers and our home laptops, etc) so we go to China and India. Now they are buying more cars using more electricity... needing more oil.

Things may still not add up. I don't know anymore. All I know is we have to figure out how to stay ahead of it all. I suspect we are the new 3rd world economy.

 

[mark_wpduet]

We used to get water/sewer/trash collection all on one bill. Now the water/sewer is on one bill and trash collection is on the other. The water runs about 22 to 25 per month, and the trash collection runs about the same. I'm always using between 3,000 and 3,700 gallons of water each month.

I really haven't paid attention to the rates quite honestly. I do remember when I got my Duet in 2005, I never noticed much change in my water bill? Now may be different. Not sure.