My brother in law John is now retired and living with us here in Mexico. He is handicapped, but marginally able to look after himself, with autism, cerebral palsy, strabismus, and a few other problems. His whole life pretty much revolves around his Ekornes lounge chair and his cable television.

Probably 80% of his electrical usage is the Television, a flat-screen Sharp about 10 years old, something around 32" diagonal measurement. Maybe 2% of the bill is for lighting, the remaining 18% his refrigerator. He spends at least 15 hours per day watching the television, and is quite content in his limited world.

However... Mexican electricity rates are preposterously low -- UNTIL you pass the low-rate thresholds. It is a three-tiered system, and when you reach the third tier, your rates are perhaps four to five times what they are at the basic rate. John's usage is about to put him in the third tier. You reach third tier, the DAC rate (Domestic Alto Consumo) when your consumption over the previous 12 months totals 3,000 KWh or more. As long as your previous 12 months are over that magic number, you pay the top rate for every KWh you use.

To put in in perspective, my electric bill (for two of us, myself and SWMBO) with two desktop computers (we have to have two because of our religious differences: SWMBO is Macintosh, I am Windows) amounts to about $12--$13 per month. John is headed towards a $70/month bill if we don't do something to cut back his consumption.

Rationing the TV hours is not an option. It is literally all he has.

Are newer TVs enough more efficient to make it cost-effective to replace his old one? Are there other options, like VR goggle TV sets or something?

Ideas?

tanstaafl.