Actually... I was being facetious. I know that my electric bills are preposterously low.

Back before I left Alaska, and before I changed the house over to a very efficient Buderus oil-filed furnace, my house was total electric (don't blame me, that's how it was when I bought it!) and in the worst of the winter months my electric bill could run six hundred to seven hundred dollars. It was a big house, much bigger than I needed, and I kept most of the rooms at 45 degrees F (7 deg. C) because I wasn't using them. Had I kept the whole house at a comfortable temperature I could easily have run up a $1500 monthly bill.

Note that the electric rates are "preposterously low" only if you stay in the first and second tiers of the pricing structure. Heavy users are penalized. My neighbor across the street with a big swimming pool and a casual attitude about leaving lights on runs up bills in excess of two hundred dollars a month, compared to my usual twelve or so dollars.

tanstaafl.