Every month we get those electric bills that we have to pay for the amount of electricity we use. Last month I got my bill and realized that amount was already paid for! In fact, I had extra left over for the next month’s electric bill. How did this happen? There were two ways this happened. The first is that I actively work to keep my electric bill low by lowering my electric usage. As I mentioned once before (back in August), I got rid of giant energy guzzling old appliances, limit the time I have lights on and switched to LED lights for when I need light, and keep nearly all of my appliances unplugged when not in use.
The second way is by investing in the utility that delivers energy to my apartment. In my case, this was Consolidated Edison (ED) which pretty much holds the monopoly here in New York City. Back in January, I bought 58 shares of Con Edison and received my first dividend payment from ED last month. I also got my electric bill for last month. For March, my electric bill came to $29.34. That was not an estimated meter reading, that was based on the actual reading! Meanwhile, the dividend I received from Con Edison was $41.47. The dividend completely covered my electric bill for the month with $12.13 left over!
It is great to own the utility that you use! Con Ed literally billed me for electricity and then paid me more then what they billed me. I found this experience quite amusing. Heck, if I accumulated enough shares of ED I could have years of electricity without really paying a dime. That is the power of saving (in the form of lower bills by using less electricity) and investing (in the form of dividend payouts).
Now last month’s electrical energy escapade doesn’t end there.
I got a funny story to share of what happened in the last week of March. An energy salesman came to my door. I don’t know how he got into the building or how long he was in the building for. He may have been there awhile if he was knocking on doors all the way up to the fifth floor where I am. I wasn’t going to answer the door at first, but I saw his ID card and figured I’d listen to what he had to say. Plus, there are surveillance cameras everywhere in my building if he was dumb enough to try anything.
So, I opened my door and he seemed excited that someone finally opened the door for him. He said his name and that he was from so-and-so energy company and that my current electrical use was damaging the environment! I looked at him bizarrely. He said that any electrical use going over 55 kWh per month was damaging the environment and that I should use his energy which was eco-friendlier. The salesman said they would charge a fixed rate of 12.9 cents per kWh (essentially 13 cents) for the next 12 months. He said it was a great deal.
“Do you know how much electricity you use?” he asked me. He had no idea who he was dealing with. The salesman then asked if he could see my electric bill to show me my electrical usage (which he must have thought was very high). He was already to prove his point when I showed him my bill (blacked out the account info). “Oh…. Oh…” were the next words out of his month when he saw how low my electrical usage and bill was. My electrical use that month was only 50 kWh (it has been around that for the past 4 months). Below the 55kWh figure he mentioned when he said I was damaging the environment with my electricity use.
The shocked look on his face was priceless as he struggled to figure out what to say next. From that point on his sales pitch began to crumble. “Okay… well that’s good for the environment” he let slip before saying “but what about the summer months when your usage and bill will surely go up?” Even in the summer with the air-condition on it wasn’t anything too bad (plus I use the lights less during those months since it didn’t get dark until after 9 PM). As his sales pitch continued to crumble he asked if I kept anything plugged in. I was way ahead of him. I unplug everything that is not in use.
With the kWh part of his sales pinch in shambles, he returned to the fixed 12.9 cents per kWh rate. It would never get any higher for the next 12 months. But according to my bill I am only paying 7.48 cents per kWh and have been paying around that for months (the NY average cost is 20.2 cents per kWh). Why would I want to be charged 5.5 cents per kWh more each month? Even during the summer months, my usage wasn’t that high compared to those around me. And even if my usage jumped higher, it is only for two months of the year. Why would I want to pay more for the other 10 months?
He saw I wasn’t buying into it. His next line was “Suppose President Trump decides to raise utility rates 200%, well, your rate would never rise.” His sales pitch had all but crumbled at this point. Suppose a penguin falls out of the sky and threw my window, I should definitely buy penguin protection insurance for all the windows in my studio. Needless to say, he did not make the sale.
The poor guy did not know who or what he was up against. I actively keep my electric usage low and as a result my bill is lower. In fact, it was so low my dividends from 58 shares of Con Edison covered it with cash left over. And I have no problem with being eco-friendly. I purchase plenty of environmentally friendly products from the paper plates I used to my cat’s litter (which is made from recycled newspaper). In truth, the energy salesman probably did more environmental damage last month by driving his car place to place then I did just by living. (I don’t have a car, I walk everywhere. That’s healthy, eco-friendly, and saves me a ton of money)
So, all in all, it was a funny way to end a month that I got free energy. It is funny how it happened to work out like that. So how about the rest of your guys? Do you own any utility stocks that provide you with energy? Ever cover your entire energy bill with the dividends they provide you? Anybody try to sell you energy or a product you don’t need? lol. Let me know in the comments below. 😀
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