GA Natural Gas Rates for May

[Sonja Ebron]

This month's energy tip: Placing an insulating blanket around your
water heater costs less than $20 and pays for itself in less than a
year.

If you have an annual contract for natural gas and you don't check the
rates when you're eligible to switch, you could end up with a variable
rate that empties your pocket each month. Marketers quote only the gas
rates, but your bill includes customer service fees and other charges
that add up. Be sure to compare annual "Apples-to-Apples" rates, which
include everything but taxes.

As published by the PSC, here are the "Apples-to-Apples" rates (with
typical May bills) offered by Georgia marketers for annual contracts
signed this month:

1) Coweta-Fayette EMC (877-RINGEMC): $1.38/therm or $57.90
2) GasKey (877-GAS-1KEY): $1.36/therm or $57.42
3) Georgia Natural Gas (877-850-6200): $1.36/therm or $57.89
4) Infinite Energy (877-342-5434): $1.37/therm or $57.53
5) Scana Energy (877-GO-SCANA): $1.40/therm or $58.69
6) Shell Energy (877-67-SHELL): $1.42/therm or $59.26
7) Southern Company Gas (866-SOCO-GAS): $1.46/therm or $60.59
8) Vectren Source (866-200-5693): $1.44/therm or $60.11
9) Walton EMC (866-WEMCGAS): $1.36/therm or $57.33
[See
http://www.psc.state.ga.us/gas/marketerpricing/2005/May05/may05gmpl.asp
for more info.]

To choose a new marketer, call them at the number above and sign up for
a one-year fixed rate. They will order Atlanta Gas Light to transfer
your account, and you will be switched to your new marketer on the 1st
of next month if you call by the 19th.

Sonja Ebron
blackEnergy
http://www.blackenergy.com/
Energy Co-ops... the Power to Empower

[TheNIGHTCRAWLER]

Post by Sonja Ebron
This month's energy tip: Placing an insulating blanket around your
water heater costs less than $20 and pays for itself in less than a
year.

I know people who install water heaters for people that don't insulate
their hot water.

Their aughta be a law :-)

Plain as the nose on a cows face. In the words of one of my venerable
public teachers.

BTW. Clark Howard, not so very long ago renovated his heating system to
include a recirculating system that keeps hot water in the lines so he
didn't have to run the water for 2 hours before the water was warm
enough to shower or bathe.

Apparently any adequate plumber can do this in any home. I'll ask
tomorrow and let ya know. $300 -$400? One water heater, two water
heaters, some fancy recirc thing.... I dunno. But, I'll ask.

NC
(As always, love hearing from ya.)

[Gary James]

Post by Sonja Ebron
This month's energy tip: Placing an insulating blanket around your
water heater costs less than $20 and pays for itself in less than a
year.

I bought a new hot water heater a couple of years back and it has
clear instructions NOT to wrap in insulation.

[Sonja Ebron]

The latest gas water heaters have very high efficiency and don't need
insulating blankets. Other than covering the flue at the top, there's
no safety issue with insulating them anyway. But you're right --- you
don't need one on a very new heater. Still, there's no such thing as
too much insulation... The rule is: If your heater is ever warm to the
touch, put a blanket on it.

Sonja Ebron
blackEnergy
http://www.blackenergy.com/
Energy Co-ops... the Power to Empower

[TheNIGHTCRAWLER]

Post by Sonja Ebron
The latest gas water heaters have very high efficiency and don't need
insulating blankets. Other than covering the flue at the top, there's
no safety issue with insulating them anyway. But you're right --- you
don't need one on a very new heater. Still, there's no such thing as
too much insulation... The rule is: If your heater is ever warm to the
touch, put a blanket on it.
Sonja Ebron

Nice save.

And if it's on fire the insulation wasn't a good one :-)

Spend some time at this place... It's fun, it's informative, it's
educational. All my favorites! It shows the problems Clark Howard had
to work through.

http://www.clarkpublicutilities.com/Residential/TheEnergyAdviser/Archives2003/03_03_23
Add a recirculation pump. Another way to ensure that you have hot water
at the tap all the time is to circulate the hot water through the pipes
all the time, using a recirculation pump. A small electric pump
circulates water though a continuous plumbing loop from the water heater
to all the faucets in the house.

Because the hot water is continuously circulating in the pipes, when you
call for hot water at the faucet, you get hot water immediately. This
sounds like the perfect system until you realize that you currently
don’t have a continuous plumbing loop – you must install the additional
piping needed to create essentially twice as much plumbing.
Additionally, since the circulation pump requires electricity to
circulate the water continuously, and hot water moving through the pipes
all the time increases heat loss from the pipes, expect your electrical
costs to go up.
http://www.clarkpublicutilities.com/Residential/TheEnergyAdviser/Archives2003/03_03_23

TheNIGHTCRAWLER
(Everyone should be trained so well.)

[Sonja Ebron]

Thanks for a fantastic resource, NC. I'm always searching (at the last
minute, mind you) for a good energy tip, and Clark's Energy Advisor has
some good in-depth material.

I am always happy to see your posts here. Thanks for your support. Now
if I can just get you to join our co-op ;-]...

Sonja Ebron
blackEnergy
http://www.blackenergy.com/
Energy Co-ops... the Power to Empower