[Marilyn]

gja1000, you are so fortunate to have the lower rate available to you in Austin. If you paid our rate, $0.167 your bill would be $366.73. Not too far below us.

Hubby and I have been talking about it, and we are going to start raising the thermostat and see if we can handle it higher. We'll do it gradually. We had it at 75 in the bedroom last night, and slept fine, and did not use the ceiling fan. I'm going to raise it to 76 tonight and see what happens. We're going to try to get to 78 all the time with the fans going if needed and see what we can do. I hang quite a few of our outer clothes on hangers to dry, but have to dry the towels, sheets, and underwear. I've raised the thermostat upstairs to 80. We'll just see what happens. We had all of our blinds closed all day today (I don't like being all closed in, but oh well) and changed out a few more bulbs to the small florescents.

We also pay the bill at hubby's office, and he said his last bill was around $180, but he has not received the latest one yet. He's expecting it to be over $200. He pays a higher rate than we do at home because it is a business. Phone, internet, everything is much higher than for a residence. His office is six rooms if you count the restroom and little kitchenette. He's taking a fan to work to put on his desk while he's drafting on his computer. He has to keep it comfortable for meetings in his conference room, though. Can't have the clients uncomfortable.

Diana, we don't get a break here for total electric, and Janet, the temperature differential is so small when we raise and lower our thermostats during the day that it does should not affect the efficiency that much. If we shut the units completely off and were trying to cool down a hot house, that would be different. We're just talking about a few degrees, and the recovery time is pretty quick.