Electric use down 51%, $104 savings

I have never been in a household that looks forward to receiving its electric bill.  The bill arrived yesterday and we excitedly opened it to discover a pretty decent savings.  We’ve been working on reducing our electric use by switching out old appliances, particularly a commercial refrigerator.  We have also installed a gas dryer and water heater after discovering that propane costs half as much here as does electricity to create one BTU of heat. 

Our bill came in at $86.17 this month compared to an average of $220 from June of 2004 through May of 2005 and compared to $190.47 one year ago. 

The biggest user on our property surrounds our well.  We have a submersible pump over 250 feet in the ground and a pump-on-demand system.  The pump itself is 12-15 years old and shows some signs of being on its last leg, so it is time to think about a new pump anyway.  What we are researching is installing a holding tank of 2,000 gallons or more, a pump (submersible or not, we’re not sure) to pump into the reserve as it’s needed, and a solar pressure pump to pressure the water into the house. 

Of course, we could try to fill the tank in the top of the tank house with water and use gravity to pressure the water into the house like they did in 1910 when the house was completed.  But that reminds me of a conversation some years ago between my parents.  “Dwaine, what would be the easiest way to get the tank down from the tank house?”  “Fill it with water.”