Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Highest Power Bill under the US Flag


When I ask friends and family in the States how much they are paying per kilowat hour for their power they don't really know. Why should they. Their power bill is what it is. They know if they conserve the bill will go down and if they don't the bill will stay the same or go up. A little. Here on Saipan you don't know from day to day what will happen. First, the power goes off every day for at least two hours, but at least half of time it goes off twice a day and sometimes for more than two hours. Last Thursday night it was off from 7pm-11pm and then off and on again for a while. To make up for the fact that the power engines are only about 40% efficent and that we have a 25% line loss on what is produced they need to make money somewhere.
To answer the above question, anyone in the US is paying about 10 cents per Kilowat hour. Some a little more, some a bit less, but this is the average. On Saipan we pay 38.7 cents per kilowat hour. Nearly 4 times the national average. Click on bill to see it better. Our Goat Family does not use that much power, although we use more than some people. For 707 kilowat hours in 29 days were were charged $256.86. They tack on another $27.26 in non-fuel charges (maybe I should pay them in non-money). Note: The past due amount on the bill is for a water dispute I have filed about my water bill.
We are going to do more to conserve. We are going to a gas stove for the top burners (still using electric on the oven). Installed these Intelliworks devices (only $30 each,you need two per home) and they seemed to save me some this month. We usually average 850 Kwh per month (and the power was going off then)now down to 707.
Well, at least the weather is good

Friday, June 20, 2008

A Family of Goats

I would like to introduce you to my family. I am Billy the Goat (not very creative I will admit). My six-year old son Randy the Goat (he picked it). My 3-year old daughter Mermaid the Goat (could have been "Princess")and my wife, Elephant the Goat (don't really know why). You may ask why we are goats. The answer is simple. Goats don't need power. Maybe you can play this game at your house. Maybe you can be sheep, or cows, or ducks. Oh, the wonderful things you can do when there is no power. Actually, my 6-year old gets very upset when the power goes off, but he quickly recovers. The 3-year old doesn't know any better. I sweat. The moon was full and very bright last night. It was beautiful. So the next time a coconut falls on your head, make coconut juice (or go to the hospital). Note: Below is shocking video (it is dark so facial features cannot be recognized) of what really happens when the lights go out on Saipan. Keep telling yourself, "It's only a video blog. It's only a video blog".

Wednesday, June 4, 2008


Flowers in our Yard





The Lovely Amaris is posing next to the flowers in our back (or is it front)yard. It's kinda hard to tell at our house. We have Yellow, White, and Red (Flame Tree). I pick her new flowers every morning before I go to work.