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We pay our electric bill using the managed payment plan, which is where the electric company breaks the total cost of our estimated use into 12 equal payments. I’ve done it that way for many years, and while I know that technically I’d be better off not paying extra in the low months and earning interest on the money instead, this is one place where I take less worry over a little more money. (Our bills can be horrifically high for about 5 months of the year, and I always worried that I wouldn’t have enough saved for that. And, they do give a discount if you participate.)

At any rate, November is when they recalculate and let you know the new amount. In the past ours has generally increased a little bit each year, due almost solely to across-the-board rate increases. This year our new payment amount went DOWN by more than 12%, even after rate increases were added in. Twelve percent! Who knew that buying a new front door would have that much of an effect?

You see, we replaced our old, ill-fitting, hardly-latching wooden door with a very nice fiberglass one last April, just before the heat hit. We made a few other changes in the last couple of months as well — installing about a half dozen CFLs and replacing a computer that previously acted like a heater, but I can’t believe those 2 changes would have contributed to such a difference in just a couple of months. So I’ve got to believe it’s the door, which is essentially going to pay for itself in a few years. And to think we were just happy to no longer have to lift it up and finagle it to get it to latch…

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