Utility Bill Increases

I wanted to look at my utility bills to see how much they have increased over the past 10 years. I’ve maintained my household spending records since 1966 and have put them on a spreadsheet since 1993. My actual annual utility bill costs for 2008 and 2018 are below.

Annual Utility Bill – 2008 – 2018 - Diff

Electric  $2304.00  $3124.57 +$820.57

Gas       $1991.61  $1818.69  -$172.92

Water    $520.69    $1336.75  +$816.06

Cable    $714.38    $1277.74  +$563.36

Phone   $724.82    $1202.85  +478.03

Long D  $271.58    $206.94    -$64.64

Internet $730.00     $758.25   +$28.25

Total     $7265.08   $9725.79  +$2460.71

Over the past 10 years, my Utility Bills have increased 34%.

My Georgia Natural Gas and Affinity4 and Long Distance Phone bills have gone down and my Earthlink Internet stayed the same, but my Georgia Power Electric, DeKalb Water & Sewer, Comcast Cable and AT&T Phone bills have increased.

DeKalb Water and Sewer more than doubled from $520.69 to 1336.75 annually and wins the trophy for a 157% increase in cost.  DeKalb is famous for sink holes from leaky water distribution pipes and leaky sewer lines from 100 years of decay and lack of maintenance and replacement. DeKalb is the poster child for county government incompetence, but I don’t intend to move.

Comcast Cable almost doubled from $714.38 to $1277.74 with a 79% increase of $563.36. We moved to Atlanta in 1983 and joined Comcast when US Cable TV had good programming, but was in decline along with the culture. Now it’s a struggle to find anything worth watching.

AT&T Land Line Phone increased from $724.82 to $1202.85 with a 66% increase of $478.03. AT&T owns the infrastructure and the outside guys are good, but the inside guys are worthless. AT&T uses its phone business as a cash cow to fund its expanding Liberal Media Empire. I would be happy to leave AT&T, but costs are the same.

Georgia Power Electric increased from $2304.00 to $3124.57 with a 36% increase of $820.57. Georgia Power is facing $34 billion at Plant Vogtle in nuclear plant expansion construction costs. I blame excessive regulations designed to discourage nuclear, incompetent contractors and Georgia Power and Southern Company executives. To be politically correct, they are installing solar farms to produce electricity at 11 cents per kwh, when coal costs 2 cents per kwh and hydro costs 0.2 cents per kwh. They are a protected monopoly.

I refuse to bundle phone, cable and internet, because the discounts go away in a year and the services are the same. My Internet address has been Mindspring since 1996 and my phone number has been the same since 1983.

I would like to find politically conservative, non-union utility vendors for phone and electric, but there are none.

Atlanta Journal Constitution daily newspaper was $223.02 per year in 2004. Now the AJC is $735.36 per year. It more than doubled by $512.34 with an increase of 230%. I get my news by google-searching it by topic. I am alerted to important topics by Fox News and Fox Business News.

We are about to quit this useless Liberal Propaganda Rag.

I congratulate Georgia Natural Gas, Affinity4 Long Distance and Earthlink for keeping their costs low. I congratulate the oil industry for developing fracking to increase the production of natural gas and keep the prices low. I congratulate Toyota for developing the Prius Hybrid with 60 mpg.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader