Giant Carbon Footprint...and I Don't Care

I got up a little extra early this morning to get myself into the bath tub. Susan inaugurated it last night so I was now free to use it.

It's quite nice although really slippery. For Susan, she can't lean back and recline because she slides right down.

The shower handle has a really powerful spray. I like that feature.

I did notice that when I got out, the heated floor did not feel warm. I know it was on because I felt it when I walked in. I double checked the thermostat which displayed 97 degrees. That seems awfully hot to not feel it. Well, I am a major waster of resources. I have letter to prove it.

About every other month, we get a letter from Avista that tells us that we are really good customers. However, they couch it under the guise that we are wasteful. You'll notice that it tells me we are using 99% more electricity than our average neighbor.

Well, I would like to meet these neighbors. I don't think we are doing so bad if compared to a similar residence. Of course, our house is old and drafty. The windows and doors leak, even with window stripping. 

We also have a Carriage House that is even draftier than the house and has electric baseboard heat. Plus, we run two refrigerators, a full size freezer and two water heaters. Show me a neighbor within two miles that has a similar set up and then run the comparison.

They do offer helpful tips that will reduce our energy usage. They suggest for us to remember to change the filters in our furnace. We have a boiler with radiators and I can't figure out where the filter is supposed to go.

They also say we should hang our laundry to dry rather than use a dryer and weatherstripping our windows and doors will save up to $155.00 a year.

They tell us that over the last six months, our wasteful ways have cost us $247.00. That's about $42.00 a month. I can live with that!

I now look at this letter as a badge of honor. Avista considers us to be excellent customers. We use a LOT of their product and we pay our bill on time EVERY MONTH.