That's right, those are really cheap rates for electricity. Here in southern California they use a tiered rate system that charges more the more you use. The first 276 KWH is 13 cents a KWH. The next tier is 15 cents a KWH. I expect my 21 tube monster fluorescent light fixture to push me this month into tier 3 where they charge 24 cents a KWH. Tier 4 is 27 cents a KWH and tier 5 is 31 cents a KWH. We pay more for almost everything in California except food. Regular gas is now $3.59 a gallon, and home and land prices are some of the highest in the country.

Oh, Tricia, that story is too cute! :) I had a friend who went to MIT in the 80s. I remember her telling me about the mix-in ice cream shops "on every corner....like bars or taverns in other places, but here it's ice cream instead of booze!". I got a coupon for a freebie at Coldstone when I moved here. It's...well...it was free so I got what I paid for. They've since closed. In Durham NC, there used to be an indy called Francesca's. The BEST ice cream. Wonder if it's still there....

The best deal in town is $3.09 for regular. The down side is that station only has 2 pumps and no where to line up safely as the pumps are almost on the road. I scoot in when there is a clear opening, otherwise I shop the local WaWa stations for the next best price and put in just barely enough until the next opening at the low priced gas station. Kim

I should have updated this thread again. In June, our air conditioner died. Something electrical - it would run for 5 minutes, make a loud grinding sound, and then shut off and trip the switch on the panel. Called an AC company out to repair it, said that he could repair it but that it was on it's last legs. Didn't surprise me - it's 8 years old, extremely cheap builder special, and we used it year-round, almost every day, both day and night. Life of a normal use AC unit is 10-12 years. So, we opted to replace it, and got an American Standard unit - very nice. This thing is silent - our old unit sounded like an airplane roar. No joke. We had a very hot summer again, September being the worst. Rates did go up too as they said last summer. Last summer we hovered between 750-900, and this summer? The September bill was $495. NO JOKE. And that's even AFTER the rate hike. I can't even imagine if we had the old unit - it would have been well over a thousand dollars. Our new unit will pay for itself very quickly. Moral of the story - if you are running a builder special AC unit and your bill is high - replace it. It'll be worth it.