Yeap! It's amazing, but we are going to see more and more extreme weather events with climate change, so having a backup is a great idea!

Plus, there is just something about having a stove heating the room.

Already did. They direct you to the PUC website to file complaints

Just about every heat pump made nowadays goes down to -5f pretty efficiently.

May explain why my electric bill doubled for no reason.

As someone who works in IT, yeah this is the answer. So much of the software in our world is held up by popsicle sticks and good intentions - it's a miracle anything works.

I agree the police are not ideal, this requires a new position that is a hybrid response of someone trained in mental health and first deescalation. A key aspect that is often overlooked is situational assessment to know how to respond. My ex is a psychologist and many times said they would definitely not be effective to be sent by 911 into a mental health situation that has deteriorated into a dangerous situation because the ability to know how to prevent further escalation involves an understanding of the cause to know how to interact with that person first, an almost impossible task without that person seeking help beforehand. Introspection is extremely difficult because we are all different and there is no benchmark of perfect mental health to constantly compare ourselves to and when a mental health crisis has elevated to the point of the it effecting others in negative ways and in most cases someone directly involved not being able to be aware they need help or who to even call, 911 is the universally known place to call for help me is often called by someone who is not the person who needs the help themselves. A new mental health offering needs to be added to emergency services to go along with the fire, police and medical offerings that are currently the standard. But this is a step towards that, since such trained personnel are not yet available.

People think I'm old school paying with checks but the fact is the law provides you significantly more rights and protections paying by check via USPS than any automated payment system.

Absolutely. Not saying it isn’t.

Buying firewood for heating tends to be less cost-effective than installing a heat pump. If you have the land and the means to farm your own wood, do that. Else, use an alternative.

Of course, its not all about finances, but in these times, we should all be doing what we can.

They’re about to have their worst quarter in at least a year. I doubt anyone is getting a bonus

Fireplaces, unlike wood stoves, are terribly inefficient. The only reason I recommend them though is for comfort and when the temp gets so cold outside, heat pumps lose the ability to work effectively. Geothermal solves this problem but is still super pricey.

Solar is also a must-have if you can fit it into the budget now as well.

It goes back to my original point though, that's only for those that are privileged enough to own a home. Those of us that aren't are just going to keep falling deeper and deeper into the hole with no way out.

I recently bought a cord of "seasoned" firewood and it was all greenwood. The seller got me. I want to use it for my wood stove for heat. I searched online and it was probably one of the top 3 places that came up in the search. I would never buy from them again. I would definitely buy wood if I knew it really was seasoned

Thats true. My tank usually gets filled around halfway and has a 300-400 bill this year.

We own and we have multiple fireplaces which we don’t use since it’s not practical. Our bills were never this high but the last year or two the costs have exploded.

Our bill has been a steady $450 and we don’t have electric heat, just a wood stove. We had an energy idiot and everything and no one can tell us what the issue is aside from “rates have gone up”.

Fucking wild.

where are you at? I'm outside Lancaster and I work selling windows/doors/lumber. I can give you a good price

It is. Oil is running $1k per fill up at this point.

Based on the timing of the loss of data, I'm pretty sure they screwed up their on-call scheduling around Christmas. Someone was supposed to get paged who didn't or didn't see it and they lost the data over the long weekend.

I'm going to start monitoring my electric meter a lot more closely

PPL said help, including payment plans, can be found at pplelectric.com/billhelp or by calling PPL at 1-800-342-5775.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has initiated a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding unusually high bills recently received by customers served by PPL Electric Utilities, along with the accuracy and integrity of PPL's billing practices.

Edit

The phone number provided has a recording due to the number of calls.

Edit

Average wait time for calls are 4 hours

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Programs offered

OnTrack agency can answer your questions. Tri County Community Action 1514 Derry Street Harrisburg, PA 17104 717-232-9757 | PPLONTRACK@cactricounty.org Proof of income necessary

OnTrack offers a lower fixed monthly payment to income-eligible customers. Are you eligible? Check out the income table below. Then fill out our quick and easy online application. A specialist will review your application and let you know if you’re enrolled.

LIHEAP — bill must be overdue for weeks or months to apply

LIHEAP offers two types of grants: cash and crisis. You may be eligible for both. You don’t need an overdue heating bill to be eligible. You can apply whether you rent or own your home.

Stardard Offer PPL —change energy provider as PPL remains middle man/broker

energy education— ask to explain bill and/or request an audit if bill doesn’t seem correct

Edit

LIHEAP and Ontrack both use a income chart for eligibility

If you own, work on getting a heat pump, and I like a wood or pellet stove as a backup for when it gets really, really cold.

Most of us rent through, and our landlords are doing whatever is cheapest for them, which is often the most expensive for us.

We have the main part of the house set at 55 and individual rooms are set according to whose room it is (each bedroom/bathroom has its own thermostat). It still massively sucks.

At least you got a deal! You could be me buying a house with known problems and not a good deal lol

>I'm currently between 66-68° in the house which is just... Not fun

I've never kept the house warmer than that. It's amazing how different all of our tolerances are.

I also lower the heat to 60 every night, and it doesn't turn back on until the kids are getting home from school. Really cuts down on the cost.

People who say shit like “accidentally”, acting like there’s some sort of conspiracy, are fucking morons who have no idea how janky the systems at utilities are, or how incompetent their employees are.

This is a good old fashioned cock-up. To be malicious or sinister simply doesn’t make sense because they won’t keep the money and it just costs them money to fix. Stop assuming stupid shit because it feeds a narrative you’ve bought into.