Some Good Information from Appalachian Power

Appalachian Power, which furnishes electricity to my house, has an interesting and useful feature with its monthly bill. The bill tells me not only how much electricity I have used in the previous month, but how much I used in the same period last year.

It gives me the average temperature of the period in those two years and gives the number of kilowatt hours I used on a given day.

What I've learned from this bill over the winter is that this has been a much colder winter than last year's was. The period between March 23 and April 23, for example, averaged 53 degrees this year and 60 last year. That's only seven degrees, but it's also about 15 percent. It's been that way pretty much all winter and I think it feels a lot colder this year because the chill has lasted well into the spring and last year we didn't get a winter at all.

The knowledge doesn't make this chill any less comfortable--especially when I'm watching my basil shrivel from last night's low temperatures--but it's good to know.

(Photo: favim.com)