Anyone see their Dec Utility Bill yet? [View all]

[Nictuku]

My jaw is still on the floor. Last month my PGE bill (for an all electric household, we don't have gas).....
The billing cycle is about a month behind current use.
Bill paid end of Oct: $204
Bill paid end of Nov $243

BILL PAID END OF DEC: $565.00 !!!!!!

We do everything we can do to conserve. We don't have the heat on over night. We turn it off between 4pm and 9pm. My mom is 84, and while I can put more and more layers on (my rooms are downstairs and colder, our mini split heater is upstairs for mom).

So, I have to get my mom to use the electric throw I got her as much as she can during the day and limit how much we use the heat. I'm really scared what the next bill is going to be, given how cold it has been and now much mom has been using the heater. I'm going to have to retrain her. I had to further diminish my quickly disappearing savings just to pay all the bills this month. This is not sustainable. I've stopped using the ceramic wall heaters for downstairs. It is cold, but I have layers.

I'm still in shock over the bill. I'm scared of what the next bill for January is going to be, and then there is Feb. After that it should start warming up some. Even though summers are very hot here, we don't use the AC on the mini split in summer, instead, I installed a huge Swamp Cooler which seems to do the trick (costs a lot less than the AC).

What a state our society is coming to. Can't afford to stay warm. Can't afford to get all the groceries we used to. Both mom and I are on fixed incomes and there is not a lot of flexibility.

/rant off (I needed to get that shock off my chest)