Anybody who lives in Juneau or has been following the story knows our community is in crisis.  To catch anybody else up to speed, Wednesday morning at about 4:00 there was a massive avalanche that destroyed over a mile and a half of power line and several towers just a few miles north of our hydroelectric plant which is 40 miles south of downtown. 

Our electrical rates are expected to increase from about 11 cents per kilowatt hour to at least 50 cents per kilowatt hour and stay that way until everything can be repaired, which could take months.

Our community has asked the state of Alaska to declare a state of emergency and has requested funding to get us through this crisis.  In the meantime, while we are operating on diesel, everyone is being asked to do their part to conserve energy.  At normal levels of consumption it is expected that AEL&P will need 100,000 gallons of diesel to keep the city running - DAILY.

Last January, we had our highest electrical usage month with 2742 kilowatts used.  That bill was $275.39.  Since then, both of our sons have moved on, so our usage is considerably less.  This most recent bill shows total kilowatts used as 1412 and a bill of $173.28.

This morning while setting up an online profile at our electrical utility, I needed a meter reading from a bill that hadn't shown up yet.  I learned our usage climbed up a little to 1851 kilowatt hours for the last billing period.  Ouch.  We've got some work to do in this household!

Over the next several days, I will be studying electrical usage and passing along the tips from our family so that others may conserve as well.  Stay tuned!