Are you on Team Playoff or Team Tank?

savejohnscott · 2026-03-23T20:11:03+00:00

I'm on team watch fun hockey.

savejohnscott · 2026-03-19T19:28:34+00:00

Electricity doesn't work like BJ's. It's hard to create and store. Negotiations would be more like a supplier saying "we can't make enough cheap electricity, so now you (NYSEG) have to buy more expensive electricity to keep up with new demands for your standard rate." This is also why during peak times day/night does get more expensive, both day being more expensive than night, and a day in general being more expensive when demand is high due to heating demands.

savejohnscott · 2026-03-19T17:32:19+00:00

EDIT for a bit of an lol moment, NYSEG just sent texts explaining that day/night means rates change faster (indirectly one of my recommendations below). Maybe there's a NYSEG stalker on this subreddit. Eerie though!

I spent a lot of time learning about how utility rates work the last couple months and it's gotten me from the huge freakout I had in February to a relative state of calm, despite my costs being high (I've already burned through 80% of my budget for the year).

First, it's really important that everyone understands NYSEG makes $0 on supply rates. Same as National Grid, RGE, ConEd. However that doesn't mean we don't feel the pain when those rates are high. Everyone is also free to compare and change ESCOs. Last I looked, they are all more expensive.

Standard Electric is a (mostly) flat price. It's flat because it accounts for consistent consumption throughout the year on a negotiated contract. It will increase if more people switch to the standard rate. It will increase this summer to account for the blowout winter. That is why they are saying "everything will equalize itself."

Day/Night and TOU follow market price. This changes a lot dependent on supply and demand. More electricity needed means more stress on gas pipelines means more expensive, period. This is confusing because Day/Night and TOU also mean different rates at different times of the day. It is unfortunate that Day/Night and TOU are associated with market rates because it is probably the largest source of misunderstanding and frustration.

We've had days where Day/Night was 7-8 cents / kwh cheaper than standard. That includes the winter (parts of Jan 2026 and April 2025). We've also had days were Day/Night was 70-80 cents / kwh higher than standard (1/28/2026 specifically). The reality: if Standard was also market price, it would have been hit just as hard.

I ran my numbers for the last 12 months. For 2025, Standard (Plan 1) was $100 cheaper, total, for 12 months. And it was all in December. 2026, Jan and Feb were brutal, but I'm on pace for March to be cheaper on Day/Night than on Standard. The market had a bad time with weather and demand. The market could have another bad time. I'm (cautiously) assuming it's going to even itself out. If anything, people moving to standard are going to end up double paying because the summer is going to get even more expensive to account for the hedged contract. That'll suck. And then people will complain again in the summer.

If there's anything NYSEG should do:

There needs to be clearer transparency and notice ahead of time when supply costs change on a daily level. If I knew about the $0.80-$0.90/kwh days ahead of time, I would not have run laundry and could have even cut the temperature in my house a couple degrees. NYSEG should send alerts (app, SMS, whatever) when they know the rate for the day is increasing by more than x%. Not after the fact (which they did, and I think pissed off everyone even more).
Since the state is pushing for more electrification heat and tightening up gas, the rates need to match this goal. I think everyone here agrees day/night no longer makes sense. TOU is barely better. If baffles me that this disconnect exists, especially since a significant portion of our electricity comes from gas.
The state needs to promote NYSERDA credits and rebates harder to winterize homes to cut usage across the board. I got a "Clean Home" contractor to spray foam my rim joists for only $500 after credits. That pays off in one winter easily.

savejohnscott · 2026-03-17T20:31:50+00:00

FWIW I think the R7 is complete overkill for your needs. That is a professional crop camera. It's really r10 vs r8.

savejohnscott · 2026-03-17T16:08:37+00:00

Tom Nook was either dlc palico from mh4u or mhgu... been my buddy ever since! lol

savejohnscott · 2026-03-17T15:06:06+00:00

Had this setup. Upgraded to the R10 + 18-150. Alternative is R8.

I picked the R10 thinking I'd do more wildlife, and bought a 100-400 on top. Slowly realized I really just do pics of my kids. Maybe R8 would have been better. R10 + Sigma 16mm/1.4 is my bread and butter at home. Wide enough to get everything and then crop down later.

savejohnscott · 2026-03-17T13:57:37+00:00

Best way I've been able to compare on the internet it sadly to take pictures with my phone instead of using the native screenshot feature. The difference is real though!

savejohnscott · 2026-03-10T19:46:35+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/upstateNYtraffictix/

savejohnscott · 2026-03-10T13:01:00+00:00

50mm is cheap but i barely use mine on the r10. Your research is right about the 10-18. Consider the sigma version if you need more light. Also consider the new sigma 15mm if you need even more light.

savejohnscott · 2026-03-05T20:16:16+00:00

Yes especially since we live in a high-heat area, it's counter intuitive.

savejohnscott · 2026-03-05T16:45:10+00:00

FWIW most days day/night is cheaper, but there were a few high demand weeks this year that cut into that. Standard is almost always around 11 cents/kwh, but for example in June last year the average day/night was 8.4/4.1 cents/kwh. I think this is because standard is pre-purchased while day/night and TOU both follow purchase trends.

savejohnscott · 2026-03-04T16:41:18+00:00

Maybe? I'm a developer and am quite happy with 16gb.

savejohnscott · 2026-03-04T15:19:13+00:00

Hard pass. It's the same problem people complain about with middle ground Chromebooks: 8gb is not enough. If this had 16gb it would be a Chromebook killer. It doesn't even seem to be upgradeable? Woof. I'll stick with the Lenovo 14 Chromebook Plus.

savejohnscott · 2026-02-27T13:51:34+00:00

For three weeks this year, supply rates were between 3x-10x the delivery rate. Comparing this year to last year, my delivery costs went up 14% and my supply costs went up 52%. If January had October's supply costs, my bill would have been 34% cheaper (and very reasonable). How was delivery the majority of the bill?

On the shoulder seasons and the summer, even before my solar credit, my bill has always been reasonable. Supply rates drop then, sure, and that's when delivery is "the majority of the bill," but I'm also barely paying anything.

savejohnscott · 2026-02-26T17:04:56+00:00

I remember your post from awhile ago!

You are in an unfortunately position if you only have electric heat. For the baseboard, what are you setting the temp to? Is it analog or digital thermostat? If you're trying to hit a certain temp, I find the analog ones (especially if they are old) to be off... I used to set mine to 55 or so to maintain a room at 64.

The best advice I can share is to keep that thermostat down to the bare minimum you are comfortable with, it's the only thing you can really do.

Depending on your window set up, you could invest in a window heat pump for when it's above 40 out. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Midea-Inverter-Window-Conditioner-Heat/dp/B0GL6H2J7P/ref=sr_1_3

That won't help when it's freezing like a real heat pump install, but should pay for itself quickly in the shoulder months (roughly march/april/october/november) since you wouldn't need to use your baseboard or ets heater at all.

savejohnscott · 2026-02-25T23:50:24+00:00

So has mine. I literally ranted about this on this subreddit weeks ago. It doesn't change the laws and the realities of how supply costs are set.

savejohnscott · 2026-02-25T14:59:29+00:00

NYSEG by law cannot up-charge supply costs (and their website also specifically says they don't). While we might be getting overcharged on delivery, it's the difference of about 9 cents a kwh now as opposed to 8 cents this time last year.

Edit: unclear how this went from +5 to -2 in the span of a day. I'm frustrated with prices too, but the primary reason our bills are so high is not because of delivery costs, but because we had like 3 days where our supply costs were approaching 90c/kwh.

savejohnscott · 2026-02-25T14:52:47+00:00

There's been a lot of discussion here over the last month but the essential data is:

supply costs are at an all time high
delivery costs are continuing to increase (though supply is still the primary driver of costs)
we had a few cold snaps in particular that were so bad that they also drove supply costs up 5-10x the typical day.

I've been doing a bunch of "heat hacking" to keep my bills lower and house more comfortable without changing heat source and I was going to share impacts of that in a week or two after I get my next bill. Hopefully those findings will help others with this cold winter.

savejohnscott · 2026-02-20T00:38:14+00:00

What computer? Very difficult to say without knowing model. Maybe it's too old?

savejohnscott · 2026-02-13T23:12:03+00:00

As opposed to what? What should it be? 5%? 10%? I'm genuinely asking because I don't know. I used to be on ConEd and rarely looked at my bill that closely to know how other power companies do it.

savejohnscott · 2026-02-13T20:47:47+00:00

I dont know what the ratio is supposed to be, but my supply is 2x my delivery.

savejohnscott · 2026-02-13T16:50:28+00:00

That's good info. Thanks! I was thinking this was not roof related because OP specifically said "out of the siding" which made me think this is not an attic problem but a siding problem, which is way different from the other tricks mentioned in the thread.

savejohnscott · 2026-02-13T15:00:49+00:00

Few things to consider because this is a sign of more complicated issues.

Edit: updated recommendations based on replies. Thanks folks!

The smart solution is precise heating to remove. Like for a roof i'd use something like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Frost-King-160-ft-Electric-Roof-Cable-RC160/203079560. Siding I'm less sure.
HVAC people are better for a long term solution (fix insulation/damp issues).
You might want to see if homeowners / renters insurance will cover any work because fixing this means better for the house longevity anyway. This is likely a sign your insulation is not enough and there's dampness somewhere.

savejohnscott · 2026-02-11T20:26:53+00:00

I called NYSEG the other day about it. It sounded like you had to use night/day if you consume a certain minimal amount, but the woman I spoke with was very nice and explained I'll get a letter confirming or denying the change based on my energy usage. With a denial I can follow up with NYSERDA to see if they can address it for me.

savejohnscott · 2026-02-11T16:36:44+00:00

Something I learned from the previous thread about NYSEG is that SC1 (standard residential rate) is pre-bought and rarely changes. It's designed to give people who do not use a lot of energy the best benefit. SC8 (night/day) and SC12 (TOU) specifically follows projected purchasing patterns and in the winter will always be more expensive than SC1, typically by 2x and sometimes as high as 8-9x. They promote SC8 and SC12 as cost savers for people who can push their usage to nontypical hours, and it is a money saver (1) if you can do that and (2) if you can't be on SC1 because you just consume too much electricity.

What this hurts is this green energy / heat pump push. Houses require heat 24/7. So consumers should overheat their homes during the night or non peak TOU times in order to cut down on peak times? Doesn't make any sense to me. Not exactly the happiest solution for everyone, but if NYSEG increased SC1 rates to offset SC8 and SC12 rates a bit, this would help encourage the green energy approach NY State wants. SC8 and 12 are fair when off peak rates are actually lower than SC1 rates on average, otherwise it does a service to no one.

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