THE ABSOLUTE BEST ADVICE YOU WILL RECEIVE ALL YEAR!!!

The above title says it all. The following advice that I am about to give to all of you reading this right now is the BEST you will receive all year. But before I spill the beans, I must first disclose it's origin.

On November 1st of this year I was engaged in a telephone conversation with my mother. Because she is alone and I am concerned for her, we often speak on the phone. The conversation was going its usual way until she mentioned something she had seen on a T.V. sitcom. According to her, an actor on this certain sitcom made a statement, one she thought she had never heard before. The actor said to his sitcom wife that she should unplug the toaster once she had finished using it. The actress asked why. The actor responded that although the appliance was no longer turned on, the mere fact that it was still plugged in meant that the appliance was still drawing current. At that point I am unsure as to what the next exchange was due to the fact that my mother was recounting it. Mom asked me if I had ever heard of this before and then informed me that SHE had pulled practically every plug in her apartment. She then went on to tell me how her ELECTRIC BILL HAD BEEN REDUCED BY HALF since she started this practice. I ran her words around inside my head. I had never heard of such a thing. Even with my knowledge of electricity, having owned a home remodeling business for years, these statements were very new and puzzling. I honestly thought mom had "lost it." I thoroughly questioned her on every aspect of life in her apartment and if she had changed anything else in addition to "unplugging." She assured me she had not. At that point, I realized the only way to prove her claims was to see for myself. I decided on that day, November 1st, to unplug every cord in the house. I left two plugged in: the two behind our bed's headboard, the ones that power our digital alarm clocks. They were too inconvenient to access. The only other things plugged in were mine and my wife's computers, the battery charger to a power screwdriver and the battery charger to a small beard and mustache trimmer.

And then I waited. I made sure to unplug everything immediately after using it. When our monthly electric bill arrived, I was shocked. Because the bill reflects electric usage from mid-month to mid-month, I could only view the results of exactly 16 days worth of unplugging. According to the bill, dated November 18, 2009, the total kilowatt hours used between 10/20 and 11/16 amounted to 882. THAT wasn't the amazing thing. The AMAZING thing was LAST YEAR'S record of usage for the exact same time period (drum roll please) 1,223. AND don't forget that November's bill reflected only 16 days of my unplugging task. A whole month's worth would really reflect my savings.

Now, some of you may be skeptical. But I assure you that the same living conditions, habits, days at home, and thermostat heating temperatures had not changed from year to year. Today, December 22, I received the electric bill for the period 11/16 to 12/16. The total kilowatt usage for this period is 1,376. And as I write this and view the kilowatt usage for the exact same time period last year, I am amazed. Last year's total: 1,680. A difference of over 300 kilowatt hours. In dollars this amounts to roughly a $25.00 savings over last year's bill for December. I expect all following bills to be greatly reduced also.

Now comes the question: WHY ISN'T THIS INFORMATION PRINTED IN GIANT BOLD LETTERS ON EVERY ELECTRIC BILL MAILED IN THIS COUNTRY? Why isn't this money saving, energy saving tip splashed all over the T.V. and newspapers? Why hasn't President Obama held a national press conference telling each and every one of us how easily we can save a SIGNIFICANT amount of money on our electric bills? Maybe he doesn't know. Maybe somebody should tell him. But then, it's easy to see why the electric companies keep this little tidbit of information from us. Imagine the lost revenue incurred by them if every person could cut $20 to $30 from their electric bill.

I intend to shout this information from the highest mountain. HALLELUJAH!! LOWER BILLS AT LAST, LOWER BILLS AT LAST!! Join me America in spreading the good word. Send folks you know here to read this for themselves. Comment on this article if you already know this information. Start an email chain telling everyone how to pocket some extra cash in these hard times. Let's get Congress to pass a bill that all electric companies must publish this TIP on every bill to every customer. If we need a GREEN solution, there is no better one that I can think of. Thank you for your time. Ray.