While it looks like there will be some 80+ degree days in our near future, it feels as though our super hot weather has finally broken. Looking back at those utility bills though, makes me start to sweat all over again. Why were our bills so high and why do they continue to be so much? I pay an average of $200 per month and I know that I am not the only one whose bills are that high.
A couple years ago, I did a research paper for a class I was taking and I found that there are communities that have renewable energy sources for their power and they pay less, waaaaay less, for their utility bills. I found a community in Rhode Island that pays $10 per month, every month, all year long for their commercial and residential utilities!
How is it that other communities pay less for their utility bills? Is there any way that we Hoosiers could have our monthly utility bills lowered? I have done a bit of research recently and here is what I have discovered.
I found that using solar energy is cheaper.
I know that last month’s hot temperatures sent AC units working around the clock and my sister-in-law paid over $300 for her utility bill. I also know that my brother, who had solar installed recently on his home, paid NOTHING for his utility bill last month. Now, this is not always the case; sometimes he has to pay $10, but the overall cost of his utility usage is far less than what I pay. And I most assuredly know that more than $200 or $300 per month for utilities is so much more expensive than $0 or $10.
I also found that Indiana was due to receive federal funding to install clean, renewable energy. What I do not understand is how our elected officials can sit back and watch over $117 million worth of investment leave the Hoosier state. Indiana was supposed to receive $117,470,000 out of the $7 billion EPA Solar For All program but as of August 7th, that funding has been terminated. I do not understand how any Hoosier legislator could do nothing as millions and millions and millions of dollars worth of clean energy investment leaves Indiana.
For those Hoosiers who would like to ask our representatives clean energy investment questions, please find your Indiana representatives at this website: https://iga.in.gov/information/find-legislators
Nicole Snider
Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter volunteer
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