Makes your blood boil, doesn't it? Whilst we are all under pressure from rising bills, British Gas announce record profits - on the back of a 15% rise in prices last month.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7256096.stm

We have the same problem here in the States. Natural gas to heat homes and automobile gas (I believe you guys call that "petrol") have all been on high increases (I currently paid $3.19/gallon on my last fill-up) while the major gas companies are posting record profits and bonuses.

Of course we can always do things more efficiently, like buy hybrid cars (if you are in the market for a new vehicle) or car pool with co-workers, or cut down on daily travel - but there's something screwy when prices rise exponentially and so do profits. IMO it's not right.

:D Don't get me started on Petrol (gas!) prices :D When I was there last year I was pleasantly surprised how cheap fuel was ;) Our petrol here is now somewhere between $9 & $10 a gallon depending where you end up buying it. We are fortunate to have smaller cars and more efficient engines though. No way you could run a US monster truck at our prices any more!

I am back in June for a Summer vacation and have booked myself a gas guzzler to drive around in, but know it will still work out so much cheaper than driving at home.

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Just got a letter in the post stating that my energy costs are rising yet again. Up another 5% from 8th February on both Gas & Electric :(

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. . . they're just too bloody greedy eh ;)

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BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

Yep :(

MY SETI consumption is over 1KWH now, so a 5% increase is only another 15pence per day ($0.30) so it's not going to break the bank, but it's money I'd rather not pay the fat cat share holders all the same.

(For those outside of the UK, the Government stupidly privatised our utility companies some years ago and now they are all about making profit, not providing an essential service).

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(For those outside of the UK, the Government stupidly privatised our utility companies some years ago and now they are all about making profit, not providing an essential service).

Dont say that. The NSW government is trying to sell off the state electricity generators now (I work at one!!!!) and have repeatedly stated that it will force prices down!

Yeah right, not even my kids would fall for that lie.

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(For those outside of the UK, the Government stupidly privatised our utility companies some years ago and now they are all about making profit, not providing an essential service).

Dont say that. The NSW government is trying to sell off the state electricity generators now (I work at one!!!!) and have repeatedly stated that it will force prices down!

Yeah right, not even my kids would fall for that lie.

LOL. Our most recent example is British Gas announcing record profits - yet the bills rose around 15% last year (75% since 2003). Dividends to Shareholders increased to 17%. Speaks volumes doesn't it?

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Yep :(

MY SETI consumption is over 1KWH now, so a 5% increase is only another 15pence per day ($0.30) so it's not going to break the bank, but it's money I'd rather not pay the fat cat share holders all the same.

(For those outside of the UK, the Government stupidly privatised our utility companies some years ago and now they are all about making profit, not providing an essential service).

I've capped my computer load at 1KW. With my energy provider (Electric Company) currently charging $.0903/KWH, monthly crunching estimate is $66 with or 66% of my total consumption. Costs can vary from month-to-month with changes in raw fuel costs. I chose not to "lock-in" a fixed rate which was slightly more during off peak months, when A/C use is at a minimum.

Here in Texas, electricity can be a cutthroat business with offers coming in the mail weekly to switch energy providers. Some companys are publicly traded, some have recently been taked private by venture capitalists. Competition tends to keep them rather honest IMO. Where I live, I have choice of ~8 different providers. No change in lines or meters, owners/operators of actual equipment remains the same regardless of your choice in provider. Fees for equipment/services (~$6/Month), are included your monthly consolidated bill from your provider..

@Andy - Thanks for starting this thread

I've just purchased the "Kill-a-Watt" meter mentioned earlier in the thread, and able to monitor my computer load and see the fluxuations as I'm tweaking boxes. Recent Intel Quad box draws 170W when crunching away, about the same as my 3.2 GHz Prescott box, but is RAC is nearly 600% of Mr Prescott, and generates less heat. Here in Houston, Texas, less heat is a very good thing :-)

The P4 Prescott is now destined to become my daughters "new" computer, making room in the energy budget for another Q6600 build. She turns 21 years come June, and is thrilled to be getting Daddys old computer.

Cheers,
John

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Yep :(

MY SETI consumption is over 1KWH now, so a 5% increase is only another 15pence per day ($0.30) so it's not going to break the bank, but it's money I'd rather not pay the fat cat share holders all the same.

(For those outside of the UK, the Government stupidly privatised our utility companies some years ago and now they are all about making profit, not providing an essential service).

I've capped my computer load at 1KW. With my energy provider (Electric Company) currently charging $.0903/KWH, monthly crunching estimate is $66 with or 66% of my total consumption. Costs can vary from month-to-month with changes in raw fuel costs. I chose not to "lock-in" a fixed rate which was slightly more during off peak months, when A/C use is at a minimum.

Here in Texas, electricity can be a cutthroat business with offers coming in the mail weekly to switch energy providers. Some companys are publicly traded, some have recently been taked private by venture capitalists. Competition tends to keep them rather honest IMO. Where I live, I have choice of ~8 different providers. No change in lines or meters, owners/operators of actual equipment remains the same regardless of your choice in provider. Fees for equipment/services (~$6/Month), are included your monthly consolidated bill from your provider..

@Andy - Thanks for starting this thread

I've just purchased the "Kill-a-Watt" meter mentioned earlier in the thread, and able to monitor my computer load and see the fluxuations as I'm tweaking boxes. Recent Intel Quad box draws 170W when crunching away, about the same as my 3.2 GHz Prescott box, but is RAC is nearly 600% of Mr Prescott, and generates less heat. Here in Houston, Texas, less heat is a very good thing :-)

The P4 Prescott is now destined to become my daughters "new" computer, making room in the energy budget for another Q6600 build. She turns 21 years come June, and is thrilled to be getting Daddys old computer.

Cheers,
John

That's all good to know John. Thanks. Your electricity is MUCH cheaper than ours (~ half the price). I should also set myself a limit on power consumption. I think once I get my first quad running I will turn off other boxes. I have made the mistake of setting up a load of PIV 2.8 - 3.2Gig machines at the moment, but only because I got them either free or very cheap - but the power they are using and the heat they are kicking out is nuts! It would pay me, long term, to build some Quads and lose the PIVs over time - your figures are proof enough of that.

Thanks for your post and the info.

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Your electricity is MUCH cheaper than ours (~ half the price).

Where I live, it pays to shop around, the provider that I terminated service on 12 Jan was charging 50% more than my new provider ($0.0903 vs. $0.144) same electricity, it all feeds the same grid, just much cheaper.

You can also spend more if you want to feed the "green" thing by choosing a provider that only generates with renewable resources (hydro, solar, wind, etc).

Live Long and BOINC

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When I first saw those pictures of your anti-nesting solution, I couldn't help myself but to think along cruel lines...

"He should have used those clear blanks that cap the 50 or 100 spindles of DVDR's. Teach them sparrows a thing or two after running full tilt into those a few times!"

And $30 for gas a month? You must push that Stang around more than you drive it. I wish I could get by so cheaply in the car expense realm...

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Joker, your entire life history is now in this thread ;) Not that I haven't enjoyed the read, because I have - and I love your car too. So one thing got me thinking...With an RAC of 9,000 you must be practically heating that home of yours by means of SETI ;)

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<edit> As far as cost goes, for most locations here in the US electric rates are still relatively cheap compared to the rest of the world. I haven't made a ballpark estimate for my gear in while, but it's probably something like 20 dollars a month, but they'd be on anyway so I don't worry about it.

Alinator[/quote

I run Seti on a Linux server that would be on all the time whether Seti was running or not so my true cost to crunch numbers in watts is the difference in power consumption between when Seti is running and when it it isn't. When the server is doing it's normal thing, it is pretty much idling and it draws 141 watts, but when Seti is running, the CPU load is almost at full capacity and it is drawing a consistent 178 watts. The difference is 37 watts which to my way of thinking is my rate of energy consumption for crunching. At my current rate for electricity of .145/kwh that works out to $46.99 a year. I figure I can afford that to help the cause.

<edit> As far as cost goes, for most locations here in the US electric rates are still relatively cheap compared to the rest of the world. I haven't made a ballpark estimate for my gear in while, but it's probably something like 20 dollars a month, but they'd be on anyway so I don't worry about it.

Alinator[/quote

I run Seti on a Linux server that would be on all the time whether Seti was running or not so my true cost to crunch numbers in watts is the difference in power consumption between when Seti is running and when it it isn't. When the server is doing it's normal thing, it is pretty much idling and it draws 141 watts, but when Seti is running, the CPU load is almost at full capacity and it is drawing a consistent 178 watts. The difference is 37 watts which to my way of thinking is my rate of energy consumption for crunching. At my current rate for electricity of .145/kwh that works out to $46.99 a year. I figure I can afford that to help the cause.

I look at my bill as a whole (have not yet broken out the computers)...for my house as a whole is ~$100-$120 US (currently 6 systems running full time 5 running BOINC apps). This includes heat and A/C which are primarily electric systems.

-citroja

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In nova scotia its 10.67 cents/kilowatt hour which isn't bad but I have power included in my rent so I wouldn't know how much more I pay for the crunchers I have here.

Quebec has it easy though.

Fixed charge per day 40.64¢
First 30 kWh per day 5.29¢
Remaining energy consumption 7.03¢
Exceeding 50 kW in winter (December 1 to March 31) $5.46

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Wow Joker! I saw a Stang like that the other day getting on the Freeway. Sure does look sharp. Even though my favorite color is blue, that green is very catchy.

This thread got me wondering, so I peeked at the last few Electric bills. Bit of a surprise. I remember when my summertime electric bills stayed under $20 a month here in the US Midwest. (No Central Air...)

Facilities charge: $0.22 per day (Just went up to $0.25 per day this month.)
Energy charge: $.099/kWh (Just went up to $0.117/kWh this month as well.)
Customer charge: $3.00 per month

Last Month: $160
This Month: $152

So seeing as I only started running Seti since this last months bill, it's actually saving me money running it!

Actually, the decrease is because this months bill is 29 days versus last bill covering 35. Actually, $4.57 per day before Seti, and $5.24 per day after. So at less than a dollar a day it's just like feeding a starving child in Africa...

Thankfully enough, more than 3/4 of my crunchers are offsite... Time to go get me a Kill-A-Watt to get some true measurements. I'd just want a model that supports both 110 and 208 volt in the same unit. Anybody know of a better option than the Smart-Watt?

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We have a 3 month bill here and my average bill is AU$300 for the 3 months in summer, and AU$400 for winter (Electric heating). Thats with 1 PC running 24/7, and now thats running flat out and the second PC is running 24/7 instead of just a few hrs a day.

We pay AU$0.1266 for the first 1600kwhr for the 3 months and then AU$0.1368 for anything in excess of that. Also we pay a AU$0.3788 per day access charge. Total the bill up and then add 10% GST to get the final fill - ARGH

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Our Gas & Electric bill is locked at $209/month but we expect it to go down as we just got new basement windows.

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Due to the new fiscal Year Econnomy Negotiations, the Danish Government has just decided to add a further energy penalty to my electricity bill.

These id***s tends to believe that I can stop the global warming all by myself :(

The next Year's reduction in consumption equals one new plant opened in China next week, so this is crazy. How they tend to negate the other 51 polluting plants opened during the rest of 2008, is beyond me.

Result is, that one Kilowatthour of Electricity now costs me US$ .40 :(

Power consumption since Jan 1st is right now at 1,814 KWh which gives an elctricity bill of US$ 667 for 66 days.

Had I lived in Quebec this bill would be 122,83 Canadian Dollars.

Got room for another immigrant? :)

ChrisD

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Power consumption since Jan 1st is right now at 1,814 KWh which gives an elctricity bill of US$ 667 for 66 days.

WOW thats unreal! $10/day is a little unreal, but the same will happen down here in Australia. We have to stop global warming ourselves and that will penalise people like me that have efficient but expensive electric appliances

Without getting into the "what causes global warming" debate, I have no problem in taxing less efficient items out and forcing people to greater efficiency, but things such as US$0.40kw/hr is more than rediculous. Same as the English fuel prices etc. Much more than the states, (and also more than here and we pay almost double what the USA does), so it is nothing mut a money-making exercise in most cases

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I have just set up my first quad core and was suprised to find that it actually uses less power than an old PIV machine!

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