4 ms·

I have my electricity bills tracking into a KWH commodity. It has been... effectively useless :D.

quietsegfault 9mo ago
I struggle with tracking the actual cost of my energy usage between changing electric rates, the various solar costs, SRECs, different loans and credits and incentives to be able to make an intelligent decision on what the benefit or cost is of cutting an appliance or adding something new. It’s a lot.
- lostlogin 9mo ago
  It is a lot. And when it’s fragile even when working. The cost per unit changes with limited notice in various ways (line rate, unit cost, time period that various rates occur, the day, ‘free’ power bonuses etc).
teeray 9mo ago
I track my propane in an LPG commodity at a fixed price per season. It saved me about $100 once when a transaction wouldn’t balance. I was accidentally partially charged for a short load delivery on one of my tanks at almost double the rate. Even if it seems silly to track at this fidelity in the moment, I wouldn’t have caught this tracking USD alone. Billing mistakes happen and can be costly!
- JulianWasTaken 9mo ago
  Nice! That sounds really useful; in my case the KWH usage (and price/KWH) I pull directly out of the ConEd bill, so my only chance to notice those sorts of things would be post hoc looking back in time for big jumps in rate or usage I think. But good to hear the positive story side for this.
forty 9mo ago
You may be able to convert it to CO2 emissions to track your impact :) but for that you'd also need to track how those kWh of electricity were produced ^^
- JulianWasTaken 9mo ago
  Ooh hmm that's an interesting idea. I have wanted a reason to buy an Emporia Vue or something like that.
mcgrath_sh 9mo ago
How do you do this? I am just getting into hledger and am curious about tracking this kind of stuff to see how much we would really save with a different electric supplier.
- JulianWasTaken 9mo ago
  In my case (with beancount) an example transaction looks like: 2025-12-04 * "CON ED OF NY CECONY 251203~ Tran: ACHDW" Assets:Schwab:Checking -72.33 USD Expenses:Utilities:Electric:Supply:Rate 143.00 KWH @@ 18.06 USD ; Supply 143.00 kWh @12.629¢/kWh Expenses:Utilities:Electric:Supply:Fees 0.68 USD ; Supply Merchant Function Charge Expenses:Taxes:Other 0.45 USD ; Supply GRT & other tax surcharges Expenses:Taxes:Sales 0.86 USD ; Supply Sales tax @4.5% Expenses:Utilities:Electric:Delivery:Service 21.95 USD ; Delivery Basic service charge Expenses:Utilities:Electric:Delivery:Rate 143.00 KWH @@ 25.08 USD ; Delivery 143.00 kWh @17.539¢/kWh Expenses:Utilities:Electric:Delivery:Fees:Benefit 143.00 KWH @@ 0.71 USD ; Delivery System Benefit Charge @0.497¢/kWh Expenses:Taxes:Other 2.29 USD ; Delivery GRT & other tax surcharges Expenses:Taxes:Sales 2.25 USD ; Delivery Sales tax @4.5% which I extract from the PDF bill I get from them.
  - mcgrath_sh 9mo ago
    Thanks! This gives me a base to start from.

I struggle with tracking the actual cost of my energy usage between changing electric rates, the various solar costs, SRECs, different loans and credits and incentives to be able to make an intelligent decision on what the benefit or cost is of cutting an appliance or adding something new. It’s a lot.

lostlogin 9mo ago
It is a lot. And when it’s fragile even when working. The cost per unit changes with limited notice in various ways (line rate, unit cost, time period that various rates occur, the day, ‘free’ power bonuses etc).

teeray 9mo ago

I track my propane in an LPG commodity at a fixed price per season. It saved me about $100 once when a transaction wouldn’t balance. I was accidentally partially charged for a short load delivery on one of my tanks at almost double the rate. Even if it seems silly to track at this fidelity in the moment, I wouldn’t have caught this tracking USD alone. Billing mistakes happen and can be costly!

JulianWasTaken 9mo ago
Nice! That sounds really useful; in my case the KWH usage (and price/KWH) I pull directly out of the ConEd bill, so my only chance to notice those sorts of things would be post hoc looking back in time for big jumps in rate or usage I think. But good to hear the positive story side for this.

forty 9mo ago

You may be able to convert it to CO2 emissions to track your impact :) but for that you'd also need to track how those kWh of electricity were produced ^^

JulianWasTaken 9mo ago
Ooh hmm that's an interesting idea. I have wanted a reason to buy an Emporia Vue or something like that.

mcgrath_sh 9mo ago

How do you do this? I am just getting into hledger and am curious about tracking this kind of stuff to see how much we would really save with a different electric supplier.

JulianWasTaken 9mo ago
In my case (with beancount) an example transaction looks like: 2025-12-04 * "CON ED OF NY CECONY 251203~ Tran: ACHDW" Assets:Schwab:Checking -72.33 USD Expenses:Utilities:Electric:Supply:Rate 143.00 KWH @@ 18.06 USD ; Supply 143.00 kWh @12.629¢/kWh Expenses:Utilities:Electric:Supply:Fees 0.68 USD ; Supply Merchant Function Charge Expenses:Taxes:Other 0.45 USD ; Supply GRT & other tax surcharges Expenses:Taxes:Sales 0.86 USD ; Supply Sales tax @4.5% Expenses:Utilities:Electric:Delivery:Service 21.95 USD ; Delivery Basic service charge Expenses:Utilities:Electric:Delivery:Rate 143.00 KWH @@ 25.08 USD ; Delivery 143.00 kWh @17.539¢/kWh Expenses:Utilities:Electric:Delivery:Fees:Benefit 143.00 KWH @@ 0.71 USD ; Delivery System Benefit Charge @0.497¢/kWh Expenses:Taxes:Other 2.29 USD ; Delivery GRT & other tax surcharges Expenses:Taxes:Sales 2.25 USD ; Delivery Sales tax @4.5% which I extract from the PDF bill I get from them.
- mcgrath_sh 9mo ago
  Thanks! This gives me a base to start from.