Electrical sticker shock

The summer heat wave isn't as bad as it was a month ago, but local residents are still hot under the collar over the big electric bills they've been paying.

At first glance it's easy to blame the electric company, but the two rate increases imposed by Southern California Edison this year aren't the only reason why some residents are paying monthly bills that are as big as a house mortgage. Poor conservation has been a factor, too.

Here's how the billing works. Depending on where you live, you pay a baseline cost for the initial amount of electricity that you use, and an extra cost based on the amount of power you consume in each of three additional tiers. In a nutshell, the first batch of kilowatt hours is cheaper than the second, which is cheaper than the third, and so forth.

Think of it as progressive taxation: The more you make (consume), the more you pay.

Problem is, even those users who try to cut back on their consumption have found themselves facing higher bills when compared to last year. One Oak Park customer wrote to say he reduced his July-August electricity usage by 6 percent, but still saw his bill increase by more than 50 percent.

Edison said the average increase this year has been 15 percent (with another 2 percent hike coming in November). But for local residents, many of whom live in larger-thanaverage homes and burn air conditioning like there's no tomorrow, the overall increase has been much higher.

One way to lower your electric bill is to turn off the AC at night, open the windows and use a fan. During the day keep the thermostat up high. Plant trees in front of large windows to block the sun, and if you have a two-story home, try sleeping on the first floor if possible. You'd be amazed at how much heat rises. Also, many homeowners are installing solar panels, although the cost recovery period is lengthy.

It's a shame that the electric utilities and the oil companies are raising prices faster than in other industries, but that's the advantage of owning a quasi-monopoly. They've got us over a barrel.