Economy...the painful story of economy

"I'm so broke I live in a piggy bank!" -Ether Saga Online

"This article is for the young gamers too, to try and help the environment and your parents with their electric bills"

Has anyone in the US felt that sudden pang in your stomach when you see the horror that is your electric bill? The National grid plan has increased home electric bills by 11%! Most of us or our parents use at least more than 500 kilowatt hours in a month, so we all see an increase in our electric bill anywhere from $20-$70! (500 kilowatt hours in a month is somewhere around $79.00 not including the 11% increase.)

People who even try to cut down on their electricity usage can't even get close to 500 kilowatt hours in a month, e.g., my friends and family who are often going out. Their electric bill misses the 500 kilowatt hours mark big time even if they aren’t home often and all electric appliances in the house is off and the AC is between 75-78 degrees.

I would say the typical household usage is at least 1000 kilowatt hours in a month, so that is at least $160 a month plus the 11% increase. For people who uses more than that will expect a big number on their electric bill. Even though they say it's only 11% increase, I see bills increase more than that which is absurd. (I've seen bills as high as $300 and above!)

We gamers use a lot of electricity, hell I try to cut down on it myself, but no matter how hard I try I fail miserably (But it helps keep the energy consumption down to a minimum). I even unplug items and keep the lights off in the house when they’re not being used.

I know us gamers especially the ones that play MMO's, like to keep our computer rampaging on electricty through the night when you're trying to sell that Armor of Godliness for 1,000,000 gold in your shop. So if you think about it, Real life money Vs. In game money, so you can weigh out which is more important. But we should honestly try to cut down on that, and sometimes I do blame MMO’s for our wastefulness of power (persuading people to open up shop and leave it up all day). But, there are some MMO’s that allows you to use a market instead of vending, so you wouldn’t have to keep on letting your computer eat away at your dollars. I think all MMO’s should consider a market instead of vending.

A few helpful tips for us gamers on how to conserve energy or at least try to is keep your lights off when they’re not in use (or buy those squiggly light bulbs that looks like ice cream), turn off your computer before you go to bed or when you’re out, use daylight as much as you can, keep the temperature in your living area between 75-78 degrees Fahrenheit (78 degrees is most optimal), and unplug electrical appliances when they’re off.

But do you agree that this drastic increase in the electric bill is ridiculous? Because those extra dollars that now goes into the electric bill that could've been used for something useful. I see people now having to struggle to save up money because of this stressful increase.

I can understand why they would hike the electric bills but that’s a different topic entirely, that I may feel like writing another article about. Comments would be great and your own opinions on how to save energy is good too!

Here's a link to another article I found quite informative- Gamer's Guide to reducing energy consumption

darkdiamond.net/web-notes/going-green-%E2%80%93-a-gamer%E2%80%99s-guide-to-reducing-energy-consumption/