[QUOTE=VBCurtis;625052]This seems strange to me also. I thought the principle was that the lowest tier was kept cheap because even poor people need some amount of power, so let's make it cheap for them (and everyone else too)...[/QUOTE]

I just went to Duke's website and looked at the rates for each tier. It has all changed. Imagine that!

<= 300 kWh: $0.148.
301 to 700 kWh: $0.108.
> 700 kWh: $0.098.

There is a fuel cost adjustment. $0.036 per kWh. This may not seem like much, but burning through 1,100 kWh, it adds up.

[QUOTE=chalsall;627897]<snip>
The entire country of Barbados lost power yesterday.

Great fun...[/QUOTE][google google] Something major went kerflooey at the Spring Garden power plant.

Huh. There was an island-wide power outage in November 2019.

[QUOTE=VBCurtis;625052]...Power is cheap enough here to justify electric space heaters as cheaper than gas furnace! My furnace approaches 25 years old, so I'll price a heat pump this spring as an upgrade.[/QUOTE]

I live in an apartment building with a 31-year-old Bryant electric furnace and A/C. It seems to heat and cool properly, but the heating part can be costly, even at my rates. I have two oil-filled space heaters. I let them carry the load in cold weather as much as possible. The less the furnace runs, the better. The A/C is not that costly to operate in the summer. The outdoor unit has the appearance of having been sand-blasted and allowed to rust.

When I moved in here in 2013, I was told all of it would be replaced, soon. Promises, promises. Maintenance won't do anything with it until it quits. Everything on the cheap.