Which do you pay more for every month, electricity and heating fuel, or cable and internet?

[mahina]

I'm putting electricity and heating fuel in one category since we don't get coal deliveries here in the islands

Our cable and internet are one company, mostly, Oceanic Time Warner. They now call themselves Spectrum.

My electric bill is under 80.00 per month and includes all energy used in my home.

My cable and internet bill is 106.00. And change.

The only reasons I keep cable are for MSNBC and Hawaii Public Television...oh and Olelo!

It seems nuts to me that our electricity, with all the costs associated in producing and distributing, and keeping the grid operating, is a lower expense than cable in which they produce nothing and have very low costs once the fiber optic cables are laid.

I was on the forefront gathering signatures for net metering and renewable portfolio standards and the Wa'ahila ridge fight, am the last person to stand up for HECO usually, but there it is.

How about you?

16 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	My energy costs are higher than cable and internet
	9 (56%)
	My cable and internet costs are higher than my energy costs
	7 (44%)
	None of the above, details to follow
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[hopeforchange2008]

1. By far, cable and internet

Natural gas (heat, hot water) $47
Electric $84
Cable/internet: $153

[msongs]

2. my HECO bill is about same as oceanic internet. dont do cable so get jacked fo

stand alone internet

[Still Sensible]

3. In the cooler months, my cable/internet bill is higher

but from about May to October, my energy bill is higher. On a 12-month average, the energy bill is probably 5-10% more.

[Lucinda]

4. Energy by a good amount. n/t

[Skittles]

5. I don't have cable, but internet / phone is more than electricity

[Warpy]

6. Mine are even in winter

and Direct TV costs more in summer because AC here is cheap evaporative cooling, $15/month/unit and I only have one.

Most of the channels are sports, cable news, shopping, and bible BS. There are few I actually watch. Channels like Ovation that started out good are now showing the same cheap programming as the older channels. TCM is being programmed by a "50s guy" so it sucks now. I spend most of my time on the Science channel but even it is going over to a lot of nonsense.

Yeah, I'm trying to talk myself into dumping it. There's just not much "there" there unless you're an avid sports fan.

I've only had it since 2006, could never afford it before then.

[Ezior]

7. Germany

Germany:

Internet & landline: 25€ / month (VDSL 50MBit/s) plus x cents / minute for calling someone on their mobile phone (but all my usual contacts have landline, so it's free of charge to call them)
Mobile plan: Almost free (I don't use a data plan and rarely call people on my smartphone, so <1€ / month)
Cable: It's part of my rent, not quite sure, maybe 10€ / month
"Rundfunkbeitrag" (fee for public TV, radio stations and websites that you are forced to pay): 17,50€ / month

=> ~50€ / month for TV, internet, phone


Electricity: 60€ / month (for 3000 kWh / year)
Heat: Not sure, part of my rent, but they measure the amount of hot water we use and send a yearly combined tally (for stuff like cable, hot water, gardening work, elevator maintenance, etc.).

=> Probably totals ~100€ / month or maybe more


This is for a household of 2. So I voted "energy costs".

[WinkyDink]

8. Electricity!

[dumbcat]

9. Cable and Internet higher for me

Energy (all electric home) Average $120/mo.
Cable and internet (Spectrum) $168/mo. ( I only have basic cable and internet, no premium cable services.)

[JNelson6563]

10. I am very fortunate.

As i was hitting the very bottom of my financial life (after my divorce) I landed in an apartment that is probably the cheapest rent in town. My son moved in with me to help out and he pays half the rent. My heat is also included. My elec bill is only about $30 but my cable (for internet only) is $68.

I cut out TV several years ago. You would be surprised at what you can stream for free. Also have Netflix. I read all these accounts of people angry about the TV news, as they are such assholes. These complaints always make me glad anew that I don't actually pay for content that I hate. I wish everyone would do the same.

[hunter]

11. That's easy. No cable or satellite.

We don't even watch broadcast television.

Our internet is inexpensive medium speed DSL from a local provider. Every year or two the speed goes up and the price goes down. I had internet over an "alarm line" before AT&T and Comcast knew what the internet was.

Our kid loves Netflix and hooked us up with that. Our internet is fast enough for one channel of Netflix, but not HD.

My cell phone is $20 every ninety days. Over the years I've accumulated an absurd number of minutes, which roll over every payment period. I don't worry about running out of them.

Our gas and electric bills are higher than all of those combined.

[GoCubsGo]

12. I don't have cable or satellite.

My electric/gas ranges from around $50 to as much as $200, depending on how often I have to run the heat or AC, and how extreme the temperatures are that month. Usually, it's around $95-150 or so in peak season.

My Internet and landline phone is around $90/mo. It actually went down when they installed the digital lines.

[VOX]

13. We're going solar soon, but even now, cable/net.

[petronius]

14. Our bills, from high to low, would be: phones, water, internet (no cable), electric, gas

We're Spectrum as well, here in my part of CA. I'm probably wasting some money on phone and maybe internet, but I'm lazy and the bills aren't high enough to get me off my butt to comparison shop...

[Shandris]

15. Mine is fuel (electricity, actually) but it's because I don't have cable...

...so my internet alone is cheaper (but it's within 20 dollars). If I still had the cheapest cable possible, and my cheapest internet possible, bundled together, it would be 1.8 times my monthly energy costs.

[BSdetect]

16. Remember when cable was ad free. Now we pay to watch ads?

[Old Terp]

17. Depends on season

High heating or cooling (winter and summer) electricity is higher but fall/spring cable/internet/phone are higher.

[Egnever]

18. Google has a new service

You tube TV. It includes MSNBC for $35 per month.

You might want to take a look at it.

Personally I cut the cable TV out over a decade ago. Back then it was difficult to get stuff to watch but these days it is dead easy. There are literally hundreds of alternatives now.

My cable bill is $60 per month for a fast internet connection all of my media is streamed.

I don't know what the breakdown is for your services but I suspect you could trim that monthly charge down pretty easily.

Maybe call your local geek and ask him/her about alternatives.

[nikibatts]

19. I's like to see the comparison between healthcare costs and cable/internet/cell phones

[dembotoz]

20. was closer then went to sling and returned their crap modem

tv and internet combined @ 75 with way more channels than when i had the basic cable