futilities

When I used to live in this apartment with Evil Shelly, the electric bill ran about $25-30, and the gas fluctuated between $69 and $157 (!), even though she was on the "budget billing" plan that was supposed to equalize the bills year-round. I figured that one out: she hadn't paid the previous month's bill on time, so we were getting billed for two months. I pointed this out to her. "Oh, I had no idea!" she exclaimed. What I should have done was just pay half of the current month's bill. What I did- hoping to stay on her good side so she wouldn't throw me out in the street in midwinter- was pay half of the $157, assuming that the next month, the bill would be near 0. It wasn't.

In a bizarre twist of karmic-serendipitous-legislative retribution, I just got a check from the electric company for $85. It's for electric rate relief, based on the semester that I wasn't living here because Evil Shelly kicked me out. Ha.

Mysteriously, she was on a commercial rate- that's higher, of course, than a residential rate. My electricity and gas were both $37 this month, which I guess is not bad considering the incredible rate hikes.

I also used to have to pay for half of Shelly's cable, which ran from $31-40 per month. So. Why did the cable fluctuate? Lesbian pay-per-view?