Well the other morning I had just gotten my first cup of coffee and turned on the television to see what was going on in the world and then I heard it.  I could not believe my ears. So I had to look it up and make sure that I heard what I thought I did .

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — The head of Duke Energy is telling southern governors that the days of cheap, plentiful energy will soon be behind them because power companies are upgrading plants and competition is heating up for increasingly scarce fuel.
Duke chairman James E. Rogers said Saturday that consumers can expect to see energy prices rise by 30 percent or more over the next decade. The sharp increase may be a shock following several decades of relatively stable prices.
Rogers spoke during the Southern Governors’ Association meeting in Asheville.
Rogers says Duke Energy customers now spend an average of 1.9 percent of disposable income on electricity, a figure that is likely to jump. He says consumers will need to become better managers of their energy use if they hope to get costs back under control.
He says better conservation techniques and fuel efficiency technologies will be key to keeping energy affordable.
The Charlotte-based firm is one of the largest power companies in the United States.

That is correct I did hear what I thought I had heard early in the morning.

Now my question to all of those consumers that I have spoken to in the past about doing energy retrofits  is this.    How much does our monthly utility bills need to go up to before you can justify spending a few thousand dollars to make your home  use less killow watts (energy) before you want to do something about it.

I see it all of the time more in the past than right now just because people are not spending the money like they used to. When I talk to customers about  doing energy improvements the first thing that they ask is how long will it take to get my money back.  But when we are discussing a kitchen remodel or a new master suite that is not the issue and with the energy improvements you do see a payback at today’s energy cost, just think what the payback will be in another ten years.  Wow

Also a lot o people do not even realize that we have had two increases in the past year and a half totaling 18%. So lets see if you add 18% and 30 plus % wow that is around a whopping 50% wait till you get that A C power bill if we can even afford to cool our houses then. It is  a lot to think about that is for sure.