Sunday, March 8, 2009

Aukje de Vries' Diary Day 49

It is a sunny day. A good time to do some work in the garden. There are still a lot of snow drops and also many purple crocuses, but most of them are covered by dead plants and leaves so they are not very visible. I do a lot of cleaning up and afterwards the garden looks quite nice, but the grass is not yet in a very good shape. For the first time this year I can sit in the sun in the garden and read. Wonderful!

In the evening I do some administration. There is a mailing from the electricity and gas company, offering green gas. There is a lot of documentation accompanying the offer, but unfortunately it is anything but clear. There are different rates, but I do not understand which rates apply to me and tables with prices. But no tables in which a comparison is made between the prices of regular gas and green gas. I finally discover somewhere in the letter, hidden in the middle of a sentence, that green gas is “only” € 0.20 a day more expensive than regular gas. This means more than € 70 a year. In the fall the energy bill has gone up with 25%, so to this offer I say: No, thank you, it is sufficiently expensive as it is.

There is also a bill from the telephone company. It is a bill with pluses and minuses. Unfortunately I do not understand the minuses. The bill also says that the rates will be changed in April, but no information is attached, we are referred to a website to find out about the new rates. The change entitles us to end our subscription. How are users without computer to know? And how can I understand the minuses on my bill? Enquiring is usually not easy and takes a lot of patience. The result is that I pay without understanding exactly for what, but I feel bad about it. I want to be a critical consumer, but is that ever difficult!

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