Have You Received Your Guilt-O-Gram Yet...?

It arrived in the mail last week, not a bill from the power company, but something else. We've received them before so we knew exactly what it was. And, because I don't see our situation changing any time soon, I'm sure we'll get more of these in the mail in the future. 

What was it, the thing we received that wasn't a bill from the power company?

I call it a Guilt-O-Gram.

Or, Shame Mail.

Since everything is trackable these days, our local power concern monitors how much energy we use. And they're monitoring how much energy everyone else is using, too. The letter we received showed us how much energy we use, vs how much energy our neighbors are using. The point being, if you know how much energy you and others are using, you'll be shamed or guilted into changing your energy habits.

Except, it's not working on us.

There was a time when we had five people living in our house all day, all week, all month, all year. I telecommute so all the energy I would normally be using in a cubicle in a building somewhere, I'm using at home. We also homeschool so all the energy our kids would be using sitting at a desk at a school building (as well as the energy the teacher would be using...), we're using at home. My son works his own business at home, so instead of...well, you get the idea.

This information is not on the letter from the power company. I have no idea if they even know all these things about us (though, with the way personal information is thrown around nilly willy these days, they probably do...). So, their "look how big of energy pigs you are" letter won't really work on us. I do know that by not leaving the house, we don't run the car, thus adding to that problem.

No, we get the letters and just toss them. Maybe they work for some who are unaware of how much energy they're using. For us, we know. And we've known for years.