Long Island on Evan Hoffman

Why Is My PSE&G Bill Higher? Exploring the CBC Charge

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 23:49:54 +0000

The author received a PSE&G bill for $30.38, higher than expected. Investigating, they discovered a new Customer Benefit Contribution (CBC) charge, aimed at covering social program costs for net-metered solar customers. This charge could lead to significant annual expenses, despite minimal grid usage, causing frustration over the unexpected added cost.

One Year of Real Data From My Solar and PowerWall System

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 09:24:38 +0000

On November 8, 2025, I marked the one-year anniversary of my home solar panels. Installed by Empower, the system includes 36 solar panels and two Tesla PowerWall batteries. Overall, it generated 17,122 kWh while my usage was 18,644 kWh, resulting in reduced utility bills. I find the system beneficial, despite minor issues.

Solar Energy Update: My Experience After 6 Months

Sat, 10 May 2025 08:57:08 +0000

It’s now been 6 months since my rooftop solar panels were brought online and started producing power so I figured it was a good time for an update. So far I haven’t had any problems with the system at all and am very satisfied.

Below are charts of weekly total kWh, blue is pure solar generation, green is power grid net draw/return, and yellow is how much the house actually uses (load):

My First Net Zero Bill with Solar Power

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 03:54:34 +0000

I recently got my PSE&G bill for Feb 20th to March 20th and it was $15.30. Looking into it I saw that my billed kilowatt-hour (kWh) for this period was 0 - zero! The $15.30 charge is from PSE&G’s $0.54/day charge to be connected to the grid plus some taxes, so this is as cheap as it can possibly get while still being on the grid. I was actually surprised to get to net zero this early in the year, I figured it would take another couple months of high-insolation to build up the energy credits, so this was pretty cool.

One Month Later: Analyzing My PSEG Bill With Solar Panels

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 14:06:41 +0000

I finally got my first PSEG electric bill that covers a full month since the solar panels were turned on. My bill for the period from November 19th to December 19th was $211.69. I’ll admit that this was a lot higher than I expected, however looking at the actual usage it makes sense.

The main reason for the high bill is likely my Powerwall configuration, which was setup to fully charge the batteries during super off-peak (after 10 PM) and then dump the power back into the grid during peak times, to offset the most expensive power usage. This actually did work, and I ended up with $0 peak usage and 236 kWh peak credits banked with the utility. However, my super off-peak usage was naturally way up since that’s when I was charging the batteries, and also charging my EV.

Solar Panel Installation on Long Island: My Summer 2024 Experience

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 19:01:14 +0000

Intro

This is a writeup of my adventure in getting solar panels installed at my house. I’m writing it in case it’s helpful to other people considering solar.

My story has a (maybe) strange beginning. In April 2024 I was in my yard playing with my dogs when a door-to-door solar salesman saw me and in a moment of weakness I gave him my contact information. He was from a company called NYS Solar and he scheduled a consultation for me with a sales rep. A couple weeks later I met with the sales representative and I wasn’t really sold on it - the costs he quoted didn’t seem to make any sense, and he didn’t provide me anything in writing either, he just showed me some stuff on his ipad. I didn’t get a great feeling from him, but it did make me start considering solar for my home.

New York Rising is a Scam

Sun, 09 Jul 2017 11:42:40 +0000

As most people who know me are aware, my house, on Long Island’s south shore, suffered heavy flooding on October 29, 2012 as a result of Hurricane Sandy, when the water level of a nearby bay rose several feet above its historic high and filled my house up like a bucket. My house was not in a flood plain - even today it’s not considered a flood risk according to the latest maps - so we didn’t have flood insurance.

New York City commuter winter survival kit

Tue, 11 Feb 2014 22:28:18 +0000

Since I started working in Manhattan again a couple years ago I’ve learned a couple of things about surviving the winters on the LIRR platform. This winter in particular has been pretty lousy, temperatures below 20ºF and gusty most of the mornings for the past couple of weeks when I’m waiting for the train. Here are some of the things that have made it bearable. This is kind of a hodge-podge as a result of complete trial & error, but when fully geared I’m totally comfortable in the biting wind and snow even as others visibly shiver.

FCC Report shows Verizon much faster than Cablevision

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:14:18 +0000

The FCC recently conducted a study of some of the top broadband ISPs in the country and measured customers’ actual bandwidth as compared to what the ISPs advertised. FiOS really came out on top.

The report is available on the FCC site. The bottom line, though, is that Verizon FiOS averaged nearly 120% of advertised speed (i.e., more than was advertised) and Cablevision was between 50% and 75% of advertised speeds. Latency (ping) was also heavily in FiOS’s favor.

Back on FiOS again (finally)

Fri, 20 May 2011 13:35:01 +0000

Well, that was quite an ordeal.

Going back to FiOS

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 01:40:05 +0000

I’m not sure why these guys operate this way - they’re more than happy to lose me as a customer and then throw huge discounts at me to get me back. If they’d just give me a good price I’d love not to have to go through this rigmarole. But after being with Cablevision for 2 months I checked Verizon’s pricing and it beat my current deal with Cablevision.

FiOS digital voice with number ported for free; 25/25 Mbps internet; HMDVR free “forever” plus a second HD STB, Showtime, Movie Channel and Flix. Since I already had the battery thing installed last time I had FiOS they gave me a fair discount. Basically the whole package for $87/month + tax, price locked for 2 years, no contract. Not as great of a deal as I’d had with FiOS originally, but it’s pretty good, and FiOS’s service is definitely better than Cablevision’s. I’ve heard Cablevision was rolling out their “DVR plus” service with all programs recorded “in the cloud” rather than on the actual box, but it’s been two months and I haven’t heard of it coming to Long Island. So basically 2 years later Cablevision’s service is exactly the same while Verizon has iPhone apps to control the DVR and use the phone as a remote, plus DVR that’s much faster and just generally better service.

Speed comparison: Optimum Boost vs Verizon FiOS

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:26:38 +0000

Optimum Boost advertises 30 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up. Here’s a speed test I just ran at Ookla’s SpeedTest.net:

(My desktop is plugged into the router, the router is plugged into the Arris cablemodem.)

Here’s one of the last speed tests I did with Verizon, on 2/15. I had the 25/15 internet package:

(Desktop was plugged into 8-port Linksys 100 Mbit switch, the switch was plugged into the FiOS/ActionTec router.)

FiOS speed 10 months later, better than ever.

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 23:44:48 +0000

I switched to FiOS in December, 2009, and I was pretty apprehensive, having been a Cablevision customer for many years. I really had no problem with Cablevision’s service, I just thought their pricing was much too high in the face of the new competition (and deals) Verizon was offering. I ended up going with Verizon due to their awesome deal, but now it’s almost a year later and I can’t imagine going back to Optimum. It’ll probably come down to price when the current promo pricing I have with Verizon ends, but if the price was equal then no contest - I’d stick with FiOS.

How to cancel Cablevision service

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 23:14:58 +0000

To cancel your Cablevision service, you need to call them.

Nassau county: 516-364-8400.- Suffolk county: 631-267-6900 and 631-727-6300.

Other phone numbers are listed here:

http://www.optimum.net/Support/PhoneList

Top Long Island teacher salaries

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:47:43 +0000

Average teacher salaries for Long Island school districts. Courtesy of NYS DOE, via Newsday - data are from 2005:

1	Fire Island	$96,228
2	East Williston	$93,001
3	Island Park	$88,992
4	Quogue	$88,975
5	Great Neck	$87,444
6	Roslyn	$87,277
7	Mineola	$85,978
8	Lawrence	$85,400
9	East Rockaway	$84,130
10	Bridgehampton	$83,568
11	West Hempstead	$83,546
12	Jericho	$83,150
13	Carle Place	$83,088
14	Locust Valley	$82,553
15	Port Washington	$82,520

16	Oyster Bay-East Norwich	$82,513
17	Amagansett	$81,440
18	Fishers Island	$81,434
19	Plainview-Old Bethpage	$81,163
20	Syosset	$79,065
21	Garden City	$79,030
22	Cold Spring Harbor	$78,599
23	Glen Cove	$78,485
24	Valley Stream 30	$78,089
25	Southampton	$78,050
26	Oceanside	$77,448
27	Uniondale	$77,132
28	Wantagh	$76,480
29	East Hampton	$76,436
30	Shelter Island	$76,272
31	Herricks	$75,539
32	Hempstead	$74,950
33	Valley Stream 24	$74,743
34	Seaford	$74,479
35	North Bellmore	$74,424
36	Patchogue-Medford	$74,316
37	East Islip	$73,405
38	Westbury	$73,326
39	New Hyde Park-Garden City Park	$73,284
40	Sachem	$72,846
41	Levittown	$72,832
42	Franklin Square	$72,812
43	Lynbrook	$72,547
44	Bethpage	$72,467
45	Elwood	$72,202
46	Port Jefferson	$71,984
47	Comsewogue	$71,980
48	Floral Park-Bellerose	$71,952
49	Mount Sinai	$71,773
50	Babylon	$71,674
51	Freeport	$71,575
52	Baldwin	$71,566
53	Bellmore	$71,527
54	Copiague	$71,465
55	Sayville	$71,396
56	Rockville Centre	$71,325
57	Center Moriches	$71,016
58	Riverhead	$70,193
59	Farmingdale	$69,838
60	Malverne	$69,449
61	Southold	$69,432
62	Westhampton Beach	$69,408
63	Massapequa	$69,269
64	Bayport-Blue Point	$69,202
65	South Country	$68,981
66	Springs	$68,752
67	North Merrick	$68,752
68	Longwood	$68,752
69	Bellmore-Merrick	$68,750
70	East Quogue	$68,727
71	William Floyd	$68,627
72	West Babylon	$68,419
73	Sewanhaka	$68,216
74	Plainedge	$68,143
75	Island Trees	$67,988
76	Miller Place	$67,624
77	Sag Harbor	$67,266
78	Elmont	$66,602
79	Montauk	$66,463
80	Brentwood	$66,241
81	Merrick	$66,170
82	Amityville	$65,522
83	Islip	$65,042
84	Hauppauge	$64,877
85	Harborfields	$64,711
86	Hicksville	$64,638
87	South Huntington	$64,543
88	Northport-East Northport	$64,483
89	Huntington	$64,385
90	Commack	$64,302
91	Central Islip	$63,864
92	West Islip	$63,727
93	Roosevelt	$63,298
94	Bay Shore	$63,094
95	Three Village	$62,802
96	Mattituck-Cutchogue	$62,718
97	Half Hollow Hills	$62,588
98	Smithtown	$62,547
99	North Babylon	$62,505
100	Middle Country	$60,868
101	Wainscott Common	$60,774
102	Lindenhurst	$60,231
103	Rocky Point	$60,146
104	Hampton Bays	$59,478
105	Eastport-South Manor	$59,021
106	Deer Park	$58,541
107	Kings Park	$58,483
108	Tuckahoe	$58,362
109	Remsenburg-Speonk	$58,034
110	Wyandanch	$57,469
111	Greenport	$55,657
112	Shoreham-Wading River	$55,436
113	East Moriches	$55,108
114	Oysterponds	$54,324
115	Little Flower	$53,784
116	New Suffolk	$42,150

Lotsa downtime.

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:23:02 +0000

Lots of power outages lately. Not the greatest time to move my site. :P Good thing I don’t need 99.99%+ uptime. Or even 95%…

Cablevision loses WABC (Channel 7)?

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:34:51 +0000

Wow. Glad I left. I imagine this will be temporary (like the HGTV ordeal earlier this year).

On another note, I got my 3rd FiOS bill - still running a credit. That’s $43 for 3.5 months of great service. Good luck competing with that, Optimum.

Got my second FiOS bill

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:21:18 +0000

So I got my second FiOS bill a couple of weeks ago. After the issue with my first bill was straightened out I ended up paying about $43 for the first 6 weeks of service. Well, my second bill was about $90, but applied a $180 credit on my account, so the bill showed -$91. So basically the first 3 months of service will end up costing me about $43. Even if it comes to $90/month for the remainder of the contract, this is such a huge savings that I don’t see how Cablevision could match it.

FiOS Ping Test

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:07:14 +0000

Ran a ping test at pingtest.net today. Overall I can’t find fault with the FiOS service so far. Port 80 and 443 are open and I have them forwarded to my Linux box so I can actually run a webserver in my basement. I’m debating moving this domain over to my own linux box, since it’s super low traffic, but I probably won’t.

Only (minor) problems with FiOS are:

Cablevision drops HGTV, Food Network, and Travel Channel??

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:46:53 +0000

Boy, good thing I left Cablevision when I did… HGTV is my wife’s favorite channel.

In a separate case, the owner of the Food Network and HGTV, Scripps Networks, removed its channels from Cablevision’s lineups on Friday, a consequence of a breakdown in talks between those two parties.

“Viewers love our talent and our shows, which is why Food Network and HGTV rank among the top networks in cable,” Kenneth W. Lowe, the chief executive of Scripps Networks Interactive, said in a statement Friday morning. “But our valuable networks simply are not being compensated like top 10 networks by Cablevision. The distribution rates Cablevision pays for Food and HGTV are among the lowest in the industry.”

Got my first FiOS bill today...

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:41:59 +0000

Not good. The rep I spoke with had said she’d intercept the first bill and apply all the credits up front. I guess being Christmas she couldn’t, so I got this first bill of $208.22.

This is WAY more than it should be, even without the credits applied. There’s a $40/month credit missing, and they’re charging me for HBO & Cinemax, which I was told was a free trial for 3 months. On the plus side, the taxes are lower than I expected. Attaching scans of the bill. If this doesn’t get resolved when I call on Monday I’ll be heading back to Cablevision, I guess. The whole point of this exercise was to save money.

Snow on Long Island

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:29:02 +0000

I almost bought a snowblower the other day. Almost…

FiOS it is.

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:33:47 +0000

Fios was installed today. Took longer than expected but I guess it went well. FiOS digital voice is pretty good, has one or two niceties that Optimum Voice didn’t (caller ID info in the emails it sends, for instance). The Motorola STBs are way better than the Scientific Atlanta (or whatever) that CV provides… I’m awestruck that when you hit the Channel + button, the channel actually changes.

Cablevision offered to woo me back again but since the service was already installed I said no thanks. They did say they’ll pay the termination fee for me to go back. Interesting… Anyway, Fios’s speeds are pretty good, I got as high as 26/20 on the 25/15 line. The Actiontec router is pretty nice too (model #MI424WR-GEN2).

... or maybe I AM going with FiOS.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:16:25 +0000

Well, this was unexpected. Verizon is really playing hardball with pricing. When I called this morning to cancel my install appointment, Verizon countered and they offered an extra $30/month discount. I asked for an extra STB for free (I figured all they can do is say no) and while the rep said she couldn’t do that, she did increase the credit to $40/month which would more than cover the cost of the 2nd box. So as of this moment, I’m on for FiOS tomorrow.

Suffolk County High School Rankings by total SAT scores

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:32:59 +0000

I just found this cool site which has SAT scores for high schools all over NYS, but for me the sorting didn’t work, so I copied the stuff into Excel and sorted by total score (and added the % columns). The data are supposedly from the NYS Department of Education for the 2007 graduating class. Found the link via the Long Island City-Data.com forums. Rather than trying to HTMLify the table and make it work inside Wordpress, I just decided to print it to PDF, but the summary is below.

Oops... sorry FiOS, I'm sticking with Cablevision.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:36:42 +0000

Well that didn’t take long. I got a call this afternoon from the same Cablevision rep I spoke with to talk about cancelling after I signed up for FiOS. Apparently they received Verizon’s request to port my number over and learned I wasn’t kidding when I said I was going to move to FiOS. And good news! I can now qualify for the Optimum Triple Play again!

The price Cablevision offered today was better than the $123 or whatever they stated last time I spoke to them, but I brought up that Verizon is offering 25/15, and I was getting like 8/2 at home. To compensate they added in Boost, which they couldn’t give me for free, but they did lower the price to $9.95/month, and she was able to give me the DVR for free. I said forget about the 2nd cable box (since with CV I can just plug in to the existing coax for additional TVs if needed - with Verizon being all digital you need a STB for each TV) and the final price came to around $109.

Oops... sorry FiOS, I'm sticking with Cablevision.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:36:42 +0000

I guess I'm getting FiOS... Farewell Cablevision

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:19:31 +0000

So I’ve had Cablevision for years. I mean, except for the couple of years I lived in Queens and when I was in college, I’ve basically had Cablevision my whole life. The service overall has been pretty good but the prices have been rising steadily. When I signed up a couple years ago for the Optimum Triple Play – TV, internet, and phone service – my bill came to like $90-$100. That’s a pretty good price for all 3 services as far as I’m concerned. It helped that Cablevision was for years the top-rated ISP in the country - I’d get 20 mbps down and 8 mbps up all the time. Over time they added caps to upload and I haven’t seen uploads over 2 mbps in a residential Optimum line in years, though at work I see ~5 mbps up over cable. I’ve moved around a lot over the past few years and I’ve kept Cablevision in each location and the service has always been at least acceptable. With this latest move, the service is still good, but download speed seems to top out around 8 mbps. That’s certainly not terrible, but not as good as the 15 mbps I was getting in the previous house.

I guess I'm getting FiOS... Farewell Cablevision

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:19:31 +0000

Homeownership Day 1

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:59:27 +0000

Scrubbed the garage with bleach. Scrubbed the fridge with bleach. A lot more work than it sounds.