That would be much easier! For bigger things I would walk out to my meter with a stopwatch and time the wheels for instantaneous draw, or read it and then wait a few hours and read it again. Really annoying.

Funny story. I had a friend move in to my loft. He is a super computer gadget geek and my electric bill went from $30/mo to $140/mo. I offered to just keep paying the $30/mo and he'd pay anything above that (actually generous since the $30 included all the fixed user fees). After a while he complained because he couldn't see how he was using so much, so he got out his CA bills, which showed he had been using MORE out there, even in winter with no A/C. Anyhow, he pesters me until I install a meter for the loft with its own breaker box. He agreed that we'd just split the bill proportionally now that we had detailed usage info. Because he then was kicking in for part of the user fees, his bill actually went UP. Turns out that his load when his devices were all in sleep mode was 50% as much as when he was actively doing things.

here lately actually for the past 9 months that have been charging me a gas surcharge. its like 10$ extra a month

Our fixed fees just went up a lot for electricity, but then the first 100 kwh of power is at a reduced rate. For me it was pretty much a wash.

Only oil or propane here. Both are sky high. I have come up with some pretty entertaining ideas for heating (mostly not serious):

1) Using nuclear waste to heat - turns out you'd need a LOT of it
2) Generate my own electricity & use the waste heat
3) Get on as many junk mail lists as possible and heat with that
4) Use a compressor on a windmill (very windy here in winter) to run a ground source heat pump, storing the hot water in an insulated tank
5) Run a low profit margin grid computing service and use the waste heat

The $60/mo I pay for high speed internet (I don't get the TV programming) is what gets me. I'm lucky to have it at all, and many in my town are on dialup.

Go to the press. Make a stink!

Burning lots of paper is a huge amount of work, and it doesn't burn well in large quantity. Junk mail is especially bad, it's mainly glossy paper and sometimes plastic windows on envelopes.

In past winters, I've burned pallets. It's a lot of work cutting them up and feeding them into the fire but they make a whole lot of heat (and still less work than trying to burn all paper).

It sucks being a slave to the cable company. That's my only option too.

I knew junk mail sucked, which is why is was a joke! Mostly making fun of how much damn mail I was getting. I ordered some .22 ammo for my plinking rifle and all of a sudden I was getting cigar, jerky, and phone sex number junk mail. Yeesh.

I'd love to share cable with my neighbor and kick in for his bill (use a wifi router), but we're not friendly enough that I think he'd go for it.

When my ex left my mail dropped to almost nothing. Now I just collect it when I have Netflix discs waiting (mailbox is about 2/3 of a mile away so it makes a good walk).

https://www.catalogchoice.org is good at reducing unwanted catalog mail, though they have no effect on Travelsmith.

I never ordered anything from Travelsmith. Once, about 4 years ago, I let my mom use my credit card to order something to be delivered to her house (not mine). I get a never-ending supply of Travelsmith catalogs, despite my repeated pleas to stop the deluge. I've tried being nice, I've tried threatening, and I can't figure out what they think they have to gain by ignoring my requests. I'm not going to suddenly be impressed by their wares someday and buy something. All I'll ever do is beg people to never buy anything from them, as long as they're fresh in my mind.

Never tried it with junk mail, but I find a phone call beats email (especially if you make a point of asking for the name of who you're speaking with), a professional letter beats a phone call, and a personal visit beats 'em all.