‘Cause The Knowledge You’re Supplyin’ — It’s Electrifyin’!

One winter a few years ago, one of our heat pumps broke, so we didn’t have heat in the living room, kitchen, and downstairs family room. I brought up a heater and plugged it in in the family room to take the chill out. We were discussing the issue and how long it would take to get a repairman out.

Daughter: “At least you have the heaters, so it’s not a big deal.”

Me: “Yeah, it heats the living room nice, but it’s going to kill our [Electric Company] bill if we don’t get the heat fixed quickly.”

Daughter: *Kind of bewildered* “It’s just plugged into a regular outlet, like the lights. Why would it cost more?”

My wife looked at me and I looked back at her.

Me: “[Daughter], you do know that it costs a lot more to run a heater, right? It pulls a lot more electricity than a light does. It’s like the stove or dryer; the stove is plugged into an outlet, but it costs a lot more than a light.”

God as my witness, she said:

Daughter: “We pay for the stove? It costs money to run the stove? I thought the electricity was just for the lights and plugs.”

My wife, my son, my other daughter, and I all started laughing.

We went on to explain to my reasonably well-educated twenty-three-year-old daughter that more than just the lights and plugs cost money to use in the house.