the last 18 months or so have been harder. i ran my computer 24 hours a day for a while, but gave up on that, so that's a 240W appliance that i could turn off. then, i ran the fan less, left lights on less, and baked fewer cookies (not intentionally, and something i want to reverse, in fact). That's good for another year. these last few months, i've just squeaked by below what i had a year ago, mainly because i've taken trips out of town and turned everything but the icebox off.
looking at my jan '05 statement, i'm still in good shape. but, i fear that, going forward, i may have trouble limboing lower than before. ... in WA, at least, if you _generate_ power, your meter runs backward (you could, conceivably, get a credit from the utility). i wonder if the same is true around here.