Paying your power bill on barter

Although I haven’t figured out a way to get my local utility company to accept payment in trade
I’ve got the next best thing: Use barter to reduce your power bill.

1) Get more efficient! Last year I hired a plumber on barter to install a tankless water heater for
me (that I obtained on barter). The new water heater is more efficient than my old heater with
the added benefit of never running out of hot water.

2) Think outside of the box. Instead of heating my home with gas or electricity I use a wood
stove most of the time. I love a warm fire and because I barter for the wood I can keep my
house a lot warmer than I could otherwise. One of the down-sides of heating with wood is that
you tend to have a toasty living room while your bedrooms remain icy. That is why I’ve got a
heating contractor out at my house this week working on barter. He is installing a secondary
ventilation system that pull warm air from above my wood-stove and blow it out vents in the
bedrooms.

Because my home has an unusual roof I have not been able to put solar panels up there, but I
think that’s a fantastic idea. Even if you couldn’t trade for the panels, you should be able to
trade for installation Personally, if I had solar installed I would get an over-sized system and
look at bartering for an electric vehicle as well. That’s like bartering for gasoline!