New Englanders: Cut Winter Heating/Electric Costs to 19 Cents a Day

Attention, Residents of New England, USA (my old stomping grounds) and other cold-weather places, how many hundreds of dollars per month have you spent to keep your homes warm and your lights working this winter?

You might not believe that the bill from the Quito electric company for my one-bedroom condo last month was $5.56 -- less than 19 cents a day.  And that includes electricity, heating the water and heat from my two (rarely-used) space heaters.

Sure, my place isn't real big and February is technically a summer month here 15 miles south of the Equator (68 degrees F. daily high).  And there's a separate water bill for about $3 a month -- so tack on another 10 cents a day in utilities cost.

But unlike some of those other popular venues for Expat retirees -- such as Panama, Thailand and Belize -- highlands Ecuador lets you save big on energy costs while not overly schvitzing during the daytime.

And you can still root every Sunday for your New England Patriots.  Practically all their games, except maybe the annual Thursday night game, are shown here via DirecTV. 

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