If you're a starving artist like me, the electricity bill can end up taking a good portion of your paycheck. A few months back, I received an electricity bill for $500! I was outraged and called up Con Ed., and they told me that they were unable to get a proper reading because the meter reader guy couldn't get access to the meter. It's in the basement of my house, and a nice asian woman lives there, so I figured there had been a mistake. First off, it's HARD to read the electricity meter. I went down once, only to call back and be told that I had read it incorrectly. I scoffed and forgot to do it, and meanwhile I still hadn't paid the electricity bill. It took me a full two months to go back down and get the correct reading, and I finally called them up and still owed them $270 that I didn't have...
I guess my point is that if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, you might want to check out the video below--A man figured out how to turn a 2L soda bottle into a 60Watt lightbulb that is free and never burns out. Pretty cool, right? I think I want to do it to my apartment.