House Electric Utility Woes ($$$)

[Todd Burch]

My electric bills are killing me. With my electric provider, I signed up for "balanced billing" so my payment would be the same every month to make it more manageable. I've been in this house for just over 4 years, and they keep going up and going up.

In my last house, 22 miles from here, 2300 SF, 1 story, 1 A/C unit (4.5 tons), my bill reached $250 one month in the summer (100 degrees a lot that month) and I blew a gasket with my wife ("TURN DOWN THE A/C!!"). Usually, in the summer, the bill was around $200. In the winter, $80 was typical.

In this house, 3600 SF, 2 story, 2 A/C units, my December bill was $241 - 3 times higher than what I paid in the previous house for the same time of year. A/C was barely run in the month. We don't cook at home that much either. My high bill this last summer was $750.

I keep lights off when not in rooms. TV is off all day. I can not figue out why my bills are so high. We use natural gas for heat and clothes drying (and yes, that went up too - $40 in November and $150 in December... ouch). I was doing full time woodworking in 2002 and 2003, but since then, I've hardly turned a machine on. We've cut out pool down to run only 6 hours a day, but the cost still seems like it is going up and up.

What do you think are any reasons that my use is so high? What could cause use to appear (on my meter) higher than it actually is?

Electrically Stumped. Todd

[Chuck Wintle]

My electric bills are killing me. With my electric provider, I signed up for "balanced billing" so my payment would be the same every month to make it more manageable. I've been in this house for just over 4 years, and they keep going up and going up.

In my last house, 22 miles from here, 2300 SF, 1 story, 1 A/C unit (4.5 tons), my bill reached $250 one month in the summer (100 degrees a lot that month) and I blew a gasket with my wife ("TURN DOWN THE A/C!!"). Usually, in the summer, the bill was around $200. In the winter, $80 was typical.

In this house, 3600 SF, 2 story, 2 A/C units, my December bill was $241 - 3 times higher than what I paid in the previous house for the same time of year. A/C was barely run in the month. We don't cook at home that much either. My high bill this last summer was $750.

I keep lights off when not in rooms. TV is off all day. I can not figue out why my bills are so high. We use natural gas for heat and clothes drying (and yes, that went up too - $40 in November and $150 in December... ouch). I was doing full time woodworking in 2002 and 2003, but since then, I've hardly turned a machine on. We've cut out pool down to run only 6 hours a day, but the cost still seems like it is going up and up.

What do you think are any reasons that my use is so high? What could cause use to appear (on my meter) higher than it actually is?

Electrically Stumped. Todd

what is your kilowatt/hr rate? How does the utility company check the meter? Do they send a person around or is it one of those meters that they can check remotely?
I know energy rates are climbing everywhere.

[Matt Meiser]

Todd, look at useage, not cost to determine whether you are actually using more energy. If your usage is going up, even with trying to cut usage, contact your power company. I've heard of meters being bad, resulting in low readings and would assume that the same could be true the other way. You could also aquire a clamp-on ammeter and take some measurements to find out what is drawing power. Some of these can actually record so you could see if circuits are drawing power when you don't expect--i.e. maybe your pool heater or AC?

[Travis Porter]

Hot water? Incandescent light bulbs? Windows letting out a lot of heat as they are getting older?

[Lee Schierer]

Ask your electric supplier about an off peak meter. If you can shift your useage to off peak hours, most electric companies will give you a break on the rate. They install a special off peak meter and it tracks your useage. Usually every evening after 8 until 8 in the morning is off peak and so are all weekends. You automatically have 65% of your useage off peak for the A/c season.

We have an all electric house here in NW PA and we have off peak, our balance billing is $120 per month. Our house is about 1700 square feet, not counting the basement which is heated to 60 degrees. We don't have any other utility bills nor do I have to cut wood or haul ashes.

You might want to take a look in your attic. If you new house doesn't have at least 12" of insulation then your electricity is going right out the roof.

[Carl Eyman]

As Matt said keep track of usage. killowatt hours. That way you can tell better if your conservation efforts are bearing fruit. Our electric rates (per kw-hr) in LA have gone up almost double since last year at this time. We were at abour $0.07 last year and last month it was $0.135. It's all in the fuel adjustment , of course. You might look into a heat pump. I did, but my place is so small it wouldn't pay off. It's a lot cheaper to pump heat into the ground which is about 70*F all year round here than into 100* air. A golfing buddy who is in the heating & a/c business was praising the new a/c systems that have very high CEERs (efficiency ratings) when used with heat pumps.

[Steven Wilson]

In addition to the excelent advise you have received so far make sure your electronics are turned off and not just on standby. If you have a couple of computers, home entertainment system, projection TV, etc. they will consume power when on standby, they really need to be off (or unplugged) if you want to reduce power consumption. If, after all the checks you do you can't find out where the power is going you may want to cycle through your breaker box turning off breakers and monitoring your meter. If your main breaker is off your meter shouldn't be turning !

[Eddie Watkins]

My electric bill nearly doubled for nearly the same usage this year over last. One thing to take into consideration is this has been an unusually warm winter for parts of North America. In OKlahoma City, the weatherman mentioned last night that we were on track to break a record for the warmest January. The record was set in 1923. You being farther south could have been even warmer and you may be using the A/C some. Years ago, I got a calendar and read my meter and logged it every day for a while so I could monitor what was the cause of my utility usage. By logging and monitoring the activities and temperature that corresponded to the high usage days it helped me figure out some things to watch. You might check for extension cords coming from your neighbor's house. I read of a guy finding an extension cord from his neighbor's house plugged into his plug not too long ago. Really.

[JayStPeter]

I know this is kind of obvious, but have you had anyone look at your AC compressors? One of them may not be operating correctly and running too much. I had a slow leak in one of mine in my old house. The freon would leak out a little over a period of a few years. Our bills were the telltale sign that it was time to get a fillup .

Jay

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Another thing to check is that your duct work around your furnace doesn't have leaks. Mine had a couple of major leaks. I don't know what it cost me, but I sealed them up!

[Richard Gillespie]

You mentioned that you have gas heat but I missed what you are heating your water with. If it is electric, that is a very expensive method. If you have a long run from the heater to say a kitchen you may want to consider adding a small heater in the kitchen to get instant hot water. You don't have to run so much water to get hot for the kitchen. In addition to that, check your toilets. I found one in my house hooked up to the hot water lines. That could have cost me but I found it while the house was under construction. I was the general contractor and fired that plumber who went bankrupt shortly thereafter.

[Martin Shupe]

Todd,

I feel your pain, really, I do...

TXU asked for and got a 28% increase in rates effective Jan 1, I believe.

I am all electricity, no gas, 3000 sq ft house, with 2 AC units. My average bill was around 275-300, until the last one, which was over $400. I looked at it and determined that my usage was not up, the price per kilo watt was up.

So...I told my wife to get the kids to turn off the lights if they are not in the room, and we used to leave the computer on at night, now we turn it off.

I have a neighbor with one of those ground water circulator things, (geothermal heat pump?). His bill is typically $100 less than mine. I didn't know they existed when I built the house, but it will be on my next house.

[Scott Donley]

Not sure if you have a shop heater or not, I have a 220 electric in mine and as soon as I turn it on it seems my bill X2's. I will say I will trade you bills, winter bills, 100 a mo. for electric, 200 a mo. for gas. 2000 sq. ft. house. Has gone up an avg. of 22% in the past year. Good luck !

[Scott Coffelt]

Try gas bills in Kansas, we freeze our butts off in the house and it's still over $250/mo in heating. Stupid oil industry, their killing us left and right.

[Joe Pelonio]

Sorry to tell you that turning off a few lights and computers is not going to make much difference. They just don't use that much. If you leave lights on in every room all day when no one's home it will add up, but it's the big energy suckers that make the bills that high. AC, Heat, and water were already mentioned, but a microwave also sucks it up, and probably the biggest waster of electricity is the refrigerator and freezer. Just cleaning the dust out of the coils will make a noticable difference on
your bill, and most people never think of it. If you have a gas clothes dryer a bad sensor will make it run longer, as will a partially clogged vent.