How much electricity do you use?

[acezz4e_tish]

check your kw costs, or the box that says daily average cost. theres always some sort of charge listed, you could compare it. mine went down alot too, since using my front loader and using cold water.

[nanamom]

We seem to have hit the bottom our electric bill will go. It averages around 60 to 70 dollars a month. I have gotton that down from 75 so I should be happy. The main things we use (besides the usual fridge, etc) is washer and dryer. I keep forgetting to hang stuff when I do the laundry. We leave a light on all night but tend to work very hard at keeping them off when it is daylight. The computer stays on and DS2 plays music when he goes to sleep (an hour or so till it shuts off) We have no TV although an occasional movie (not even weekly) is viewed. We're going to try shutting the computer down and I am going to try to hang laundry and see what it is next month.

[Ima saver]

I am pretty happy with mine since I have such a large house.

[Ima saver]

My bill went up a little this month, I think because the ice maker is now running full time.

[cercis]

Mine did too - 433 for a 29 day cycle. It might have something to do with running the heater and that night I forgot to turn off the bathroom heater.

Still not too bad though.

[acezz4e_tish]

use a couple ice cube trays to keep it fuller, if its full it wont run.

[Tightwad Kitty]

Originally Posted by acezz4e_tish

use a couple ice cube trays to keep it fuller, if its full it wont run.

When your freezers are not FULL, try putting 2/3 full bottles of water in them. I use large juice bottles 2 or 3 litres ones. This does help to keep the motor from coming on all the time. When we had a blackout a few years ago now, I had 6 bottles of frozen ice water in my freezers. I was able to use some of the frozen stock in the bottom of the freezer because of them! It was a long one too! (54hours) I able to use the water for my iron when I defrosted it later.

[Ima saver]

Our ice maker is a stand alone ice maker out in the garage now (use to be behind the bar, but leaked and made a mess. leak is fixed now) It was off for a month.

[rebelchai]

We averaged 620 kwh/month in 2005, down from 751 kwh/month 2004.

We replaced our failing refrigerator and standing freezer, with a chest freezer and energy saver fridge mid-2004. I think maintaining or replacing failing appliances is a big help. Do take the previously posted suggestion of filling up empty space in refrigerators and freezers with plastic bottles full of water. It helps the appliance maintain its heat without using so much electricity. I've heard that properly venting & cleaning these appliances also helps (don't mash rear cooling coils on your fridge against the wall, vacuum out under appliances that have the coils below).

Our clothes dryer died this year and we are not replacing it. Just line drying our clothing saves us about 150kwh/month.

We heat 5040 cubic feet approx, we have an electric water heater, do 3-4 loads of laundry a week (cold wash), electric oven/range, oil heat (uses some electricity), wood heat, must have 8 hot showers per week (husband works on farm & in retial, I take one/week, spot clean baby), no air conditioning only fans, no hair dryer, 3 hrs of TV & DVD daily, 6 hours of radio/cd play weekly, oven is on for bread baking and granola making every other day for 2 hrs. , slow cooker in use 1 day per week, and this computer is at the library. The above figure of 620 kwh/month did include the use of our clothes dryer, now kaput. We cook the evening meal every day and two more meals on weekends. That's all I can come up with right now

House needs to be re-insulated & we are not guarding against phantom electricity usage.

How much of a difference does getting a timer for an electric water heater make? I want to turn it off at night. How much does it cost for one? (US $, please). Are they easy to install?

[nanamom]

I finally got an electric bill and remembered to check the KW hours. Last month we used 454 KWH last month last year we used 612KWH. I am strongly convinced the difference is our high schooler (exchange student) moving out.

[Ima saver]

I love the weather like this, no heat or a/d. I keep my water heater turned off all the time except when taking a shower or running dish washer. I use to have to turn off the circuit breaker int he garage, now we have a switch.

[rebelchai]

I thought maybe this link might be helpful:

http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/

[khorovetsyelena]

I have a quiestion. Actually a few of them.
How much would it cost me on electricity to :

1. cook a meal in the crockpot if i would run in on high for 4 hrs like it says in instructions

2. run my dryer for 50 min

3. have my tv on for 2 hrs to watch a movie

if anybody has any answers please reply here.
Thank you.

[stngymama]

....... How much would it cost me on electricity to .....................

Many appliances will tell you how many watts they use. IF not you may find the amps and volts listed (frequently hidden, say on the bottom, or in the owner's manual):
Amps x Volts = Watts; To determine kilowatts (kW), divide watts by 1000. Then figure out how long you are using the appliance.
Also, see this or similar websites for some ideas (substitute your own utilities' cost per kwh):
http://www.city.ames.ia.us/ElectricW...appliances.htm

[khorovetsyelena]

Thanks.

[Ima saver]

A crockpot does not use much elec., but the dryer really does. I am going to try to combine two loads of drying at once, but that is hard for me to do. We don't have that many dirty clothes.

[joesbaby]

im pretty happy wiht my useage so far this month, in one week i have used only 130 kw. thats great for me this time of year. last year i was using almost 2x that much. yipppee...

ericka

[acezz4e_tish]

i hear using crockpot or toaster oven, uses half the energy of cooking a meal on the stove, the microwave even less.
as for running the dryer that long, cut your time by adding a dry clean towel to it.
i use crock pot four or more times a week.i cut my dryer time, i use coldwater cleaning and put all my appliances in thier own surge bar, and half my lights changed out to the ones that look like coils. my electric bill this month with late fee was 95, 85 w/o late fee, thats down from an average of 125, 135 with late fee. i almost cut my bill in half, i bet i will when i get the rest of the lights replaced. im very pleased as its hard to save here, im with a co op that dont even use peak/off peak hours. if we had off peak, i would do laundry then, and prolly cut my bill another 20 dollars. my oven is propane tho so no real savings there.

[Tightwad Kitty]

Originally Posted by stngymama

....... How much would it cost me on electricity to .....................

Many appliances will tell you how many watts they use. IF not you may find the amps and volts listed (frequently hidden, say on the bottom, or in the owner's manual):
Amps x Volts = Watts; To determine kilowatts (kW), divide watts by 1000. Then figure out how long you are using the appliance.
Also, see this or similar websites for some ideas (substitute your own utilities' cost per kwh):
http://www.city.ames.ia.us/ElectricW...appliances.htm

This is some information that I have never come across before!
I did know about the watts = 1000 but Amps x Volts = watts is new to me.

Now I may be able to find how much my old appliances are costing me! Thanks. Stngymama

[Ima saver]

I budget $160 a month, so any time I am under that, I am happy. I was paying $400 a month when I lived in fla. and that was 22 years ago. I never pay late fees on anything.