electric bill is kinda high

[Goldy1]

In our 1900 square foot him. It is just me and dh. Our electric bill averages about $140 a month.

We do use landscape lighting on a timer for darkness( front and back)and have a freezer in the basement. I temporarily cut off the hot tub b/c I can't use it while pregnant. lol

I was trying to think of what we waste electric on. Not much, but dh likes to have lots of lights on. For instance when he is watching tv which is often, he keeps a light on in the living room where he is watching it and he also keep a light on in the kitchen which is connected tot he living room. He doesn't like it if I turn off the kitchen light b/ he wants to "see what the dog is doing if he goes in there" (whatever)
Dh also keeps his computer on normally 24/7. I know it's half me too. I guess it just costs a lot.

[Ima saver]

My house is 3200 square feet. My bill is normally lower than yours. This month it was $105. I keep my hot water heater (electric) turned off except when we are taking a shower or running the dish washer. I wash clothes in cold. This saves a lot of money.

[globetraveler]

I currently live in a old crappy apartment complex. 20-25 years old and starting to get pretty run down.

Door seals are in bad shape and I am pretty sure the insulation is terrible.

My average electric bill from Nov to Feb has been $225 a month on a 900 sq foot apartment.

We keep it at 72F when home summer and winter and 68F when we are away.

And we live in the deep south with high humidity in the summer, so there is no turning my AC up to 78-80 in the summer to save money.....

Luckily I am only here for a few more months waiting on my new house to be built!

But its only temporary, so rant off.

[disneysteve]

OP, you may have a lot of "phantom" usage, devices that drain power just by being plugged in even if they aren't turned on. Anything with a remote control definitely qualifies. Many other things draw power all the time and should be unplugged when not in use. An easy way around that is to put things into a power strip and turn off the strip. When you want to use those things, just flip the switch. Leaving the computer on 24/7 definitely sucks power, too.

[GREENBACK]

Originally Posted by Goldy1

In our 1900 square foot him. It is just me and dh. Our electric bill averages about $140 a month.

We do use landscape lighting on a timer for darkness( front and back)and have a freezer in the basement. I temporarily cut off the hot tub b/c I can't use it while pregnant. lol

I was trying to think of what we waste electric on. Not much, but dh likes to have lots of lights on. For instance when he is watching tv which is often, he keeps a light on in the living room where he is watching it and he also keep a light on in the kitchen which is connected tot he living room. He doesn't like it if I turn off the kitchen light b/ he wants to "see what the dog is doing if he goes in there" (whatever)
Dh also keeps his computer on normally 24/7. I know it's half me too. I guess it just costs a lot.

My house is about the same size and bills run about the same. Everything runs on electricity though so no gas bill. I have two freezers and work from home quite a bit(I get a home office stipend of $125/Mo.) so I'm sure it could be lower.

I have a lot of lights on usually and am starting to transition to energy efficient bulbs. Hopefully that will help in the long run.

[disneysteve]

If your husband likes lots of lights on, definitely start transitioning to CFLs. As bulbs burn out, replace them with CFLs. That should help.

How old are your major appliances, particularly your refrigerator and freezer? If they are more than 8-10 years old, consider replacing them. What you save in electricity can pay for the new unit within a few years. We have an old freezer (over 15 years) that I know is making the meter spin. We keep talking about replacing it and selling the old one on craigslist (which would make the break even point even sooner). Maybe in the spring we'll do that.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Do you heat electrically? Have a very old refrigerator? Use a whole lot of high wattage bulbs in each room where the lights are on? Use an electric washer and dryer? Heat your water with electricity? Do many loads of laundry per week?

There are two of us and our large appliances except the fridge are all on natural gas. We use the microwave oven frequently--is that a large appliance? Being only two, we can only be in a max of two rooms at a time, so no more lights than that are on, normally. We use outside lighting only rarely. At least one desktop computer is on around twelve hours per day. We use the compact fluorescent bulbs and tube fluorescents in our garage, ring fluorescents in kitchen. TV stays plugged in.

Our winter electric bill is about $30 per month. I can look up the kilowatts and price per kw if you would like.

[Goldy1]

I guess it all adds up. For instance I run a filter on a 55 gal goldfish tank. I do not heat the fish's tank. I don't turn the lights on thier tank primarily b/c it creates more algae so I let the fish have natural light only.

My main fridge is about 5 years old. My gas stove is about 10 years old.

My dishwasher was here before dh and me met (it was here before he bought the house) so my dishwasher is over 10 yrs old and mostl likey 13 or more years old.

I am stunned a dishwasher that old still works great, but I know it must not be energy efficient. I started using air dry on it instead of heat dry and it still totally dries the dishes. I bet if I bought a new one it would konk on me in a few years

My upright freezer is only about 4 years old. I love buying frozen food in bulk and can't imagine not having it now. ie I can buy 15 frozen dinners for work lunches when they go half off lol

I love to take 25 minute hot showers. My vice I should chill on that. I steam the whole bathroom up. My dh says I should run a bath if I want to be in there that long.

My heat is gas but dh says it also uses electric. Good thing is I do have a 95% + modulating energy efficient furnace(got tax credit when I bought it too which was great)

I guess I never realized how high utility bills are. Our water is very very cheap , but of course the city/state is working on raising that.

[kork13]

I'm not certain of it, but I've heard that using high-consuming appliances during "peak" hours of the day (when other people are all also using large amounts of energy), it causes your bill to run up... So the way to beat that is to use it during low-demand hours, like at night/early morning. However, I'm not sure about how true this is, so I won't swear to it....

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by kork13

I'm not certain of it, but I've heard that using high-consuming appliances during "peak" hours of the day (when other people are all also using large amounts of energy), it causes your bill to run up... So the way to beat that is to use it during low-demand hours, like at night/early morning. However, I'm not sure about how true this is, so I won't swear to it....

This depends on the local utility. Some offer different rates at different times of day. For some, you need to get a special meter or sign up for a special plan.

[snafu]

Does your energy bill show how many kWh you use and it's rate? If not, your hydro provider can give that information. They can supply a list showing various items [freezer, oven, fridge, TV, computer, printer, CFL] kWh. What is average cost for homes in your area?

You may be in a high cost energy area. We are charged $.0121 per kWh for example

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Goldy that's awesome cheap! We have townhouse (so shared walls), 1900 sq ft and we pay $200/month for electric only! We used 838 kwh and $192/month balanced billing.

We pay another $400/month heating with natural gas. We used 313 therms for $487! Ouch.

So our bills for electric and heat last month was $700. Geez.

[Goldy1]

I guess it's not terrible, but it doesn't hurt to think of ways to conserve. We do have some of those newer light bulbs, but I have tons of boxes of the regular kind left over from free after rebate etc.

It would be hard for me to pay $700 a month on electric and gas. that's about my house note without taxes(I pay my taxes in full not in monthly with my house note b/c I dont' give free loans)

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by LivingAlmostLarge

So our bills for electric and heat last month was $700. Geez.

Originally Posted by Goldy1

It would be hard for me to pay $700 a month on electric and gas. that's about my house note without taxes

Ouch, LAL. I'm with Goldy. My mortgage payment is $697. Our gas and electric is $223 I think (on the equal payment plan).

[LivingAlmostLarge]

HCOLA, what can I say? What did you use? Was my 313 therms and 850 kwh that high compared to most people? I've seen on other boards and blogs it's really not high compared to most families.

I honestly do believe it's the COLA.

[red92s]

T.E.D. : Electricity Monitor, Energy Monitor, Power Monitor

[GREENBACK]

Originally Posted by LivingAlmostLarge

HCOLA, what can I say? What did you use? Was my 313 therms and 850 kwh that high compared to most people? I've seen on other boards and blogs it's really not high compared to most families.

I honestly do believe it's the COLA.

I pay 3.4 cents per kwh. I used 2,078 kwh in feb.. Bill was $ 193.07. I don't consider this bad because everything is powered by electricity and I have no gas bill or water/sewer bill to pay. I do have to buy heating oil every couple months depending on how much wood I burn.

Not sure how my rate compares but seems decent for the area I'm in but you may have a point on the HCOLA. My area would be considered a LCOLA by most people. BTW, what are "therms"?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Greenback, you use in a month what I use in five and a half months! Five and a half winter months, anyway.

Got out my last bill: $29.45 for 374 kwh $1.18 of that is tax. Supposedly my rate is 6.6 cents/kwh, but the arithmetic doesn't come out quite right.

The bill was previous to that was for $29.56, so I guess we don't much fluctuate on our basic electricity use.

Goldy, I found this Business Week article from last summer. It puts Michigan in a generally average cost of electricity area. There is a nice map in the article that gives an idea of who pays what. Alaska is the most expensive.

Power Surge.

[GREENBACK]

Originally Posted by Joan.of.the.Arch

Greenback, you use in a month what I use in five and a half months! Five and a half winter months, anyway.

Got out my last bill: $29.45 for 374 kwh $1.18 of that is tax. Supposedly my rate is 6.6 cents/kwh, but the arithmetic doesn't come out quite right.

The bill was previous to that was for $29.56, so I guess we don't much fluctuate on our basic electricity use.

Goldy, I found this Business Week article from last summer. It puts Michigan in a generally average cost of electricity area. There is a nice map in the article that gives an idea of who pays what. Alaska is the most expensive.

Power Surge.

I'm a bit curious as to how much of your utilities are electric. The only thing I have that uses anything but complete electricity is my oil furnace but even that needs elec.. If the elec. goes out I have nothing here. My house is also a home office so I spend a fair amount of time here in the winter which adds to usage. My typical fair weather usage is in the 1000 kwh range or lower.

[maat55]

Strangly, our power company is petitioning our city to lower rates due to lower fuel costs.