922 kwh for one person in a month??

[bryanthompson]

Just got my electric bill for July. In 29 days, i used 922 KWH, which is 31.8 per day... I turn things off when I'm not in the room, keep the central air at 78 (it actually stays cooler than that, but it's a little goofy), and the house is very tight.

Is 922 kwh excessive for one person in a month?

[juanbenae]

bush+enron+2nd term= high energy costs.

maybe some bastard liberal has tapped into the trailer's power supply after the meter to fuel the conspiracy against the right?

[Bill Verburg]

Sure seems like a lot

[masraum]

From what I understand if for some reason they can't get to you meter they'll guestimate your reading. If they do that for a couple of months and the actually read the meter you may be screwed or have a really light month. Maybe that's what happened. What is your bill normally? If that's way off then I'd raise a stink and get them to check things out. Too, you can read your own meter and check things out yourself.

[MikeSid]

Turn the A/C off and wear a cool collar. I hear they're good for at least 10 kwh!

[FrayAdjacent911]

I don't recall what my average is exactly... but I think it's close to 700KWh for a month, with a one bedroom apartment. I'll check when I get home.

How much $$ was the bill?

My highest has been $84, and I think the lowest was $35. I also try to turn things off, but have two computers on most of the time at home.

[bryanthompson]

Well, I haven't lived here long enough to build a base of comparison.

This bill is $84 and change. The meters are read by radio, so I dunno if that could have been a problem. They have a self-read program, so if they did guess, I might start reading it myself.

Maybe it's not so far off, it is just me and my 3 computers, but I'm home *all* day. I suppose that might cause me to use more juice.

[Saintly]

Go and take note of your current meter reading and then when you get the next bill go and check the meter and see if the numbers match.

[pwd72s]

I had that problem once. Bill suddenly more than tripled. Before calling the power company, I added up the wattage of EVERYTHING in the place. They sent a rep by...he told me that meters never make mistakes. I showed him my calculations, then said: "You know, I get suspicious when I'm charged for 50 gallons of gas and the car has a 20 gallon tank." Rep. then took the meter out to his truck for a spell, assured me it was fine, plugged it back in. Funny thing though...my bill dropped back down to the normal average.

[bryanthompson]

pwd, good thinking... It might be fun to figure out those calculations anyway.

[GettinHeadStuds]

Originally posted by MikeSid
Turn the A/C off and wear a cool collar. I hear they're good for at least 10 kwh!

[pwd72s]

Bryan...I got the wattage of everything in the place...even the night lights. It took time to do. But you know, even with every piece of equipment I had that used juice were on 24/7, it would have been impossible for me to have burned the Kw I was being billed for. It HAD to be the meter...either that or billing hanky-panky.

[David]

If it makes you feel any better (or me worse), last month I used 2887 kwh's and my bill was $366.84. Granted I live in Houston and I've been running the A/C in my garage alot.

[Bill Verburg]

Originally posted by pwd72s
I had that problem once. Bill suddenly more than tripled. Before calling the power company, I added up the wattage of EVERYTHING in the place. They sent a rep by...he told me that meters never make mistakes. I showed him my calculations, then said: "You know, I get suspicious when I'm charged for 50 gallons of gas and the car has a 20 gallon tank." Rep. then took the meter out to his truck for a spell, assured me it was fine, plugged it back in. Funny thing though...my bill dropped back down to the normal average.

It goes the other way too, I had a meter stop working at all, I got the minimum bill for a year or so, till the power co. cought on.

[hardflex]

An electric water heater and the refrigerator could be a big chunk of that, and would be tough to cut down on. An electric dryer would be a bunch too if run a lot.

Recently while my house was for sale, we weren't living there much, the AC was off afor most of the month, so it thought the bill would be low...., but it came in at $142

Seems to me, on the water heater i had there, they quote cost of usage at $415 with power costing .08 per KWH. cost is now from .12 to .13 cents per KWH.

I have a single friend who lives by himself, and he took the time to analyze everything he ran for power consumption by turning off the breakers to everything but what he was measuring, then watching the meter spin. I may have to try that myself.

[bryanthompson]

update!

Just got this month's electric bill: 590kwh. 322kwh fewer than last month.

I've been more conscious of my usage, and haven't had three computers running 24/7, pay attention to (and turn off) lights & other things left on in other rooms, etc.

[pwd72s]

Good for you Bryan. Conservation makes a difference. The $ saved could be your own. In your neck of the woods, another way to put it is "What, Warren Buffet doesn't have enough money?"

[widebody911]

Turn down the grow lights.

[RickM]

Computers consume a huge amount of current. I even heard (but havn't verified) that idle VCRs consume quite a bit. If that's true then "instant on " circuitry in other appliances, like TVs., are likely to consume as much.
If you use night lights try to use the newer LED jobbers. Other great money savers are fluorescent units that can be fit to hi-hats and other fixtures. They even make dimmable ones. Sometimes local power companies sell them at a very discounted price.

BTW, after the alternative energy thread (JanusCole?) I've been vigorously investigating the possibilty of PV solar for my home. I have an electrician friend who is considering the addition of this technology to his business. If it goes anywhere I'll keep you posted.