Your Electric Bill

[Zef]

Two kids, me & wife.
2600 sq ft house
3 Computers
1 Plasma sreen 52
1 LCD screen
2 refrigerators.
Electric heat in the garage
Summer, pool pump running 12 hre per day, 7 days/week
A/C 24 K BTU running from June to September.
Winter take his toll. Electric heating from November to April.
Level payment for the year long...: 145 $ per month.
Remove the %?**&$%?&*((*&? winter, and I'm probably down around 70 $ per month.

[vwbobd]

Originally Posted by NineOhOne

I assume the still is wood-fired?

Yes we can burn wood here cause we dont have to wear a gas mask to go outside like you guys do. And we like the opposite sex as parners here weather its kin or not

[NineOhOne]

Originally Posted by vwbobd

Yes we can burn wood here cause we dont have to wear a gas mask to go outside like you guys do. And we like the opposite sex as parners here weather its kin or not

Well...you certainly ARE a Southerner. It only took you two days for a come-back.

[vwbobd]

Originally Posted by NineOhOne

Well...you certainly ARE from N. GA. It only took you two days for a come-back.

Like I said, we can safely go outside and enjoy the outdoors without all the fallout . And on this side of the planet we are heterosexual and actually can have kids , so most of the time we are playing football, or basketball or whatever instead of doing what you are doing like watching gay porn with your boyfriend and insulting people whom you would never ever insult to their face.

[NineOhOne]

Originally Posted by vwbobd

...and insulting people whom you would never ever insult to their face.

LOL. Another Internet "tough guy"...

C'mon down, big boy! (I'm not in CA. Atlanta is home).

[vwbobd]

Originally Posted by NineOhOne

LOL. Another Internet "tough guy"...

C'mon down, big boy! (I'm not in CA. Atlanta is home).

So you put CA on your profile to impress us imbreds huh? So which ghetto do you live in ? Five Points? Hope you get another smog mask for Xmas! Oh, I think I saw your mom blowing a security guard at Lennox Square the other day.
You "Big City " fairies are too scared to come up in these parts.

[Drdogface]

Grass Valley Ca.

House: 2700 sqft built 1993...two level, well and septic
Pool...medium to small
Two adults only. Gas heat, cook top, dryer, two 'wood' stoves on natural gas.
Hot tub, oven...elec.

Average monthly bill for gas and elec. $450 to $550. Has been as high as $680

Cold weather causes pool pump to cycle all too often for my taste

I looked into solar last year....$35,000 for about 75% of our elec.....13 yr payback.

It sucks on ice...

[lendaddy]

$660 a month????

"Owww papi it's like an iron bar!"

[Hugh R]

Southern Ca Edison

3,000 sq. ft. one story, sort of insulated. Just put in double pane windows and doors on most of the house three or four months ago. Pool pumps runs 4 hours winter and 8 hours in the summer.

Last 12 months averaged $326/mo
Highest was August at $528 (we have a MIL who lives with us, thus we run the A/C all day when it's hot.

Lowest was January at $221.

[look 171]

Our bill is around $350 -400. under 1700sq' build in the 50s but I almost rebuilt the entire house in the past 10 years. split level a/c and heat. electric hot drinking water under sink, recir. pump hooked up to the tankless water heater. 2 refs, we run the dishwasher and washer and dryer more then I ever have in my life due to our 2 and 4 year olds. My wife's home with the kids so they have to burn elec some how even if they are just watching tv.

[rick-l]

This is meaningless without a cost per kilo watt hour.

It's like saying "I put gas in my car every week" and someone else saying "I only do it every other week".

[David]

2200 sqft house, 900 sqft garage with 2 ton window unit. Highest bill this year about $400, average about $300, 12.9 cents per kwh (total bill/total kwh).

I also have pool pumps that run 3 to 6 hours a day depending on the season (no heater).

Gas water heater, dryer, HVAC heater, and range (about $30/month gas bill.)

Over $600 seems ridiculous for Southern Cali.

[exitwound]

I rent a 3-bedroom house and we pay $135/month (all electric). A few years ago it was $100/month. 35% increase is insane. PA's caps at which they can charge customers is expiring in 2012. Rates are expected to go up 200-300%. I think we're being charged now ~$0.093/kWh

[sammyg2]

Mine's $200 per month (level pay plan) but may go up next year. That's for a three bedroom house with a pool.

THAT LIGHT ISN'T GOING TO TURN ITSELF OFF is what my kids hear the most

I've done allot over the years to make the place more energy efficient. Not to save $$$ (the payback usually isn't there) but to make the place more comfortable. Double-pane windows, as patio cover on the back of the house, better insulation, sealing up cracks and drafts, dimmer switches, solar heating for the pool, a high efficiency variable speed main pool pump with a smaller booster pump for the sweeper, high efficiency AC condenser/compressor, etc.

[JavaBrewer]

Holy heck that's high!

We have a 3900 sq/ft 2 level house, me and wife with 2 kids, no AC, no pool, ceiling fans in all rooms, and our average SDG&E bill ~ $120. Lowest bills are Aug-Nov at $70 and highest are Dec-Mar at $150 due to gas furnace. Our home was built in 2003 and has copious amounts of insulation. I plan to add a house fan (attic) this winter to help cool the home during the warmer summer months. We rarely use the dishwasher but our clothes washer/dryer are running 3 loads a day.

I'm guessing your pool is the big culprit. Do you keep it heated year round? Spa? My BIL & SIL live a couple miles away in a 3300 sq/ft home, have 3 kids, run AC anytime the temps go higher than 80, and have a pool and spa they keep heated. From what they have told me their monthly bill is ~ $100 higher than yours.

Edit - I gotta check my last bill for the KW/hr charge.

Originally Posted by DAEpperson

We just hit a "level pay" average for the next 12 months of $660. I am in shock to say the least. I seems like just yesterday it hit $550.

Details - A little more than 3000 sq ft 2 story house built in 1987, reasonably well insulated
- Two 27 Cu Ft refrigeratirs
- Large swimming pool
- 2 pcs
- Two adults, 3 teens
- 14 seer new hvac
- new high e windows throughout

What the heck? I know the kids leave the lights on, and the pool is a drain, but is this normal? What is everyone else paying? /rant off

[hardflex]

frikkin Texas brags about it's energy deregulation, and I've paid 2.5 times the KWH rate you guys are quoting here. And we need it much more here than in Calif, even the Deserts in Calif, because it's a more humid heat and cold. My Thermostat is set to 60-68 in winter and 85-80 in summer. My Heat pump still runs 14 hours a day some days.

We all think about the lights but most electricity is used in space heating or cooling, including refrigerators dryers and ovens. A few degrees difference in the thermostat setting can mean big increase in the amount of time heat or A/C run. There's a big difference in what's tolerable in many households.

Older refrigerators are not nearly as efficient as the newer ones. Still at your KWH rates no more than $40 each per month.

Computers are not much, maybe $10 a month?

Is your Water heater set really High? Leaky hot water pipe or faucets anywhere? When the Water heater is on it's like burning 25 light bulbs, same with the dryer

You didn't say if you heated the pool or not. That could be huge, as the outside temperatures drop and you keep the water temp steady.

A friend of mine, as a project, documented everything in his house for usage. He did it by turning off all the breakers and then turning them on one at a time and watched the meter speed, or rate, of usage. You might try that to identify the biggest user.

$660 is alot.

[DW SD]

I'm in Encinitas, very close to Java Brewer (David) in North San Diego. We have 3300 sq ft, no A/C, a pool and pay about $240 / mo.

Check out the sizing of your pool motor. I downsized mine to reduce out bill. The motor cost about $150 along with a used pump I bought. I do not have the variable speed setup. I keep it running about 3 hours in the winter and six in peak summer months. It draws a ton - I figured $40 to $80 / mo.

Every phone charger, draws power, even if the phone isn't charging. I also turned off my landscape lighting in the backyard unless we go outside. I dropped from $350 to $240 by doing the pool, limited use of landscape lighting, etc.

I work from home, so I set one furnace on 69 (as opposed to 72) in the winter. We have two furnaces. The bedroom area doesn't get heated. Our home has up to date windows, insulation, etc. The furnaces have timers which kill heat at 10p and turn on at 6a.

I bet you can cut your bill in half by doing simple things.

Bear in mind, the further up the consumption scale you go, the more the power costs. It is allocated in pricing tiers. The initial cuts will have the greatest effect on reducing your rates.

Doug

[futuresoptions]

I would check to make sure that my heat wasn't coming on when my a/c was running and vice versa... you'd be amazed at how often this happens...

I would also be interested in wiring... Appliances etc... you could have something improperly grounded that is drawing power even when it is turned off... (Due to a short etc..)

Loose connections in junction boxes and breaker boxes can also cause excessive amperage... I opened a feeder panel at the Shriners kitchen here and the neutral wire was almost melted out of the lug... (Wonder why their appliances were having problems)

Another thing you can do is have the electric company come out and put a monitor on your meter to make sure that it is reading correctly...

This is all that I can think of at this time, but maybe it can jog someone else's memory...

You might also want to go and see how fast your meter is running and start killing your major appliances until it slow down... this is also one way to find the culprit...

[berettafan]

$ per kwh

if you all want to understand your rates better google 'tarrif' for your electric utility and read it. also look up 'pca' and 'aca'.

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by rick-l

This is meaningless without a cost per kilo watt hour.

It's like saying "I put gas in my car every week" and someone else saying "I only do it every other week".

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