Electric bill

[PapaDave]

With all the crap thrown in, about 13 cents/kwh. Last month we used 473 kwh. That was a little high for us. Try to keep it down near 400.
Noticed on this bill that the yard light charge went up, and the pscr adj did too. Don't know what that is.....yet.
This time last year, we had daughter and 3 granddaughters in the house, and usage was between 700-800kwh/month.
Dog kennel in the pole barn also, with the furnace out there set @55 deg. all winter. Gas bills weren't fun either.

 

[PJF1313]

It's the wife and I + M.I.L.

So everything is just about doubled - 2 elcec. ranges, 2 fridges, 2 f'in toaster ovens, etc. She is in he 90's, and trying to be a independent as possible, but she also just moved back up here from Central Fl. about 2-1/2 yrs ago, so she's cold most of the time.
So those portable heater don't help me - just LIPA!

 

[BrotherBart]

Wow, I average about 450 kw/month

Running what? We use from five to seven hundred KWH but that includes the well pump, cooking, hot water and everything else since we have no gas, oil or propane anything. But numbers can't really mean anything due to differences in family size etc.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Wow, I average about 450 kw/month

Running what? We use from five to seven hundred KWH but that includes the well pump, cooking, hot water and everything else since we have no gas, oil or propane anything. But numbers can't really mean anything due to differences in family size etc.

Well, have a fam of 5...3 kids...electricity runs the well pump, oven, range, micro, coffee maker,dishwasher, washer and dryer...2 computer, 3 tv's, lights, etc....house is about 1800sq/feet....just conscios of the useage I guess. (Hot water and heat is oil) Need electricity for the blower on the insert though.
Is 450 month low?

 

[BucksCoBernie]

Wow, I average about 450 kw/month

Running what? We use from five to seven hundred KWH but that includes the well pump, cooking, hot water and everything else since we have no gas, oil or propane anything. But numbers can't really mean anything due to differences in family size etc.

Well, have a fam of 5...3 kids...electricity runs the well pump, oven, range, micro, coffee maker,dishwasher, washer and dryer...2 computer, 3 tv's, lights, etc....house is about 1800sq/feet....just conscios of the useage I guess. (Hot water and heat is oil) Need electricity for the blower on the insert though.
Is 450 month low?

450/mo is really low. Its just me and my wife in a 2000sqft house and we use 700-800/mo. I have everything you listed and I've never gotten my bill that low....whats your secret? haha. Its not like we leave lights on all the time or anything. All the tvs and stuff are on power strips that get turned off at night. I have CFL bulbs in everything.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Not really sure what our secret is ...we use CFL's in appx 75% of the house, but I am not allowed to use them in the bathroom, or the spot lights over the kitchen counter
We don't have any video games or real fancy video equipment (no cable boxes, no dvr's etc...) so maybe thats it.
We use a clothesline in the winter (mainly me)...try to conserve where we can....I think leaving the lights off when not is use is a big item that has helped.
I guess I don't need an energy audit completed

 

[PapaDave]

It's just the wife & I now. House is about 1250 sq. ft., ranch. Big screen tv is on a strip which is off most of the time, no cable box (we watch tv via internet, so the modem and router are on all the time), stereo is on a strip, cfl's in over 95% of house, fridge, upright self defrost freezer, well pump, washer & electric dryer, elec. stove/oven, nat. gas for water heat. Started using the blower on the stove this year. We have a heated water dish for the below freezing days for the 1 sheep and 2 goats.
Use the clothesline in the summer, and the stove room for jeans and heavy stuff.

 

[billb3]

useage is about 130kwh / month and the bill is fairly consistant around $32.00.
well pump, electric appliances, oil heat and hot water.
Never more than 1 TV on at a time and try not to use the dryer.

Try as we might it's hard to get under 130kwh / mo. except for in the Summer. (no A/c)


When I didn't have the well pump I got the bill down under $20.00 / month a couple times in the Summer a few years back.

Our November and December bills are usually highest and we attribute that to holiday cooking, and day length / lights.

 

[PapaDave]

Wow, billb3, that's some pretty miserly elec. usage. I mean that in a good way.
I'm still working to decrease ours, but the wife is resisting. She wanted to put a pot of water on the kitchen stove to help get some humidity in the house, but
I told her to just help fill the containers we have on the wood stove.

 

[BucksCoBernie]

useage is about 130kwh / month and the bill is fairly consistant around $32.00.
well pump, electric appliances, oil heat and hot water.
Never more than 1 TV on at a time and try not to use the dryer.

Try as we might it's hard to get under 130kwh / mo. except for in the Summer. (no A/c)


When I didn't have the well pump I got the bill down under $20.00 / month a couple times in the Summer a few years back.

Our November and December bills are usually highest and we attribute that to holiday cooking, and day length / lights.

Wow thats awesome. 130kwh/mo!

Do you guys turn lights on or just walk around in these at night?
(broken link removed to http://www.villagehatshop.com/media/images/viewer/MinersHelmet/medium_MinersHelmet1.jpg)

I really have to start figuring out what is sucking so much power.

 

[Highbeam]

We were home for 2 months (We're working on the road, so not home too often) and mainly heat the whole house (2000 sqft 2 stories + basement) with the wood stove. Everything else is electric (Range, oven, water heater, lights....). So here's from Nov 21 to Jan 22. So when adding the taxes and the fee it's approx 0.08181$ / Kwh.

Daily fee: 62 days x 0,4064 $ 25,20 $
Consommation (For 62 days): 2 610 kWh
The first 30 kWh per days 1 860 kWh x 0,0545 $ 101,37 $
Excessive consommation: 750 kWh x 0,0746 $ 55,95 $
Plus all the according taxes (provincial & federal) and fees: 213,53 $

They pay you to consummate?

We pay 10 cents per kwH after all the fees are included and for about 1000 kWh per month. The first 600 kWh are two cents cheaper than the last 400. All electric house with wood heat, fridge, large upright freezer, and a big hot tub. It's pretty cheap really. We pay 120$ for TV/phone/internet too.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

we dont pay for electricity, we pay for the PRIVILEGE to turn it on & it should be gov. regulated vs free market

Please explain this to me....you want the government to control the price of electricity? DO you want the government to claim your first born as well?

 

[Fi-Q]

We were home for 2 months (We're working on the road, so not home too often) and mainly heat the whole house (2000 sqft 2 stories + basement) with the wood stove. Everything else is electric (Range, oven, water heater, lights....). So here's from Nov 21 to Jan 22. So when adding the taxes and the fee it's approx 0.08181$ / Kwh.

Daily fee: 62 days x 0,4064 $ 25,20 $
Consommation (For 62 days): 2 610 kWh
The first 30 kWh per days 1 860 kWh x 0,0545 $ 101,37 $
Excessive consommation: 750 kWh x 0,0746 $ 55,95 $
Plus all the according taxes (provincial & federal) and fees: 213,53 $

They pay you to consummate?

We pay 10 cents per kwH after all the fees are included and for about 1000 kWh per month. The first 600 kWh are two cents cheaper than the last 400. All electric house with wood heat, fridge, large upright freezer, and a big hot tub. It's pretty cheap really. We pay 120$ for TV/phone/internet too.

They pay you to consumate ? ? I'm not sure i'm getting this right... maybe I didn't explain myself good.... It cost me 213.53 for 2 months........ all the details were copy & paste from my bill......

 

[VCBurner]

My bill and consumption:

Dec 03-Jan 04 (32 days) $128.72/ 882kwh= .146
Jan 04-Feb 01 (28 days) $103.49/ 701kwh= .148

Family of six. We have 1-4 TV's at least one is going all day. Sometimes all 4 could be on. Computer going all day, Fridge, toaster oven, microwave, old electric range, dishwasher, washer, drier are all electric. Edit: I forgot the well pump. Tankless hot water by oil furnace, forced water baseboard heat never on. House heated by way of wood.

We don't think too much about the electric. This thread forced me to compare our consumtion to others. I guess we could save some $ by regulating the consumption. Most of our light fixtures use energy saving bulbs. Our 4 boys are 3-9 years old so we leave at least three light bulbs on all night.

Thanks for the thread, may cause us to think a little more.

 

[BrotherBart]

we dont pay for electricity, we pay for the PRIVILEGE to turn it on & it should be gov. regulated vs free market

But you need it to run your Magic Heat.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

we dont pay for electricity, we pay for the PRIVILEGE to turn it on & it should be gov. regulated vs free market

But you need it to run your Magic Heat.

Ok, so I am not the only one

 

[VCBurner]

we dont pay for electricity, we pay for the PRIVILEGE to turn it on & it should be gov. regulated vs free market

But you need it to run your Magic Heat.

Ok, so I am not the only one

I have been running a Magic Heat since Jan 26th. I thought my electric usage would have gone up from it but the bill was actually $25 less with a week of the MH use on the bill. I'll really see the difference on the next bill, which should reflect an entire month's worth of Magic Heat use.

 

[madrone]

Wow, I average about 450 kw/month

Running what? We use from five to seven hundred KWH but that includes the well pump, cooking, hot water and everything else since we have no gas, oil or propane anything. But numbers can't really mean anything due to differences in family size etc.

Well, have a fam of 5...3 kids...electricity runs the well pump, oven, range, micro, coffee maker,dishwasher, washer and dryer...2 computer, 3 tv's, lights, etc....house is about 1800sq/feet....just conscios of the useage I guess. (Hot water and heat is oil) Need electricity for the blower on the insert though.
Is 450 month low?

450/mo is really low. Its just me and my wife in a 2000sqft house and we use 700-800/mo. I have everything you listed and I've never gotten my bill that low....whats your secret? haha. Its not like we leave lights on all the time or anything. All the tvs and stuff are on power strips that get turned off at night. I have CFL bulbs in everything.

Family of 4 using 500-700 kwh per month, avg. of 575 kwh. CFL's, energy star appliances mostly, 1 old TV. Electric hot water is probably the #1 cost. The power strip thing is next on the list to try. Maybe a timer for the water heater.

 

[DBoon]

I have NYSEG and here is a pretty typical month (rates based on my February bill):

Day usage - 200 kWh @ 10.9 cents/kWh (supply and delivery) + 2.0 cents/kWh (transition charge, NY state assessment, SBC/RPS charge, merchant function charge)
Night usage - 230 kWh @ 7.6 cents/kWh (supply and delivery) + 2.0 cents/kWh (transition charge, NY state assessment, SBC/RPS charge, merchant function charge)
Basic Service charge = $15.40 (averages out to 3.6 cents/kWh)

So, total Daily Usage Rate = 16.5 cents/kWh (3.6 cents fixed, 12.9 cents variable)
and total Night Usage Rate = 13.2 cents/kWh (3.6 cents fixed, 9.6 cents variable)

I just noticed that my rates have gone done - NYSEG used to offer a fixed pricing plan, and they don't anymore. Everyone is now on a variable pricing plan. What this means is my winter rates will be lower when they have excess power, and my summer rates will be super high, likely, when there are power peaks.

I typically use 430 kWh/month in the spring, summer, and fall - maybe 70-100 kWh more in the winter (boiler pump, wood stove blower, incoming cold water is colder). Just my wife and I, no kids. We have an electric range/oven, electric hot water, dishwasher, etc. Only heat is non-electric. We dry our clothes on a clothesline in the summer and in the winter near the woodstove or outside. We take short showers (~5 minutes or so). There are no phantom loads - everything is power-stripped (a Kill-a-Watt meter will help you understand how much everything draws when it is off, and it is a lot more than you think). All of our appliances are Energy Star rated. We have a front-loading washer (saves a ton on hot water), a new 18 cubic foot basic fridge (saves 100 kWh/month over the older 25 year old model it replaced), CFLs nearly everywhere, laptop (not desktop computers), stereo equipment, and a modest-sized LCD TV (which doesn't run that much). We have village water, so there is no well pump.

Most of the night usage (80% of it, or 190 kWh) is the hot water heater. So realistically, if we eliminated that somehow, we would be down to 240 kWh/month.

 

[MikeP]

Household of 3, we bought the house in June of 2009, also have NYSEG. Bill for last month (jan 6-feb 3) 1000kw used, 280 day, 720 night. Total charge for the month was $91.52, so .092 cents a Kw. All electric house, no other fuel used, except wood of course. Front load washer/dryer we also have a freezer which the priors did not.

We have 2 electric thermal storage units charging to the early fall/late spring setting at night (most of the night usage), as well as the hot water heater. Electric boiler for the baseboards, (house had an oil fired boiler originally) hasn't been on since Oct. Prior owners used no less than 2500kw oct-april with a couple bills above 4000kw.

 

[ChillyGator]

Florida Progress Energy: Energy Cost, Fuel Cost, Taxes plus $8 a month in pre-construction costs for new Nuke Plant (for next 10 years) if I don't go over the base rates usage then I pay 14 cents /kwh. I'm on average billing plan and current cost is $123 month (includes using the A/C in the spring/summer/fall)

 

[CarbonNeutral]

I have a fantastic electrical provider - they are small, excellent customer service, and the cheapest (or near) power in the state.

With base charge, I'm at 12.1c/kWh, average bill $56, just under 500kWh per month

2000 sq ft, well pump, electric range, TV very rarely on, no cable box, dryer (2 young kids), mostly CFLs, very conscious about switching stuff off, oil HW

My usage has crept up in the year we've been in the house, as more rooms have 'come online', but it's leveling off now in the 17-25kWh per day range.

They allowed me to count my wood stove as an energy saving change (I had an audit done for free by them first), so I'm getting a $200 credit..

 

[goldfishcastle]

I actually get excited to receive our utility bill each month (finally got it today). Our electricity has been between 90-120 kwh/mo for the last year - higher in the winter due to the short days. $0.0524/kwh without fees, $0.1745 with the flat rate fees figured in ours - if we used more electricity this average would go down. This month electricity is $18.15

We use electricity mostly for lights and small appliances such as cooking (not heat, water, seldom dryer).

We heat with wood (obviously) and natural gas. Thanks to the wood stove our highest gas bill this year was $60 - and we live in Montana. Burned just over 2 cords keeping our 1000 sq ft home warm.

 

[btuser]

Does anyone have a whole-house surge protector? I'm interested in installing one of these, but leery of the claims it can lower my electric bill. Something about the capacitors keeping a steady power factor for motors?

 

[StackedLumber]

Our electric is broken down as such:

.0565/kwh Energy cost
.01875/kwh State Commission Adjustment
.02609/kwh Distribution Charge

which equals: $ .10131/kwh

plus

$12.00/month availability charge
$2.88/month Energy Optimization Charge
$7.00/month state tax

So our typical monthly usage of 1300-1400 kwh costs us: $153-$165/month

But we have an electric hot water heater and electric well pump and w/ the new clothes washer for our family of 5, i'm hoping that it will decrease by 10-15/month. The guys at the electric company here also said to expect the cost to go up 5%-7% again this year, while natural gas is going to go down 10%, which has me looking into a gas stove for our kitchen.