reducing electrical bill

[begreen]

Our water bill is usually quite low, but there is a bimonthly membership fee that drives it up. This is non-negotiable. However, during our dry summers our water bill shoots up and exceeds our winter heating bill. Typically this is the July/Aug bill. The water rate is tiered based on consumption and our multiple gardens run up the bill quickly.

 

[iamlucky13]

It's good practice anytime you suspect water waste, if not once a year pre-emptively, to put 5-10 drops of food coloring in your toilet tank. If it shows up in the bowl in less than an hour, you should investigate whether either the fill valve or the flapper/flush valve is leaking.

My water bill started climbing over the last few months. The first two bills I wrote off to extra laundry due to a newborn, but it kept going up. The food coloring test showed positive in less than a minute, and I realized the fill valve was leaking pretty badly. I tore it apart and found a chunk of the seal inside had eroded away. The new fill valve was $12. Cheap fix. I'm very curious to see how much my next bill drops.

 

[Highbeam]

My water is not metered for sale to me but I meter my water as part of my iron removal system so I know what our family uses. We are well below the average of 200 gpd despite it being free. We actually are actually under 90 gallons per day and that's with two middle school aged daughters.

Pretty sweet deal really. I provide a cord of firewood to the owner of the water system each year and he keeps the water coming. Gravity septic in my yard so no power on that either.

I suspect a small toilet leak. A leaky flush valve actually. I once caught the toilet fill valve refilling the tank when nobody had used that toilet for several hours.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

About 6000 gallon a month for 6 people . Or 33.33 EA per day.

 

[Brian26]

SIL bought a high-end Viking with all the bells and whistles. Self-clean feature fried the control board twice in 5 yrs. of moderate use. The second time they informed her the part was no longer being made.

No control boards on my oven. Been baking just fine since 1958. I bought my great uncles house where almost everything was either original or from the 70s. . I replaced just about everything for energy efficiency but I just can't bring myself to replacing this original 1958 Frigidaire wall oven that still works just fine.

They don't make stuff like they used to.

 

[begreen]

Double door oven with no glass is unusual. That's the first I've seen.

 

[DBoon]

Those are awesome looking old appliances. I wouldn't replace them either.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I knew a guy who was using a 1950 refrigerator yet ,it was a Leonard Ref ,and his name was Leonard so i guess he couldnt part with it.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

My electric bill just keeps going up ,over $200 THIS MONTH AND I DONT HAVE ELECTRIC HEAT

 

[maple1]

My last one came last week. About the lowest its ever been, $170 for 2 months.

 

[TradEddie]

My electric bill just keeps going up ,over $200 THIS MONTH AND I DONT HAVE ELECTRIC HEAT

Did you sign up for one of those cut price suppliers? Many of those jack up the price as soon as the introductory period is over. Check whether it was your consumption, or the price/kwh that went up.

TE

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Did you sign up for one of those cut price suppliers? Many of those jack up the price as soon as the introductory period is over. Check whether it was your consumption, or the price/kwh that went up.

TE

Its consumption, i only pay about 11c a KWH total.

 

[maple1]

Time to invest in a couple of energy monitoring devices. A whole house one like an Effergy, and a plug in one for individual items. The sneaky one for me was the two 4' flourescent fixtures in my office. But reading back a bit in the thread, water pump related issues can be a kicker too - from leaky foot valve stuff to wonky pressure switches from sediment intrusion and tank problems.

 

[velvetfoot]

My last one came last week. About the lowest its ever been, $170 for 2 months.

How many kwh? Is that actual or is there an estimate in there by the utility? I've seemed to have gotten a bump up since the heat pump water heater was turned on. I have to look at some historic.

 

[maple1]

977 kwh. All-in cost works out to 0.18/kwh. (Energy alone is 0.148). 62 days in this billing period, 15.8 kwh/day.

The one before that was 19.8 kwh/day. That period saw 2-3 days of back up electric boiler use over Xmas. We still have our meters physically read by a meter reader guy (no 'smart' meters here yet) every couple months. He's fast - sometimes I wonder exactly how close he looks. But the past years history shows daily consumption over billing periods from 15.8 to 21.3. (The 21.3 was while heating our DHW via electric resistance, and the 19.0 the period just before - so seems that only runs about 4kwh/day or so. Which is pretty good for DHW heating, IMO.)

 

[velvetfoot]

4 kwh per day with a family = 120/mo, seems about right with what my TED is projecting. I think I just saw the bump after turning off the boiler and reacted-really not that much.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I started looking at decreasing my gas consumption. I started wondering if the showerhead was low flow because we always used more water than the neighbors who had a similar sized family.we swapped it out a couple weeks ago. Old showerheads used between 5 and 7gpm. New ones use 2. If my hunch was right, we should cut water and gas to heat it.

 

[maple1]

4 kwh per day with a family = 120/mo, seems about right with what my TED is projecting. I think I just saw the bump after turning off the boiler and reacted-really not that much.

Wouldn't that be more like $20/mo?

 

[velvetfoot]

I meant 120 kwh/mo. Yes, about 20 bucks.
The HPWH does seem to be running somewhat more; maybe it's me.

 

[maple1]

Ah, OK, right.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Did you sign up for one of those cut price suppliers? Many of those jack up the price as soon as the introductory period is over. Check whether it was your consumption, or the price/kwh that went up.

TE

I did sign up for an alternative energy supplier for 36 months at $.76 per KWH. WHat i didnt know is that list changes on a daily basis. A few days later i saw an offering for .55 for 12 months ,the lowest i ever saw. I cant quit my .76 supppier without a big cancellation fee ,im stuck for 36 months. Energy Consumers should be aware of this and dont lock in for a long period unless its a really superior deal.

 

[maple1]

I did sign up for an alternative energy supplier for 36 months at $.76 per KWH. WHat i didnt know is that list changes on a daily basis. A few days later i saw an offering for .55 for 12 months ,the lowest i ever saw. I cant quit my .76 supppier without a big cancellation fee ,im stuck for 36 months. Energy Consumers should be aware of this and dont lock in for a long period unless its a really superior deal.

You said above you pay 0.11/kwh?

 

[Seasoned Oak]

You said above you pay 0.11/kwh?

The generation rate is .076 ,the rest is meter charge and transmission and distribution. All in comes to about .11c Only part of the bill is competitive which is the generation part.

 

[Brian26]

Huge reduction in power costs coming July 1st here in CT. We are in the top 4 for the most expensive electricity in the US. 3 years ago when I moved into my house I was paying over .25 kwh delivered.

My target has been to keep my electric bill under $100. Running the heat pump and AC has spiked it above that as seen from my past usage.


http://www.nhregister.com/business/...-standard-service-rates-drop-for-rest-of-year

One of the major cost drivers on Connecticut electric bills — the generation rate — is going down for a large segment of Eversource Energy and United Illuminating Co. customers, according to state utility regulators.



The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on Wednesday announced the standard service electric rates for the second half of 2016. In the case of Eversource Energy, it is the lowest it has been in more than a decade. Standard service customers let UI and Eversource Energy purchase generated electricity for them rather than buying it through a third-party provider.



Eversource’s residential generation rate for standard service customers will decrease by nearly 3 cents per kilowatt hour, from 9.555 cents to 6.606 cents. UI’s residential generation rate will drop from 10.7358 cents per kilowatt hour to 8.0224 cents per kilowatt hour.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Im wondering what effect all those renewable s coming online have on the price of electricity. Seems its trending down. Most of the competitive generation choices are only a penny or 2 higher on the renewable s than on the fossil fuel generated.