Why does electric use increase in winter

[Doc C]

Hi..something is waaaaaaay out of line there. I have an ELECTRICALLY HEATED house up in the frosty north ... I use less energy than you do. and I have a 20kw electric forced air furnace. And its COLD right now Its running a lot.

You either have a faulty meter or a huge load that you don't know about...I'm betting on the meter and if that is the case the electric company owes you some big $$$..

That is why I decided to pursue and answer with everyone here. I know how much we electric we use and it does not equal what they say we are using

For instance right now we have 1 light on with 3 led bulbs and the TV. That's it! That is the normal for the evening.

During the day it's usually 2 lights with a total of 5 led bulbs. And the TV on a music channel. Occasionally we will run a ceiling fan.

And keep in mind our house is 1968 square feet. 2 of the bedrooms are closed off and have no lights in them. Probably around 1500 or so square feet are being used.

That includes 1 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and living room.

 

[fbelec]

are you in a single family house? are there 120 volt heaters in the house? bathrooms are so small they use a 500 watt heater. where is the wood stove located? i ask this because my wood stove is in our kitchen and the heat travels right by my fridge on it's way around the house. do you have a diesel car or truck plugged in? they can be 800 to 1200 watts.

 

[Husky]

Meter could be having a problems when the temperatures drop. Get the electric company out figure it out. They should work with you if you plead your case. Keep going up the chain until someone will help you. There is no way you are using that much electric with what you have told us.

 

[peakbagger]

How about the electric heater is thermosyphoning heat up through the hot water piping? It is effectively electric heat and would increase as the temperatures drop.

 

[moey]

Get a electrician or yourself out there and have them measure the draw on each breaker. To have a usage that high something is faulty (meter) or running continuously and you don't know about it. My bet would be something is running continuously and you don't know about it. The usage graph is almost identical to me ( we have a geo heat pump ). We consume more as it gets cold.

Can you break down your usage per day from your graph? If you can check out the corresponding temperatures on those days. If it does you could even start shutting off breakers each day and see if any being in the off position for a day make a difference. You may be able to look at the digital readout on your outdoor meter too and do this. It would take 20 days or so to get through all your breakers doing that.

 

[maple1]

Something is whacked. Even when heating our DHW with electric in the summer, our total daily use doesn't go over 25kwh/day. Just got our last bill a couple days ago, and the past 2 months averaged at around 15. (I am suspecting they read the meter wrong for this one - it's never been that low before. Although we did get all the kids out of the house in September).

I have an Effergy energy monitor. Similar to the one on the previous page. The display is right beside me right now, and is at 637 watts. I would highly recommend one. I would also consider getting an electrician in & checking each circuit in the panel for amperage draw, and he should also be able to do the same thing for your feed lines and compare that to what the meter is saying at that moment. Should be a quick easy job for him - then you will have some solid info. You could also do it yourself if comfortable with a multi meter that has amp measuring capability.

 

[Ashful]

Perspective is an interesting thing. So many folks claiming something must be dramatically wrong, and here I am thinking, “what’s the big deal?” Most of your “per month” numbers match my “per week usage”. Folks claiming something must be out of whack are making too many assumptions, IMO. We use roughly 1700 kWh per month when we’re not running the central AC... much more than that in hot summer months.

 

[burnham]

They have us ground through 2 grounding rods at the house. The electric company only has a two wire system.

There's no neutral at all? I can't see how ground rods would be enough to provide a neutral for the house, never mind clear a fault in a reasonable amount of time. Could the house be getting a neutral from another source, like a copper water service, or the ground wire on a cable TV service?

 

[Doc C]

There's no neutral at all? I can't see how ground rods would be enough to provide a neutral for the house, never mind clear a fault in a reasonable amount of time. Could the house be getting a neutral from another source, like a copper water service, or the ground wire on a cable TV service?

I'm mistaken. Had to think about that after I had my coffee. I installed a new breaker box last year so it was all a little fuzzy. There is 2 hots and a neutral there is no ground. I had to use SER cable for the main from the meter tk the panel and it was 4 wire and I had to cut the ground.

 

[Doc C]

Perspective is an interesting thing. So many folks claiming something must be dramatically wrong, and here I am thinking, “what’s the big deal?” Most of your “per month” numbers match my “per week usage”. Folks claiming something must be out of whack are making too many assumptions, IMO. We use roughly 1700 kWh per month when we’re not running the central AC... much more than that in hot summer months.

Right. Except that I have huge swings in usage without the actual usage occurring that I can find.

 

[velvetfoot]

Perspective is an interesting thing. So many folks claiming something must be dramatically wrong, and here I am thinking, “what’s the big deal?” Most of your “per month” numbers match my “per week usage”. Folks claiming something must be out of whack are making too many assumptions, IMO. We use roughly 1700 kWh per month when we’re not running the central AC... much more than that in hot summer months.

He used about 3000 kwh last feb!

 

[jeanw]

when we moved Hubby gave away my old clothes dryerBarely used) since we Havent used it since "Who knows when." mostly diapers and later towlel. So Hubby is used to ruff bath towels after all these years. LOL
Drying a wet washer load upstairs on clothes racks or a few hanging around supplies us some humidity during the winter .esp with dry fireplace heat...
. what about outdoor spotlights. ? Porches light etc ///I used to unplug tv, toaster etc years ago. I need to start turning off computer hubs etc. One of our small uprights had froze her and int realize we didn't have the little our shut all the way. Glad I finally noticed.."
Also I heard this AH Smartmeters steal your electric "speaking" to each other.
Just a commenting

 

[maple1]

Perspective is an interesting thing. So many folks claiming something must be dramatically wrong, and here I am thinking, “what’s the big deal?” Most of your “per month” numbers match my “per week usage”. Folks claiming something must be out of whack are making too many assumptions, IMO. We use roughly 1700 kWh per month when we’re not running the central AC... much more than that in hot summer months.

Put your list of what you're running up against his.

 

[Ashful]

Right. Except that I have huge swings in usage without the actual usage occurring that I can find.

He used about 3000 kwh last feb!

Okay, good point. That's a crapload of electrons, no matter how you use 'em.

Put your list of what you're running up against his.

This isn't a contest, and we've all been thru this before. I was just responding to your opening sentences of post #31. I'm only running lights, TV's, computers and refrigerators. No electric heat, and I only have heat pumps on a few auxiliary rooms, my primary heat is oil and wood. Even our primary water heater is oil.

 

[semipro]

I think it would be worth it for you to buy a clamp on AC amp meter and then do some checking on the circuits coming into the house and in the breaker/fuse panel. You can also watch your meter while first shutting down all circuits and then flipping each breaker on to see the impact on the meter reading. I assume you validated the reported meter readings first hand?
Crazy thought - the meter is located outside in the cold. I'm wondering if a defective meter could be affected by the cold. Again, the amp meter would help with diagnosing that.

 

[Doc C]

I think it would be worth it for you to buy a clamp on AC amp meter and then do some checking on the circuits coming into the house and in the breaker/fuse panel. You can also watch your meter while first shutting down all circuits and then flipping each breaker on to see the impact on the meter reading. I assume you validated the reported meter readings first hand?
Crazy thought - the meter is located outside in the cold. I'm wondering if a defective meter could be affected by the cold. Again, the amp meter would help with diagnosing that.

I planning on buying one of those meters. Also the meter is outside in the cold. It's also digital so it has a little blinks deal instead of spinning deal

 

[fbelec]

while you are at it with a amprobe check the load on any under ground circuits. i had a customer call me say everytime his kids went to shut the sprinkler that they were playing in that was mounted to his shed they get zapped. i checked all over the yard got all the way to the front yard i put my volt meter on each metal post either side of his gate and got 120 volts. went inside put on a amprobe on the outside circuit going to his shed and he was leaking electricity into the ground via the wiring job his state cop friend did for him at the tune of 10 amps 24/7 365 that works out to be 864 kwh a month not counting getting zapped

 

[drz1050]

Definitely verify at your meter that their readings are correct, you might be getting your neighbor's bill. Wouldn't be the first time... something is way off there.

 

[maple1]

Okay, good point. That's a crapload of electrons, no matter how you use 'em.


This isn't a contest, and we've all been thru this before. I was just responding to your opening sentences of post #31. I'm only running lights, TV's, computers and refrigerators. No electric heat, and I only have heat pumps on a few auxiliary rooms, my primary heat is oil and wood. Even our primary water heater is oil.

Maybe I could have worded those sentences a little better. The whacked comment wasn't just based on a consumption number but also the pattern of bigger in the winter. When the hot tub is off - which seems to me would be the biggest user based on what was posted. But that graph showing around 2600-3200 kwh/mo for winter consumption numbers is the bigger contributor to my whacked term - so based on what was posted about what is (and isn't) using electricity in the OPs house, I think I am still comfortable with the word whacked.

BTW, to the OP - is the hot tub truly off? Do you drain it and all hoses etc. completely so it won't freeze?

 

[Brian26]

Just curious what you pay for power per kwh in Idaho? Some rough math off your chart would be a power bill here that I wouldnt even want to think about with the highest electricity prices in the lower 48. You would be looking at a 4-5K power bill a year.

 

[Doc C]

Just curious what you pay for power per kwh in Idaho? Some rough math off your chart would be a power bill here that I wouldnt even want to think about with the highest electricity prices in the lower 48. You would be looking at a 4-5K power bill a year.

It's around 10 cents per KWH. Goes up or down slightly depending on time of year and also after 600 KWH peronthbit goes up 1 cent roughly.

 

[Doc C]

Maybe I could have worded those sentences a little better. The whacked comment wasn't just based on a consumption number but also the pattern of bigger in the winter. When the hot tub is off - which seems to me would be the biggest user based on what was posted. But that graph showing around 2600-3200 kwh/mo for winter consumption numbers is the bigger contributor to my whacked term - so based on what was posted about what is (and isn't) using electricity in the OPs house, I think I am still comfortable with the word whacked.

BTW, to the OP - is the hot tub truly off? Do you drain it and all hoses etc. completely so it won't freeze?

Yes it off and drained. And I even clean the little bit of water out of the bottom that doesn't drain out on it's own.

 

[Corey]

My bill has always done similar, so you're not alone in the 'winter spike'. I don't turn the hot tub off - it likely sees more use in the winter!, but here are some other things I have always 'felt' led to my higher bill: (some have already been mentioned)

Shorter days/longer nights mean the house / shop lights are on more.
Being in the house usually means the TV is on (wife's rule, can't argue) regardless of anyone watching or not.
Christmas lights
Visiting family & inlaws (who have no concept that closing a door actually keeps heat IN the house)
More cooking / baking, not only for the visitors, but we just seem to eat 'heavier' meals in the winter
Washing / drying heavy winter clothes vs light weight summer attire
Longer showers to warm up the cold/creaky/old bones

None of these things is going to be a huge energy hog, but combined the do seem to demand more electrons per unit time than in the summer.

 

[Ashful]

This thread really screws with the Tapatalk home page, due to the enormous screen shot posted earlier in the thread showing up in preview. Here’s something more fun, and more importantly, smaller to look at.

This is my September usage, so no heat, no AC, and it’s still daylight savings time. I won’t post July, lest woodgeek’s head explodes.

 

[Doc C]

This thread really screws with the Tapatalk home page, due to the enormous screen shot posted earlier in the thread showing up in preview. Here’s something more fun, and more importantly, smaller to look at.

This is my September usage, so no heat, no AC, and it’s still daylight savings time. I won’t post July, lest woodgeek’s head explodes.

View attachment 218623

I thought some how you got your hands on my neighbor comparison. It looks exactly the same!!