Electric Bills

[jeneisen]

Has anyone else's electric bills seem to jump in the past 2 months? We are never home, run the heat very low, have a fireplace and it was still 280.00. I don't understand it. It doubled from last months. I called SMECO and they claim its what we used but I know there is no way it could be. Anyone else going through this?

[SmallTown]

I will never understand SMECO. There was a time last spring when our bill went through the roof. Even though we didn't run the AC or heat at all, and were gone for a little over a week during the month.

[jeneisen]

I really think that they lie about the usage. I am now keeping a log of the watts I use but I have a hard time believeing it doubled. I am considering installing a security camera over my meter to see if they tamper with it. I was gone for 2 weeks last month and the heat was below 60. There is no way it should have doubled.

[blueeyes76]

jeneisen,do you have a heat pump?

This happened to me one time and it turned out there was a problem with the heat pump. It was still heating the house but it was working over time to do it.

[jeneisen]

I do have one but I also have a gas fireplace that I run when I am home and the pump doesn't usually kick on except over night. In fact its only a few years old. If the next one is high I am going to have someone look at it but the previous months I have been there, the bill has been low.

[Snow Shovel]

It has been a long, cold winter and if you heat with electricity your SMECO bill will show it. I heat with oil and I have spent a lot of money on heating oil this winter, but my last electric bill was less than $40.

[willie]

Originally posted by Snow Shovel
It has been a long, cold winter and if you heat with electricity your SMECO bill will show it. I heat with oil and I have spent a lot of money on heating oil this winter, but my last electric bill was less than $40.

I'm using almost twice the oil as usual but the electric bill stays at around $54.

[Septgirl]

My husband and I have a heat pump. If it gets down below 30 degrees, the blue light on the thermostat stays on. If the red light comes on, it is really pumping hard, and unless we keep the fireplace going downstairs, it is very cold! We have a woodstove upstairs, and it is nice and toasty. We have burnt alot of wood this winter, trying to keep up with the upstairs and downstairs. With all this, our electric bill in January was $230.00, the highest I have ever seen it. February's electric bill is $193.00, which I don't understand, as I felt we dealt with colder/frigid weather than in December.

Sometimes, I do wonder if SMECO just guesses!

[frogger]

I think your refrigerator has a lot to do with the electric bill also. If for example you set you thermostat really low, or even turn it off, your electric bill might actually become worse, since your fridge has to work even harder to cool the inside. Basically if the temp is colder outside, the fridge has to work even more to keep the inside of the fridge at a certain temp. I hope I explained that right. (Four years of school and I forget everything)

[willie]

Originally posted by frogger
I think your refrigerator has a lot to do with the electric bill also. If for example you set you thermostat really low, or even turn it off, your electric bill might actually become worse, since your fridge has to work even harder to cool the inside. Basically if the temp is colder outside, the fridge has to work even more to keep the inside of the fridge at a certain temp. I hope I explained that right. (Four years of school and I forget everything)

We had an older side by side fridge that was used as a beer fridge and extra freezer. when the defrost heater came on, the electric meter would really roll fast. We gave it to a friend and his bill went up and ours went down.