electric bill too high

Blister

Blister

Well-Known Member
jasonandjen said:
thanks so much for all the advice. the one that sticks out to me is the bad water heater element. does a bad element still pull power, but not put out heat? if so, i can see that driving it sky high. how do i check that?

i have an ezwatt power meter but thats for a 110 setup with a plug. how would i test the water heater. im thinking turn one element off, and watch the power drain for a week. switch elements, and watch it for another week and look for a drastic difference. i dont know how to set that up on a water heater tho.

our attic insulation is 11 inches of cellulose, so r40ish. it was pretty bad 3 years ago but we added 8-9 inches. it had been matted down. noticed huge difference in winter comfort(heat with wood burning fireplace in living room). i dont know about the walls, but the thing that has me worried is the bills in the spring and fall. my wife just double checked me and the bills in off season are closer to 300. thats why the water heater made sense. ive been thinking about using a heat pump water heater for a while. maybe its time.
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A bad water heater element will not draw power, they usually burn out to an open circuit. However my 20 year old water heater that I replaced last year had an outrageous amount of lime scale deposits at the bottom. This can insulate the element causing them to run much longer to heat the water. This change seemed to save roughly $10-20 a month.
My worst bill ever was last Feb. $400. New heat pump and all new windows in April has seemed to cut my KW usage almost in half for heating and cooling. House is about the same size as yours built in 1989. We only use our dryer from Oct. to March unless it's raining. August bill was $139.
 
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Warren76

Warren76

Member
jasonandjen said:
uggh.. we just got a $500 electric bill for august. our house is too small to be paying that much. we turn the air conditiong off when were not home, and barely use it when we're here. weve had the ac serviced so its not that. its a 13 seer, oldie but goodie. just 2.5 tons plus a kitchen 12000 btu. whenever possible we just use the kitchen. now i know a summer bill can be high, but it has always perplexed me why our 1200 sq ft house (plus basement of equal size) will have a bill of 200-250 in the spring and fall when we dont use ac or heat at all. ive been kind of an energy freak for a few years, so im not overusing here. can anyone shed light on what their electric bill is for a similar size house? is what im paying average, or a little too high. from what friends and neighbors tell me, its high
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I have a newly constructed, 2,200 square foot, three-level townhouse on January 2010. And, with an air conditioning setting of 71 degrees, my electric bill is $400.00.

1) What was your cooling temperature setting on your thermostat?

2) Have you had your condenser coil (that's either atop or below your furnace) checked for freon leaks? Because, if your air conditioning system has a slow freon leak, in time, your compressor will be working harder and increase your electric power consumption.

About one week after the 103 degree daytime temperature during July, my
A/C quit! :shocking: My condenser coil was found (by a McCrea HVAC technician) to have several, small pinholes, which slowly leaded out the freon! The low-pressure freon condition ultimately caused my A/C compressor to quit! During this period, my electric bill soared to $500.00!

It cost me around $1750 parts (new condenser coil and replacement free) and labor to repair my A/C. And the best was when I reported my A/C issue to the builder, my builder (K. Hovnanian) gave me a full reimbursement for my A/C repair expenses! :cheers:
 
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somdfunguy

somdfunguy

not impressed
measter29 said:
Sorry to hear about the high bill. There is a website that is kind of like the travelocity.com or expedia.com of energy supply. They list several suppliers you can get cheaper electricity from.

Nothing changes about your service or your bill (other than the rate). I was paying 9.1 cents a kilowatt hour and now pay 7.35 per kilowatt hour. There are renewable energy suppliers too.

Point Click Switch is the site. I hope this helps you. If you have the same rate I did you would have saved about a $100 on that bill.

Take care!
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Know your market. This area doesn't participate in choice programs.
 
S

Seahawk

New Member
My winter bill is always higher - we have baseboard but do not use as they are in rather "useless" places - - My kitchen a/c casement - by Kenmore checks the air ever so often (some say thy do, but don't) - I suggest the electric co. plan so at least something will be under control - I do not cook - have new stove never used - dishwasher sat too long so don't use - do have energy saver fridge - have solar attic fan - and ceiling fan in every room - I agree with a/c - keep it low but always on because it will have to work twice as hard to cool things down
 
somdfunguy

somdfunguy

not impressed
I just figured out my average bills for my house. I spend and average of $122 a month on electricity and $36 on natural gas. That's in a 2800 sq ft house.
 
C

czygvtwkr

Guest
Wow 1500 sq ft house with heat pump, electric water heater and a dehumidifier under the house in the crawl space, biggest bill I ever had was $160 and that was the month my fridge went on the fritz, new fridge knocked $15 off the bill the next month.
 
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