Household Power Usage

[Vic Vega]

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[spacejamz]

What were the daily average/high temperatures for those two months? Hotter days=more your A/C will run...

 

[cheezy321]

Highest usage month:
June 26th to July 27th - 2,696 KWH
Lowest usage month:
October 27th to November 26th - 449 KWH

House is 1500 Sq feet. brand new washer, 15 year old dryer, 30+ year old AC unit. In AZ our power usage fluctuates dramatically between winter and summer.

 

[rcpratt]

Is this a question or inquiry or some kind, or you're simply throwing this information out to the internet for no apparent purpose?

 

[MixMasterTang]

My highest this year: 07/08/2013 2,154
32 days
Avg Temp (not avg high): 78

 

[Keeper]

From 08-19-2013 to 09-19-2013 we used 1,800 kWh.

From 07-18-2013 to 08-18-2013 we used 2,200 kWh.

3,600 square-foot home, 5 bed, 3.5 bath. Two central air systems typically set to 71F. The entire house is CFL or LED except for exterior flood lamps which are halogen.

Refrigerator is from 1987, dish washer is from 1995, range/stove is from 2010, hot water heater (gas-tankless but still need electric) is from 2010, clothes washer and dryer (electric) are from 2010 and 2012 respectively, chest freezer in garage is from 2007.

PC in my sig runs 24/7 with zero throttling.

HOLY CRAP I envy you... I just had a 7000 kWH solar sytem put on my house and it cant keep up... All three floors of my house were 65 degrees F this year.... And my bill for June July and August was 120 USD each month.

Of course in April and May my bill was $10 and $12.... But Wifey now thinks AC is FREEEEEEEEEE with a solar system...

 

[Vic Vega]

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[SunnyD]

House is a bit over ~3000sqft, 2 story stick A-Frame on a slab, 5br/3ba, single heatpump HVAC usually set to 74F. House is certified EnergyStar (lol).

All appliances are about 3 years old with the exception of a small chest freezer in the garage. Dishwasher gets run nightly, laundry ends up being run probably every other day with a family of 7 in the house.

Most of the primary lights were swapped out to CFL's a couple years ago, only closets and a couple non-critical lights are still hot. One full time server in the closet along with 2 routers, 3 VOIP phones and a host of other various electronics that are usually on 24/7. Out of the FOUR desktop PC's in the house, none are on 24/7.

Read Date: 8/30/13 - Actual Reading - 31 days - Billed Usage : 1817 KWH
Read Date: 7/30/13 - Actual Reading - 33 days - Billed Usage : 2073 HWH
Read Date: 6/27/13 - Actual Reading - 30 days - Billed Usage : 1830 HWH

First 1400 KWH are usually billed at around $0.087 per, everything after that is usually around $0.095 per.

 

[Vic Vega]

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[SunnyD]

Our homes and uses sound roughly similar, though I obviously don't have new appliances. I do have new insulation, roof and siding (house was build in 1987, stick build 2 story colonial on traditional foundation with full basement).

I am going to set both T-stats to 74 and see if that makes a difference.

fwiw, I'm kind of anal about turning lights off. The kids like to do crap at the dining room table then leave, leaving the chandelier on. I don't give a crap if they're CFL's, that's 6 god damn light bulbs that serve no purpose but to annoy the hell out of me and my wallet!

Honestly though, sounds like you're doing better than I am since you've got a basement (unless you're counting that as part of your footage) and 2 units on an older home.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I have a small ranch house (about 1000 sq feet) with a basement. The windows and such are old, there is crappy insulation. The Central AC unit is about 20 years old and doesn't work very well and essentially runs 24/7 when it's hot out.

My power usage:

Aug 2013 1202 KWH
July 2013 1175 KWH
June 2013 933 KWH

It's generally been a mild summer for the area, so AC was not used as much as usual.

Here are some from 2012, which is the hottest summer on record by a huge margin.
Sept 2012: 1290KWH
Aug 2012: 1508KWH
July 2012: 1883KWH
June 2012: 1071KWH

Anyhow, I keep the thermostat set to about 75. If the temperature gets above about 90 outside, it can't keep up and the house winds up around 77 or 78. Thankfully basement is about 10 degrees cooler.

 

[Vic Vega]

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[sciencewhiz]

3 bed, 3 bath, 1800 sq ft. 193 kwh.

 

[Eos]

Too much.

Five months of the year with average highs of >70° = 2203 KWH/month
Seven months of the year with average highs <70° = 1116 KWH/month

Our rate is $.0684/KWH, plus a base charge of $11.05, plus 8.5% city tax.

The house is generally kept at 68° year round. 1800 sq ft, single level.

Forgot to add the furnace fan runs continuously.

 

[Keeper]

That is something I have been wanting to do but keep putting off.

If you don't mind me asking, what did you pay for this, soup to nuts?

It was a $40,000 system but after the 3 rebates (Power company, Fed and state) my out of pocket was ~18,000. And that incuded a new roof.
Most Solar companies wont put it on a roof that is more than 10 years old.

WARNING.... Are you marrried? Or are you female?
Apprarently that is a factor on calculating ROI (Return on investement).
This November... It will be installed a year. This past winter..... Wifey turned EVERY heating device on. I came home, in Jan and Feb. to the dogs giving me a look like "Dude.... ITS HOT IN HERE... Help us"... Then came the spring. And life was good. 3 bills... $12 $14 and I think another $12... And putting kWh into the "bank"////
Then came the summer.... ALL three floors of my house mid 60's..... Wifey seems to think its some sort of nuclear reactor... To go above and beyond our needs. Not suppllement our AVERAGE use.

Here on LI (NY) the power co wont go above 10% of your last three years use. 7000 kWh was the MAX they would rebate me on.
3 years ago, I had 2 kids living with me... So I jumped on it..... Thinking my ROI would be shortened..... NEVER factored in the wifey factor.

Would I do it again? YES. Wish I could have done it sooner.
ALL salesmen lie. He said I added 75% of the value to my house.
Doing some research... its really like 40 to 50.... So as you can see, by the numbers above.... I SHOULD be good IF I sell.

The "ring" is what sold me. 25 year ring that my panels will be outputinng 80% of their rating.

25 years from now.... I will be drooling in my oatmeal being force fed oatmeal by a health aide who doesnt speak English...

So I am really OK with this.

Drop me a PM if you want more ifo...

 

[Keeper]

PS I should note...

Here are the BIGGIES in my house.
2 hot tubs.... 3 AC's Waterbed... Koi pond that runs 2 pumps and several lights....
Electric Dryer.... 3 floors..

Just doing a rough calc... 2200 Sq feet and a detached garage with a full workshop...

The LI rate is over 16 cents a kWh... I will dig out a bill tonight and try and update...

 

[Meractik]

You guys seem rather "up to stuff" when it comes to saving on your energy bills... This is something I am interested in attempting to do, that being said everything in my house is electrically powered. Would investing the couple hundred in a hot water circulator (hot water primer?) unit really save me on my energy bill? Is it worth the investment? Water currently has to run for about 0.5-1 min prior to getting to hot temp - even at bathroom closest to hot water heater (house only has 1).

I would be buying one of the portable ones for $200-$300 since I rent and would want to be able to take it with me...

 

[quikah]

1800sqft townhouse. Gas stove/heat/water, electric clothes dryer. I have a space heater that I use in the winter sometimes:

Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2013 487 393 376 292 234 298 245 336 291 0 0 0
2012 450 443 354 337 352 397 384 351 362 318 402 370
2011 291 599 603 538 371 384 377 276 345 302 321 393

 

[JimmiG]

820 sqft apartment, 2 bedrooms. Live alone. Heating and hot water is included in the rent and does not count toward the usage.

 

[Humpy]

120 sq.ft., one 100w lightbulb, a 40amp battery charger, and a small Milwaukee corded drill.

Runs about $65 a month but it's a deductible business expense.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Woah that's a huge house. 1100sqft here, this is my usage in the past year:




About 10,000kwh. That's OVER NINE THOUSAND!

Also I don't think the cost includes all the other crap that gets tacked on, so you can probably double that number for the actual paid amount.

 

[Imp]

The f*ck do you people do at home...

4 bedroom, 3 floor, 1800 sq.ft. semi-detached house.

Last I checked, we use about 1000 to 1200 throughout the year. The 1200 is usually through the winter. That was before we installed central air, but we set our A/C to 25 C or 26 C and only turn it on for two or three weeks total throughout the summer.

2006-ish fridge
2010-ish electric water
2010-ish central heat
2010-ish central air
2005-ish electric washer and dryer
All CFL/LED bulbs.

Worst energy users are probably me and my computer and 40" LCD TV -- both on most of the day. We also run a 24/7 electric "kettle". The party wall (shared semi-detached wall) probably helps a lot in the winter.

 

[ViviTheMage]

weird, with AC on/off .. average temp of 81 we only used: 579 kWh

2100 square foot house...

 

[Brigandier]

Aren't those mega by now?

 

[Eos]

The f*ck do you people do at home...

4 bedroom, 3 floor, 1800 sq.ft. semi-detached house.

Last I checked, we use about 1000 to 1200 throughout the year. The 1200 is usually through the winter. That was before we installed central air, but we set our A/C to 25 C or 26 C and only turn it on for two or three weeks total throughout the summer.

2006-ish fridge
2010-ish electric water
2010-ish central heat
2010-ish central air
2005-ish electric washer and dryer
All CFL/LED bulbs.

Worst energy users are probably me and my computer and 40" LCD TV -- both on most of the day. We also run a 24/7 electric "kettle". The party wall (shared semi-detached wall) probably helps a lot in the winter.

HA! The two or three weeks we get to turn off the A/C is in April and/or October. Otherwise it runs nearly non-stop from May to September. lol Canadians! :awe: