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HUGE electric bill increase!

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Originally posted by: Kremlar
(sorry, this will probably be rambling...)

I opened my electrical bill to find a HUGE jump last month in electricity useage.

To be more specific, 3 months ago I was averaging 65 KWH per day, 2 months ago I was averaging 55 KWH per day. Last month I averaged 145.5 KWH per day.

Total useage for last month was 4511 KWH.
Click to expand...
What the hell are you Americans doing?
We dont have 4500 kWh in a Year. I f I had that, I would pay around $1000 just for electricity (per month that is) - that is insane.
 
I know it's insane - even for me!

I am running an Exchange Server, Terminal Server, IPCop machine, file server, music server, 2 office PCs, 1 home PC, 3 MediaCenter PCs, 42" plasma, projector, etc...

But I was running all this over the past 13 months and know what my electric bill should be. This is obviously much higher.
 
Originally posted by: Kremlar
They are supposedly sending a tech out to check the meter, but we'll see how that goes.

They originally claimed they had been estimating for 3 months, but I basically said "bullsh*t" and they backed off on that. Even if they were, it seems crazy high.

It's hard to just watch the meter, because ours is not an analog wheel - it's a digital.

The reading yesterday at 3pm was 29,348. 3 hours later at 6pm it was 29,360 - we were drying clothes, cooking in the oven, etc...

13.5 hours after that at 7:30am it was 29,406 (after our showers and everything).

Something just doesn't seem right...
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It might be time for you to turn off all the circuits in your house and enable them one at a time to locate your main power draws.

I'd guess your clothes dryer is at least 5KW, your water heater (electric, presumably?) is probably 8-10KW. Your oven could be upwards of 5KW. But still, 58KWh in 13 hours is a huge chunk of power.

Do you have a heat pump or baseboard heaters?

As others have said, winterize your hottub and reopen it in the spring.

 
dayum...ok, i think your 4511kWh could very well be an accurate reading...

you are running like 11 computers, many of which sound like 24/7 type devices! assuming they are all drawing a constant 150W for a period of a month, that's like 1200kWh just from your PCs!! and then, you are maintaing temperature for a 3600 sq ft house, along with possibly heating a hot tub with no cover for a couple days in cold weather.

can you check your bills from a year ago? when they estimate, they often use usage readings from the same time period for the same physical address the previous year
 
I know the PC power useage is fairly high, but the thing is nothing has really changed PC-wise for at least a year. Most of these PCs also either do not have a monitor, or the monitor is not on 95% of the time. Nevertheless, I plan on consolidating and lowering the number of PCs I utilize.

I'm going to check the bill from a year ago to check the readings.

I know my useage is high, and that 2000 - 2500 KWH is probably normal, but this huge jump obviously is not correct.

I woult literally need to double or triple my useage of EVERYTHING to get that high, which clearly hasn't happened.
 
Originally posted by: Kremlar
I know the PC power useage is fairly high, but the thing is nothing has really changed PC-wise for at least a year. Most of these PCs also either do not have a monitor, or the monitor is not on 95% of the time. Nevertheless, I plan on consolidating and lowering the number of PCs I utilize.

I'm going to check the bill from a year ago to check the readings.

I know my useage is high, and that 2000 - 2500 KWH is probably normal, but this huge jump obviously is not correct.

I woult literally need to double or triple my useage of EVERYTHING to get that high, which clearly hasn't happened.
Click to expand...

btw, where do you live? who is your electric provider? is there retail deregulation of utilities in your area?

 
I live in MA. The provider is National Grid.

There are options to source my energy from, but when I called the other providers they were all 30-50% higher - go figure!
 
Originally posted by: wvtalbot
Best solution if you want to keep energy costs down, vote democrat in 2008.
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Yes, democratic energy rate policies really did a bang up job in California. Just think, if we used the same philosophy for the entire nation, we could shut down the entire power grid! Imagine the energy savings!

:disgust:
 
Originally posted by: GeneValgene
Originally posted by: jlbenedict
Originally posted by: wvtalbot
Best solution if you want to keep energy costs down, vote democrat in 2008.
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:thumbsup:
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that's bull crap. i have worked as a consultant for the utilities industry, and i can tell you that's a load of poop

(btw, i'm not a republican)
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Tell that to the Californians who got screwed over by Enron due to electric deregulation (a republican plan).

Or ask GWs good friend Ken Lay, he should have a lot of free time on his hands soon.
 
Originally posted by: woowoo
Originally posted by: jlbenedict
Originally posted by: wvtalbot
Best solution if you want to keep energy costs down, vote democrat in 2008.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

You're joking, right? When was the last time you saw a Democratic official supporting the construction of power plants in their home district? They never do it, because they're afraid of the enviormentalist wackos who helped get them elected into office.

It's all basic supply and demand... Build more plants, the power supply goes up, and the price decreases. If you want cheaper power, vote for the evil guys who want to drill for oil in wildlife refuges and build a nuclear plant in your back yard.
 
Wow, your electric bills are high. My highest one last summer was $263 with two window A/C units running around the clock. And two fridges.
 
Originally posted by: GeneValgene
Originally posted by: jlbenedict
Originally posted by: wvtalbot
Best solution if you want to keep energy costs down, vote democrat in 2008.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

that's bull crap. i have worked as a consultant for the utilities industry, and i can tell you that's a load of poop

(btw, i'm not a republican)
Click to expand...

I'd be happy with a President who isn't an Oil Baron.
 
Originally posted by: HBalzer
What do you keep the house thermostat set to? I dropped mine to around 65 and save $50 to $100 a month.
Click to expand...

I know my electric jumped up like 45-50 dollars this past month b/c we had a bad meter and so the electric company was charger us less over the past 3 monthes. They came and replaced the meter( didn't cost us anything) and then went on there way.
 
Check this out:

Pepco Holdings Inc. (POM) said the average monthly electric bill in Maryland residential customers will increase by about 38.5% or $39, based on the results of competitive bids to supply electricity.

The Washington, D.C., utility company said residential bills will rise from an average of $101.29 to $140.29 once the June 1 price increases are fully reflected in customer bills.

Commercial customers in Maryland will see an average increase of 55%, while small commercial customers will average 52%.

The new rates are effective June 1, pending approval from the Maryland Public Service Commission.

 
OK, I've shed a bit of light on this and I think pointed myself in the right direction.

I've confirmed that the electric company was correct in that they did not have an accurate reading 3 months in a row, and then finally just now an accurate reading.

The last time they had an actual reading was 11/8/05. I finished my hot tub and powered it up 11/10/05. Go figure.

So, I'm now pointing my figure at the hot tub. I'm going to power it down this evening and leave it off overnight, get a reading in the AM and compare it to last night's reading.

If this is all correct, the past 4 months I have averaged about 2600 KWH each which is in-line with the other months, especially since I added the hot tub in November.

I'll have to find a way to insulate the tub better, and maybe drop the temperature way down during off-season months. Maybe get a better cover... I'm not sure.

I'm also going to work on other ways to save electricity. Maybe consolidate some of my servers...

 
Originally posted by: woowoo
Originally posted by: jlbenedict
Originally posted by: wvtalbot
Best solution if you want to keep energy costs down, vote democrat in 2008.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
Click to expand...


:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

And when there is a Dem in office in 2009 (as I suspect there will, unfortunately) will all three of you come back here and eat your words when energy costs don't come down?
 
Originally posted by: FoBoT
you guys are funny, like making Hildebeast President will drop gasoline prices to $0.65/gallon :laugh:
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Props for "Hildebeast".

I symapthize with the dems, though, they can't seem to let the best candidate win the primaries.
 
Originally posted by: ultimatebob
Originally posted by: woowoo
Originally posted by: jlbenedict
Originally posted by: wvtalbot
Best solution if you want to keep energy costs down, vote democrat in 2008.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

You're joking, right? When was the last time you saw a Democratic official supporting the construction of power plants in their home district? They never do it, because they're afraid of the enviormentalist wackos who helped get them elected into office.

It's all basic supply and demand... Build more plants, the power supply goes up, and the price decreases. If you want cheaper power, vote for the evil guys who want to drill for oil in wildlife refuges and build a nuclear plant in your back yard.
Click to expand...



Actually, in the Northeast we don't need more plants but more transmission.
 
Every power bill I get I'm supposed to draw the little hands on the meter & mail it in.

I completely ignore it, & they get their accurate reading every few months. I see a spike every time it happens.

Surely you noticed that your bill didn't spike when you installed the hottub?

Viper GTS
 
I noticed the bill didn't spike dramatically, but I also stopped using the AC around that time. I assumed they pretty much cancelled eachother out.

Guess I was wrong.
 
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