List your home's sq ft, avg mthly Electric bill and quantity of people living there

[s0me0nesmind1]

Being Texas it can't get that cold.

Uhhh, contrary to popular belief Texas gets decently cold. Tends to get below freezing somewhere around 1-3 times during the year, and majority of the time it's roughly in the 40s/50s and maybe the early 60s at the most.

 

[child of wonder]

3,500 sq ft

4 people

Electricity bills run from $200/mo to $400/mo.

 

[Red Squirrel]

The nice thing with the gas bill is that there's no fixed charges. You're only paying for usage. There is a delivery charge but it's just a percentage of your usage. With hydro you pay the fixed charges no matter what (about $100) then the usage is added on top of that. I actually calculated once for fun and it would actually be cheaper to get a natural gas generator and run the house off batteries on a cycle charge setup than to pay for hydro service. Probably illegal though.

 

[Vanhalo]

In SETN we are #2 in electricity usage @ 1238kwh/month
7th highest in bills @ $128/month
7th lowest in cost per kwh (10-10.41 cents)
60% of Tennesseans use electric heat.
55-60% of my bill is for AC in the cooling months.

 

[Brainonska511]

Yeesh, that's like 30-35c/kwh.

The supply rate is 13c/kWh. The delivery charge basically doubles the cost, but that is kind of fixed.

We just don't use a lot of electricity, so it's not a big deal to me.

 

[shortylickens]

4400
I dont know
2

 

[Red Squirrel]

The supply rate is 13c/kWh. The delivery charge basically doubles the cost, but that is kind of fixed.

We just don't use a lot of electricity, so it's not a big deal to me.

I have the same issue here the delivery is what costs so much. No matter what the bill is near $100 even if you use no power.

It's kinda like having internet with a 0MB cap.

 

[JEDIYoda]

12,675 sq ft!
My bookkeeper pays all the bills!!

 

[snoopy7548]

Uhhh, contrary to popular belief Texas gets decently cold. Tends to get below freezing somewhere around 1-3 times during the year, and majority of the time it's roughly in the 40s/50s and maybe the early 60s at the most.

The other day I was talking to my friend who lives in Texas and he's the same way - he thinks that 50F is freezing. Weather in the 50s is perfect for doing yardwork in jeans and either a t-shirt or long-sleeve shirt.

This morning it was 45F. Nice and brisk!

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

The other day I was talking to my friend who lives in Texas and he's the same way - he thinks that 50F is freezing. Weather in the 50s is perfect for doing yardwork in jeans and either a t-shirt or long-sleeve shirt.

This morning it was 45F. Nice and brisk!

I just love cold weather in general - well - except for fuck shoveling snow or any of that shit. I would never do that if I moved somewhere up north.

But yeah, point I always make is you can always put more clothes on but you can't take more clothes off.

When I have to walk around in a full suit + tie and walk around even 1 or 2 blocks it fucking sucks.

Now that I work remotely the ball is now in the wife's court if she ever wants to move - because she has complained about living here in the hot south tons.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

~3600sqft
$120 in summer, ~$75 once it cools off
2 people usually, up to like a dozen when the family visits.

 

[WhiteNoise]

1128sq.ft. + 400sq.ft detached garage that has AC/Heat - garage was converted into a theater room & office
$200-$600 ($300-$600 in summer only So Cal inland)
4 people

 

[spacejamz]

1900 sq ft
average billing runs about $100-115/month
just me but the girlfriend is her 1/2 the month when she doesn't have her kids

instead of what is paid, better measure is how many kwh are used and maybe include if gas heating is used as well...

summer months I use about 1400 kwh and winter is around 700-800...i have gas heating...

 

[rh71]

It matters.
So does the insulation and the eficiency of your HVAC which is 50-60% of the electricity bill in the south.
New homes are built tighter than older ones.

While true on paper, interestingly we bought a ranch and added a new 2nd floor - windows & Insulation on the 1st floor was at least 20 years old. Don't notice much difference between the floors even though the insulation upstairs has a much higher R-value (we made sure they did after our old house had drafts) and the windows fitted with top tier Andersen 400s. As a matter of fact, the heat upstairs can barely keep up on nights below 15F and it's 4 rooms with baseboard, carpet and doors closed. Clearly the biggest factor is WTF is going on outside that costs you on your bills.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

While true on paper, interestingly we bought a ranch and added a new 2nd floor - windows & Insulation on the 1st floor was at least 20 years old. Don't notice much difference between the floors even though the insulation upstairs has a much higher R-value (we made sure they did after our old house had drafts) and the windows fitted with top tier Andersen 400s. As a matter of fact, the heat upstairs can barely keep up on nights below 15F and it's 4 rooms with baseboard, carpet and doors closed. Clearly the biggest factor is WTF is going on outside that costs you on your bills.

They should feel approximately the same, since your bottom floor is technically insulated by the top floor's insulation (albeit heat rises, so the top floor should be a 'lil warmer). It's a bit concerning that your top floor can't keep up below 15F, what do you mean by 'can't keep up?' Like it's 60 instead of 75? Or like it's 20 instead of 60? My place has some pretty massive amounts of open spaces/high ceilings and I can keep almost the entire house at ~60 during sub-zero nights with a pellet stove set to low (40lb bag every 8-12h).

What insulation did you use upstairs? If it's getting that cold you should probably have cellulose or spray-in up there. Generally heat doesn't escape much through the walls unless you've got major drafts happening, so your R value really matters above the house moreso than the sides.

 

[Fritzo]

2500sq, electric is usually $250 in the summer and $130 in the winter. We have natural gas for heat, fireplace, water heater, and dryer, and it's pretty cheap. It's like $25 in the summer and $120 in the winter.

We do have a Nest thermostat that really keeps costs down too.

 

[repoman0]

New (to me) house with a kind of wacky mini-split + electric baseboard + gas heating fireplace setup, along with rooftop solar. ~1800 sqft including finished basement. The previous people said it was about $200 per month year round always keeping it at 70, plus a yearly ~$1k credit back from the utility company for solar power sold back to the grid. It'd be great if that's anywhere close to true, considering we used to pay $300-350 each month in January and February just for natural gas for our single pipe steam radiator setup in the old place.

I'd love to use a Nest to manage it like we did in the old place but there doesn't seem to be any easy way to make it happen with this crazy setup.

 

[rh71]

They should feel approximately the same, since your bottom floor is technically insulated by the top floor's insulation (albeit heat rises, so the top floor should be a 'lil warmer). It's a bit concerning that your top floor can't keep up below 15F, what do you mean by 'can't keep up?' Like it's 60 instead of 75? Or like it's 20 instead of 60? My place has some pretty massive amounts of open spaces/high ceilings and I can keep almost the entire house at ~60 during sub-zero nights with a pellet stove set to low (40lb bag every 8-12h).

What insulation did you use upstairs? If it's getting that cold you should probably have cellulose or spray-in up there. Generally heat doesn't escape much through the walls unless you've got major drafts happening, so your R value really matters above the house moreso than the sides.

The upstairs can't keep up with the thermostat request to get anything above like 65F. The heat can't seem to get above that threshold on really cold nights. We've messed with the boiler settings on the plumber's recommendation too. Had the water temp raised for the baseboard heat, bled the lines of air, etc.

I believe we have R-30 in the exterior-facing walls but nothing above in the attic. I did consider spray foam at one point and will have to revisit it. Apparently it's better to do the foam on the attic ceiling... lots of questions.

I was also watching a video on the dangers of it not being applied properly

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I believe we have R-30 in the exterior-facing walls but nothing above in the attic.

Wait, what do you mean by 'nothing above in the attic'? As in, you have nothing above the top floor but the wood paneling and shingles? There should, at bare minimum, be pink/yellow crap.. probably cellulose given what the temps get to. Cellulose gives ~3.5R per inch, we've got 24" above ~50% of our living area, yellow stuff above the other half. If you truly have no insulation above you, yeah, you're gonna leak heat out like a sieve. I'm surprised that your bills are only ~$100/mo, though I guess if you're running heat 24/7 and still only hit ~$100/mo that speaks more to your heating solution than insulation.

Apparently it's better to do the foam on the attic ceiling... lots of questions.

This is accurate. If you do cellulose or yellow/pink stuff you put it at the base of the attic/above the sheetrock or whatever, forming your heat barrier at the level of the rooms. If you do spray foam, you basically place it at the barrier of the attic/outside walls, placing the heat barrier right at the edge of the physical dimensions of the house. I prefer keeping it closer to the interior walls to avoid adding extra cubic footage to heat/cool, but it can depend on the layout of the house/attic space, and even then spray foam has its place.

Additional component: pests abhor cellulose. Good way to keep wasps/bees/mice/bugs out of your attic/wall spaces.

 

[thedarkwolf]

1k
$70
1

 

[Scarpozzi]

1. 3500 square feet
2. 4 people
3. $120 avg ($100-150 depending on month of year)
4. Tennessee

FWIW...I have a gas tankless water heater and a dual-fuel heat pump that switches to an NG furnace below 40 degrees....and a mini-split that cools a bonus room.

 

[Exterous]

1. 1300sf
2. ~$70 (higher in summer due to ac)
3. 2
4. Michigan

Oh man, a couple of moves since then.
1. 3000sf
2. $125-250
3. 2
4. Michigan still

Our electricity rates have shot up a lot since then too. We just had a 9% increase last month (4th increase in the last 6 years or so). DTE has also cut in half what it's paying solar people who feed into the grid and almost got a large fee applied to solar customers for no real reason (~$15/mo IIRC). I really with MI was more solar friendly

 

[MtnMan]

1. 3600 sq/ft - built in 1965
2. 130/month equal payment plan... will likely be reduced next adjustment
3. 2 - retired so home all day
4. NC mountains

 

[rh71]

Wait, what do you mean by 'nothing above in the attic'? As in, you have nothing above the top floor but the wood paneling and shingles? There should, at bare minimum, be pink/yellow crap.. probably cellulose given what the temps get to. Cellulose gives ~3.5R per inch, we've got 24" above ~50% of our living area, yellow stuff above the other half. If you truly have no insulation above you, yeah, you're gonna leak heat out like a sieve. I'm surprised that your bills are only ~$100/mo, though I guess if you're running heat 24/7 and still only hit ~$100/mo that speaks more to your heating solution than insulation.

Sorry not sure what I was thinking. We most definitely have batting insulation of at least R-30 in the attic ceiling. Still super cold or hot up there which is not conducive to the cooling or heating needed.

We avg out over 12 months at $100/mo. for each electric & gas. We are thrifty with the AC electric and top out at $250-ish in July/Aug. Heat is only set to 67F for winter and only at night, one floor at a time - gas heating is cheap.