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A WTF power bill
Grundlestiltskin
Behind you!Registered User regular
Behind you!Registered User regular
So, my girlfriend and I moved into this one bedroom apartment in Boston in June. Our lease said "heat and hot water included." We have central air. During the summer months our power bill was $100-$130 a month, which we attributed to the central air and started looking forward to the winter months when our bills would be lower.
Our first winter bill (November) was for $211, holy fuck that can't possibly be right. We rechecked the lease and found a sub line that stated that heat was included, but only if heat was not electric (which ours apparently is). Our oversight, I guess the central air system also provides the heat.
So, we turned the thermostat down. We had been keeping it at 73, we bumped it down to 68. We also winterized some of the windows (haven't finished) and were gone for over a week around the holidays, during which time the heat and all electronics were off. Our December bill would have to be lower right? Well, we just got it and it's for $355. What the fuck is going on?
Our first winter bill (November) was for $211, holy fuck that can't possibly be right. We rechecked the lease and found a sub line that stated that heat was included, but only if heat was not electric (which ours apparently is). Our oversight, I guess the central air system also provides the heat.
So, we turned the thermostat down. We had been keeping it at 73, we bumped it down to 68. We also winterized some of the windows (haven't finished) and were gone for over a week around the holidays, during which time the heat and all electronics were off. Our December bill would have to be lower right? Well, we just got it and it's for $355. What the fuck is going on?
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Also, energy use isn't always measured by the temperature, but how hard the system needs to work to maintain that temp. 68 in September is generally cheaper than 68 in January, assuming equal use.
It does seem quite high, considering.
Ours our up 300% since the summer, when we were using central air.
While I understand that Boston gets wicked cold and I really do mean wicked cold to the point of bundling up and still feeling frozen outside. I suggest you lower your temperature setting while you try to sort this out?
I realize people like it warm and want to be comfy, but you need to realize you share walls with other people. I had a Physics professor rant about turning his heat down to 55 during graduate school. In the elevator all of his neighbors would curse their heating bill and he had to giggle because he knew they were heating his home. So if you share a wall with a person like my Professor, or a person like me (who puts his heat at 60 and it only goes up to 64 when I home) you maybe be paying for their heating costs. And while I thank you, I think you should put thick socks and a sweater?
Also, how often does your heater run and how old is it as well?
call your electricity supplier and have them investigate... a friend of mine in NY discovered that he was paying for the electricity to the hallway and basement (to which he had no access, and which housed the washer/dryer of the landlord) for several years... he was able to get a refund of over $1K from the landlord, and the landlord was forced to fix the wiring in the building.
As far as putting on more clothes goes, at 68 it's still pretty chilly in here. I have a feeling the central heat fails to heat the rooms we actually hang out in. When the heat was off the whole apartment dropped down to 38. This place is really poorly insulated. We don't mind paying a little extra to not have to wear ski jackets indoors, but $155 up from the previous month is ridiculous.
I used to live in a moderately-sized one bedroom apartment in a block of 12, and I think the highest monthly bill I ever had was maybe $27. If I wasn't home much through the month, and didn't have to run the cooler, heater or computer constantly, it would drop as low as $9 or $10. I didn't have to pay gas, but everything was electric in the place anyway. I mean, I guess I don't know what you pay per kWh, or how poorly insulated the place is, but that seems absurd. Is this single bedroom a 2000 sq. ft. loft with no insulation or what?
I would deffinatley get this figured out. So your heat and hot water are supposed to be included in the rent? Are you running a dishwasher or a washer and dryer combo? That would increase your bill. Other than that I can't figure out why your bill would be so High.
That seems absurdly high - I'm in ~800 sq. ft. now, and my usage is roughly 200 kWh/mo.
Are you sure you aren't paying for like all 12 units or something? :P
we, in BC, effectively pay peanuts for electricity though, what with the billions of metric tons of water falling through turbines every second at every hydroelectric dam in the province. The people in crowded urban centers who don't have the same resources we do are obviously going to pay more, and get gouged in the winter when demand is high.
They cast a shadow like a sundial in the morning light. It was half past 10.
A great deal of their billing cycles are estimates of power usage. Look at your bills carefully - they describe that the power company has a great practice of projecting your expected usage, and just uses that to generate your bill. No meter check, just a formula they can punch into the bill printer.
You can dispute this at any time and they'll come out to verify with the meter. Maybe they're wrong, maybe they're right.
Most frequently, people will go on an extended vacaction and be gone for a month. They get back to a 300 dollar electric bill. They call, give a WTF shout, and the company refunds there money with a 'sorry, our bad'. After that, the company goes right back to billing by guess work.
Moral and advice: Call and have them confirm the meter.
They don't actually send someone out to check your meter every month. If you want the "privilege" of not getting screwed because of their estimations they want you to pay a monthly fee to check the meter remotely (at least where I live).
In my case they usually don't bother refunding your money. A few months after getting your "WTF?" power bill(s) you receive one that's anywhere from 1/5th to 1/10th of what it should be for a couple of months before the payments go back to something reasonable.
Holy shit. You're using 2261 kwh for a 1-bedroom apartment? That's...just...wow.
I've used under 1000 kwh per month in a townhouse. Of course, I switched out all the light bulbs and tried to be careful with usage, but still. That doesn't seem right at all.
yeah here in BC they seem to check every 2 months or so and you get charged on basis. Your bill will actually have the month and meter reading on it here. I have friends that are meter readers in town and yup every house gets a pysical meter reading every 2 months at least.
Whoa whoa whoa. You're paying $170 a month to BC Hydro? Are you sure that you don't mean Terasen? Unless you have several grow-ops somewhere in that double-wide there's no way you should have a monthly bill from BC Hydro for $170. We get our bills bi-monthly from BC Hydro and I was shaken this month when the bill was over $70.
What I'm saying is that a $170/month bill from Hydro is completely outside of my circle of experience and if I got a bill that large for electricity I'd probably drop dead from a aneurysm right there and then. It must cost a lot to run a fish pond and a hot tub, eh?
Speaking of grow ops...
We turn all the lights off when we leave. We have energy efficient bulbs. We turn all the electronics off when we leave. As far as I can tell, the jump in cost is solely due to the electric heat and during the 3 week period we were actually here. We just finished winterizing the windows, hopefully that makes a difference.
Allegedly the 2261 is an actual reading, not an estimate.
Also, in Boston if you can control your heat then it is 99% likely that it is not included in the rent.
Working as a programmer for my city's power, this is how it works. HOWEVER, most places have rules / laws as to how often you can estimate before you LEGALLY must read the meter. Typically that's 3-5 months.
Everyone's advice though is spot on.
-Step 1 should be talk to them. Is it an estimate or real? See if they'll give you last years usage at this time (you want to know how much to budget).
-Step 2 is see if they have any kind of free "energy audit" people that can look at your apt to lower cost.
-Step 3 is to make sure you are not paying for more than you should. Get the power company / electrician / landlord to see if for example the hallway lights tie to your meter than your going to be paying a lot more.
Unfortunately, electric heat is very inefficient and it uses a lot more power than you think. A little plug-in floor heater can use 1-2 KW so the heat for your house has to use AT LEAST that much. 4 KW (equivalent to at least two them) * 6 hours a day * 30 days = 720 for just heating. Another 300 for hot water, another 300-500 on usage, it adds up quick. Get a cold snap, have poor insulation, it gets up there.
Hopefully they can fix it or look into moving this summer.