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Jesus Christ, ridiculous power bill
whuppins
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
OK, I just paid an electric bill of nearly $400. As far as I can tell, there's no error in the bill, like double charges or mysterious fees, etc. Our consumption for this billing cycle (12/18 to 1/18) was over 2000 kW/H, up 90% from the previous month, and 140% over this time last year. In this typically bizarre Floridian winter, we ran the air conditioning probably ~14 days in the last billing cycle (down from probably all 30 days of the previous cycle) and ran the heat maybe ~10 days (up from probably zero). We live in a 900 square foot condominium with 9' ceilings.
I'm trying to find out what the hell is using up so much more power, and the increase over just last month bothers me in particular. I'm racking my brain and I can't think of any dramatic changes in our habits this month, aside from the heat/AC thing. But heat isn't that expensive... is it?
Basically, I'd like to know what some common sources of increased power consumption are. Here are all the possible culprits I can think of.
- Computer: (700W PSU, maybe 50 hours a week?)
- Plasma TV (60", maybe 60 hours a week?)
- Dishwasher (maybe 3-4 loads a week?)
- Washer/dryer (maybe 7 loads a week?)
- Maybe 45 minutes of hot water per day for showers, etc.
- Inside lights (various wattages, maybe an average of 3-4 of them in use during the evenings)
- Outside lights (4 bulbs, 60 watts, probably 12 hours a day)
So, yeah, we have some bad habits, like leaving the computer and TV on in the background when we're not really using them, but most of this stuff was at least the same a month ago. I dunno, I've been falling asleep with the TV/computer on a little more than usual, and we added some Christmas tree lights to the mix last month, but aside from this, our habits haven't changed that much. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this leap? I'm sure I've overlooked some common culprits.
I'm trying to find out what the hell is using up so much more power, and the increase over just last month bothers me in particular. I'm racking my brain and I can't think of any dramatic changes in our habits this month, aside from the heat/AC thing. But heat isn't that expensive... is it?
Basically, I'd like to know what some common sources of increased power consumption are. Here are all the possible culprits I can think of.
- Computer: (700W PSU, maybe 50 hours a week?)
- Plasma TV (60", maybe 60 hours a week?)
- Dishwasher (maybe 3-4 loads a week?)
- Washer/dryer (maybe 7 loads a week?)
- Maybe 45 minutes of hot water per day for showers, etc.
- Inside lights (various wattages, maybe an average of 3-4 of them in use during the evenings)
- Outside lights (4 bulbs, 60 watts, probably 12 hours a day)
So, yeah, we have some bad habits, like leaving the computer and TV on in the background when we're not really using them, but most of this stuff was at least the same a month ago. I dunno, I've been falling asleep with the TV/computer on a little more than usual, and we added some Christmas tree lights to the mix last month, but aside from this, our habits haven't changed that much. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this leap? I'm sure I've overlooked some common culprits.
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Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
Kidding aside, I seem to recall that Plasmas suck up alot of power (but maybe that's in comparison with LCD's which are a lot more energy efficient), as do any major cleaning appliances (ie- Dishwasher/Washer/Dryer).
Also Plasma's have the heaviest power usage out of any type of tv.
Running a dishwasher is more economic than hand washing dishes. 3-4 loads per week isn't going to break the bank.
The most probable issue here, if power companies in Florida are anything like those in the UK, is that they have been estimating bills at some point. Either they over estimated this bill, or they've been underestimating your previous bills over the past year and this one is correcting the deficit that you've paid. Either way, the first course of action if you get an unexpectedly large bill isn't to try and figure out what is using so much more power but to assume the power company has fucked up somewhere. Get a current reading from your meter and give them a call. Tell them that the most recent bill is way over what you would normally expect your bill to pay, give them the current meter readings and see what happens.
Also,
Lawls. Heat is just about the most expensive and wasteful thing a house uses power to create. If you're using electricity to heat your house, you may as well just file for bankruptcy right now.
Can you elaborate? I'm not sure what this means.
I'll look in my owner's manual to see if I can find how much power the TV is using. Now that I think of it, it's more like 2 loads of dishes a week, which I imagine is pretty average. The laundry does seem like a lot, but my wife and I both work, so we have work clothes, after-work clothes, running/gym clothes, plus all the sheets and towels and stuff.
...But like I said, it's kind of a moot point because as far as I know, we have been doing this much dishes/laundry since we moved in. The TV/computer usage has probably been a little bit up but aside from that, I can't think of what we've been doing differently. According to my power bill, I need to account for an additional 31 kW/H per day. What the hell did I leave off the list that I could be missing?
Edit:
Right, but by my estimate, compared with the previous month, we ran the heat for 10 more days, but we ran the air conditioning for 14 fewer days. It doesn't seem like it should be quite THAT expensive. I guess a ballpark comparison of heating vs. cooling power consumption would help.
Also, my power company does offer its customers some sort of plan where they estimate your yearly consumption and then charge you a flat monthly rate instead of 'pay-as-you-go', but we don't use that plan. Or are you talking about something else entirely?
Gather up all your previous bills, see if any of them state that it's an estimate or not, get the current meter readings and call the power company with this ammo to try and find if they've either over estimated this bill or under estimated previous bills. This really is the most probably situation unless one of your flat mates secretly set up a hydroponic greenhouse or has started experimenting with portal technologies in the past month.
It balances out because people use very little gas in the Summer months, and the extra you pay per-month get credited to your account for the Winter months.
I could have gotten on budget with my electric bill too, but the people that lived in my appt before me set the budget rate really high (I guess they were scared of the dark) so I decided it would be cheaper for me to just pay monthly and be careful not to rack up a huge bill.
So you might want to call your utility company and ask about budget options, you have to pay more each month, but it keeps you from having a 400-500 bill rape you in the ass.
Edit:
The fact that it looks as if you appt is solely electric kinda sucks for you. As stated before, electric heat is "cold heat" and doesn't really stay in the air like gas heat. Does anything in your appt run on gas?
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
What is this crazy mumbo jumbo? Electrically heating your apartment is more expensive because the process involved in heating electrically is less efficient. The electricity has to be generated through a less than 100% efficient process (ie burning fossil fuels wherein some of the energy released is lost to the environment before being converted to electricity). Gas central heating, on the other hand, is more efficient because the fossil fuel is converted to heat directly in your home environment. Basically, the energy in electricity costs more than the energy in gas because, all other things being equal, you are also paying for the energy lost at source.
A washing machine won't cause it, neither will doing 7 loads of laundry a week. Anyone who says that doing 7 loads of laundry a week will double their power bill doesn't know what they're talking about. Yes, they use a lot of electricity, but not that much.
Seriously, call the power company and find out what's going on.
Yeah, I have no idea what was going on in May. My water consumption was way up that month too.
Anyway, there's no gas anything in the condo, except for a fireplace that we've never used. Gas power just isn't as common in Florida compared with most other places, mainly because most of us only need to run the heat for 2 or 3 weeks out of the year, and we're running AC for the vast majority of the rest of the time. It's probably more cost-effective to devote the resources to making AC affordable.
A few other questions:
- How would I benefit from going on budget with the electric company? Wouldn't I be paying the same amount per year? It's not the fact that the bill fluctuates that bothers me, it's that it should never be that high in any given month to begin with. I mean, look at last January on the chart up there... clearly we did something wrong this month compared to a year ago.
- One kwh will power a 100 kw bulb for 10 hours. Can you apply the same logic to the power supplies in PCs? Since my machine has a 700w PSU, is it equivalent to burning seven 100w bulbs while it's on? Or does the power it supplies to the computer differ from the power it draws from the outlet?
- A few people have mentioned calling up the power company and making sure they're right. I guess I thought that since my bill clearly itemizes my previous reading, current reading, kwh consumed, etc., there wouldn't be much to talk about. Or am I not getting the point? Is there a rogue (or just retarded) meter reader who comes around every eight months and puts down ridiculous numbers? I dunno how I'd make my case, but I guess I'll go out and check my meter when I get home.
Ummm...What?
Heat is heat. There is no such thing as "cold heat". Some areas may stay cold or hotter due to other factors like air movement, openings to the outside, insulation of the surrounding walls, etc., but there is nothing intrinsic about electric heat that makes it somehow keep air hot for a shorter period.
Nothing I can think of offhand, it sounds a lot more like the power company screwed up somehow. Knowing why your bill was so high in May would probably help a lot also.
Maybe they read the meter wrong. Maybe it's malfunctioning. Maybe they made a (bad) estimate and haven't actually read the meter. Maybe their outside equipment is malfunctioning in a way that affects the meter.
Look at it this way - if there is no problem, they say "sorry, not our fault", and life goes on. If there is, maybe you get some money back. Nobody there will be bothered if you call to check on it.
Heh my parents recently purchased a hot tub and they have it running 24/7 to keep the water a nice 98 Degrees and leave a heater on in the garage for the outside dogs.. and I'm pretty sure they dont exceed $200.
$400 is a huge bill
That's not exactly true, though... if it's not their fault, life doesn't go on, at least not for my wife and me at our current address. I'm not going to be paying a $400 electric bill every month, and unless I can expect the bill to return to normal next cycle, the issue isn't really resolved. Whether the spike is our fault or the company's fault, I'm more or less equally satisfied as long as we can identify it and take some corrective steps. Currently, I have no idea what the cause could be and that's really what's bugging me.
@zrikz: I don't think comparing dollar amounts across different homes tells us anything. There are so many other factors that can affect the final bill (how much the utilities company charges, the area of the country, square footage, etc, etc, etc) that your $90 bill doesn't really mean a whole lot in the context of my situation. For instance, my "normal" bill is in the $150-200 range. Still probably high to a lot of people, but that's the 'baseline' that we're used to.
One last question (and I know there have been a lot of them, sorry): Assuming that we're on the "pay as you go" plan as opposed to the "flat monthly rate" plan, how could they still be estimating our usage? It sounds like these are really two separate things and our meter might not be actually read, even though we're not on the budget thingy. Is this a possibility?
2. Your dishwasher - do you use the "heated dry" setting? This uses a ton of electricity. You should turn that off. It is true that using a dishwasher uses less WATER than washing by hand, but that heated dry setting will jack up your bill - turn it off.
Also, what happened in May? Was there a big heat wave?
I would call them up and see if they did a meter reading or an estimate - lord knows if they estimated they would overestimate to rip you off.
Yeah, I seem to have phrased that badly, and my apologies. What I was trying to say was that if you call them to check, things are not (at least as far as I can imagine) going to get worse as far as that bill - there's really no reason not to call.
As far as finding the problem if the power company can't help, I don't have many specific suggestions there....I do know there are devices that you can plug things into to measure actual power usage. Maybe check with an electrician also, and/or shut off all your breakers and see if the meter is still racking up usage.
I know I got a huge spike in energy a month in the Summer because I bought a fan and left it on. Boy was I surprised to pay an additional 30-50 dollars that bill.
Do you actually meet the meter reader when he comes around?
We have to let him in because the meter is inside our house. Sometimes they don't come round at all or they come round when we aren't in, so the bill gets estimated. Sometimes they come round, we let them in, they take the readings and they still estimate the bill.
The values on your bill may not be your true consumption, they may be estimates for whatever reason. That graph says to me that they under estimate your bill on a monthly basis and then 'correct' it once every six months by over charging you based on an accurate or possibly an estimated reading. Even this correction could still be out of whack, because they just base it on a guess as to what they think you'd probably consume. Basically, if you let the estimates continue, your bills just get completely fucked. It happened to my wife when she was living alone at one point, eventually took a reading and called them on it and the bill she got for the next quarter (that's three months) was about 5 pence.
If the two spikes represent accurate readings then there's a possibility if your habits aren't fluctuating that the other readings are estimates. In this case, you should expect the spikes to come down considerably but the over monthly bill to increase slightly. If they are all estimates, it's anybodies guess what might happen. If they are all accurate readings, then at least by calling the company you've ruled out estimates as a possibility.
They measure how much Power they send out from the plant / nearest converter, and then they have the meter on your house for how much was recieved.
The way they usually do billings is to look at how much power they are sending out, take a look at each houses average and add it up, if the power consumption is more than the averages, they add the average to everyone.
Then 1 time or more a year, they actually spend the money to send a monkey to your house, to write down the numbers from your meter on his pad, that pad says how much you actually used.
If they charge you more than you actually used, they will give you a credit, that credit may be a lump sum, or they may spread it across numerous months (shady practice them getting interest off of money they owe you)
If they charge you less than you actually used, the next bill will try to collect the entire sum of the difference at whatever the best rate for them would be.
If at anytime someone started stealing current from the line before it makes it to your box, then you may get billed extra until that monkey comes by to read the meter.
Again, best advice is to call the company with your meter reading and ask whats up.
Also, seriously, how do you 1 week need AC and the next week need a heater? open windows and extra blankets.
MWO: Adamski
To quickly answer some questions - Nothing out of the ordinary happened in May, we run AC pretty much 24/7 from March to December. The plasma TV wasn't around last year, but it was around each of the last several months. Now that I've done some basic research I'll be turning off the heated dry and adjusting my water heater settings to bring the overall amount down, regardless of if I can get this spike figured out, so thanks for all the suggestions on that front.
Honestly $400 for electricity in an apartment is insane.
Call them, don't try to figure this out on your own, there was possibly a mistake, and it would be stupid to not try.
My 2 cents.
Hehe, I guess I dont realize how you Floridians get acclimated to that weather. I vacationed to Orlando a time or two in the past in December / January, even on the cool days my family would be out in Jeans + T-shirts, while all the natives were out in jackets and gloves.
Of course I have ice forming on the inside of my bedroom window right now too. Damn -40 weather, though its nice just saying -40 since the F and C finally match up when its that cold.
MWO: Adamski
Depending on the quality of your neighborhood, people may or may not look for outdoor outlets of yours they can "borrow" and if they get really batshit crazy even splice into a line.
This isn't uncommon in some of the more "undocumented" regions.
Next look for failing equipment - was mentioned by an earlier poster.
Last - it's pretty, but you really don't need your Jacob's Ladder running 24/7