$590 electric bill

[JHZR2]

Hi,

I saw a friend from work today, who bought a house just before I did. I asked him how it was going, as I hadnt seen him in a while, and he told me that he had a $590 electric bill last month. Now, it was hot, for sure, but $590?!?

He explained that he was running his pool filter almost the whole month trying to get it fixed from how the PO had run it, and he knew that his central AC unit was VERY old, and not running at peak efficiency, but still, $590?

Another guy chimed in that his was $200 or so, however he has 5 kids, a stay at home wife and a large house. I can understand that one...

I nearly flipped my lid when I saw my bill last month was $189. Now, this was because our refreigerator was dying and running constantly, coupled with the dehumidifiers and A/Cs. And my house is about the same size as my friend's with the $590 bill.

To me that is crazy. He thinks itll be lower now that he has sone stuff under control, but still - wow!

So, how expensive has your electric bill been the last few months?

JMH

 

[Auto-Union]

$60-ish. A few fans, computer, TV and fridge. My wife likes a rolling boil of a full pot of water for an hour to cook a serving of pasta. I put 1/2q in the pot and micro the other half and add it to the pot after 3-4 minutes. I add the pasta and turn off the pot after another 5 minutes, leaving it on the hot burner. Ten minutes of electricity, my pasta is ready in the same time for about 1/3 the electricity as my wife's cooking.

 

[pitzel]

Down to $35/month for the house here. ~2000 square feet.

Can't fathom a $590 electric bill. Thats more than I pay in an entire year.

 

[k1xv]

Welcome to the world of de-regulated electricity pricing in New Jersey. They swallowed the whole Enron line back in 1999 and have gone to the failed and discredited "competition" model. Not one new base load plant has been built in the middle Atlantic states in maybe 20 years. Instead, Long Island will start sucking over 600 megawatts out of NJ in 2007 "the Neptune underwater transmission line" and that will add to demand for power in NJ markets, driving up wholesale prices another 5% or so.

And if Exelon and PSE&G are allowed to merge, as they likely will be, you ain't seen nothing yet.

 

[Gary Allan]

I had that size bill in 1989. For 3 months in a row. I was outraged and got the electric company to come out and survey the older style meters (they put dummy loads on them and time the rotation) ..then we went through the house and did a survey of all the devices (took amp draw data off of window units, dryer and whatnot) ..and it all added up.

We had an antique for a larger window unit ..ditched that. Each 5k btu window unit was $35-40/month. We did (and still do) about 3 dryer loads a day (went through more heater elements and bearings on cheaper dryers). I have oil heat and hot water and still have about a $130/month electric bill in the winter.

I think Excellon (PECO) is one of the three highest utilities in the lower 48.

 

[JavaMan]

$35.00? I think we paid that much in the sixties in an unairconditoned shack.

 

[Gary Allan]

It's cheaper to produce your own electricity in PECO country if you can manage your maintenance/budget right. We're paying something like $0.18+/kwh for on demand ..and I think $0.06/kwh for interuptable. When the service is interupted, PECO is selling power on the grid for about $0.03/kwh.

When it comes to utilities and regulatory authorities ...figures don't lie ..but liars sure do figure. How else could you be allowed to build a 4 billion $$ power plant and charge your customers for it ..and then sell electricity outside the customer distribution for less them you sell it to them

Pay for and subsedize my Maybach so I can give discount rides to bimbos. You? Take the bus ..and get a job!

 

[TheTanSedan]

Ken Lay (and the Congress/utilities commissions that were bought off) should all be [have been] beaten like Rodney King.

Weekly.

There is no decent federal program to upgrade these old houses. We're in a 1924 house with completely new roof/attic insulation/HVAC in 1999. Thermostat set at 76F. We're also at 35-days of above 100F days. (At 11:00 pm this evening we've cooled ten degrees to 97F).

$260 last month in 1400 s/f [?].

 

[Dominic]

The biggest thing to consider here is not money, but kwhrs used. I cant control what PECO (my elec company) charges me (15 cents per kWhr) but I can control how much I use. In the summer in my central a/c controlled apartment it ends up running me and my roommate $200 total. However, that $200 is only 1300kWhrs for the month. In FL when I paid 5 cents a kWhr the same electric would have run me a mere $66

 

[XS650]

Our power bill was $140 last month of which about $15 was gas. We had record heat near Sacramento including a few days that broke 110F. We keep the house at 79F in the summer.

1900 Sq ft, well insulated, 90% sunblock screens on east and west windows, most of the south windows have enough overhang that the sun doesn't hit them in the summer.

Our electricity rates are faily high, IIRC, that was for about 920 kWh.

Can't really compare that to your situation though, our humidity is low and it normally cools off enough at night to open the windows. Sometime between 8:30 and 11:00 PM it's normally down to 80-82 F so I shut off the AC and open all the windows.

The average 91F summer day at our house doesn't require any AC to keep the inside of the house at 79F or below.

Some neighbors with similar houses pay over twice as much as we do. Similar to you and your friend. A lot of it's in the details like 90% sun block screens and opening the windows at night.

90% of higher sun block screens on your windows that get a good direct blast of sun should help. some.

 

[AstroVic]

My electric bill last month was $350, and I expect it to be at least $400 this month. (This doesn't include gas - that's another $50 to $100 a month on average.)

My house is 2100 square feet.

Gotta love those energy prices!

 

[huffmuds9320]

My household electric bill is about $100 a month average. We don't have air conditioning and rarely ever use the heater.

$590 is super high, seems like thats how much a business would pay in a month. If he hasn't already done so I would check a few things. Make sure refrigerator is not set too cold, check door seal and clean the condensor coils. Change to fluorescent lamps, turn the water heater down a bit, thermostat to a reasonable temperature. Also hope that the electric meter is working properly. The swimming pool stuff does consume a lot of energy. They recommend avoid running stuff that consume a lot of energy like washing machines during peak hours(usually 4-6pm).

 

[obbop]

The shanty uses, on average, $35 in electricity monthly.

Nebraska has a publically-owned electric grid with a couple nuke plants. Shade of socialism/communism!!!!!! A bunch of business suits aren't making millions yearly running a for-profit little-to-no competition electrical supply system!!!!!!

There's some benefits to living in an itty bitty shanty. An air-conditioner designed for one room cools the entire shanty. Mice and spiders also have less distance to travel as they amble about the place.

 

[sprintman]

Thats not a big bill. Often get larger ones than that in a 2-bedroom townhouse

 

[Shannow]

sprintman,
I think that they were quoting per month, not quarter.

 

[drm7]

I'm paying $0.037 per kwhr. I have 4000 sq ft, 2 heat pumps, 2 50gal water heaters, all electric house except for gas cooktop and I paid $137 last month. Gotta love AEP! I just moved off of a co-op that was probably $0.11. My in-laws use much less power in a 2600 sq ft home and paid like $189 for the same time period.

But, I just built this house and I popped for Low-E, Argon windows and SEER 15 heat pumps. I keep the water heaters at the recommended 120. My wife stays home with our daughter and so the electric demand is higher than it could be if no one was home during the day. She also makes me set the thermostat a couple degrees cooler than I would like.

 

[Al]

quote:

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Originally posted by Gary Allan:
It's cheaper to produce your own electricity in PECO country if you can manage your maintenance/budget right.

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You'll have to do it with solar or wind Gary. I have a generator and with gas and oil prices ins not even remotely possible. It woujld cost me about $.75/KWH. Granted I have an older B/S engine but even if you double the efficiency....

 

[cousincletus]

Our highest elec. bill ever was $140. All electric house (about 1100 sq feet) with heat pump but built in 1991 when they used modern building codes and insulation. They usually average 100 bucks a month, but we don't have a pool.

 

[keith]

My brother-in-law just got a $700 bill. Ran a pool filter for the whole month, and sets the A/C to 68F.

I wasn't happy at all when my $250 bill arrived, but I'm doing better than my neighbors.

 

[Al]

quote:

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Originally posted by k1xv:
Welcome to the world of de-regulated electricity pricing in New Jersey.

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Exactly, we are only beginning to pay the piper. Everyone waqs looking for a free lungh. You figure anything that starts in Cali. is not going to be a good thing.