Insane electric bill...

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There's probably something wrong with the heating system and either the fans aren't blowing or they aren't blowing hard enough to warm the house efficiently or something. Go crawl around and check around for efficiency issues. I just checked my grandmother's house and they have an "up-duct" at the end of the hall in a closet (which has slatted doors so air can go through) that's for an evaporative cooler to let the excess air go into the attic. They don't have the cooler anymore and only air conditioning, and had no idea that they had that vent. They had no idea that they have been air conditioning their attic for the 43 years they have owned their home, which its 115 outside in the summer!
 
I changed out my windows with new double pane gas filled ones. All heating/cooling costs went down at least 20%. How many windows does the house have? The windows alone would make HUGE difference.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
map_specnewsdct-57_ltst_4namus_enus_980x551.jpg


My furnace was off from late January until now, my neighbor turned on A/C since early-mid February. Inside my house the temperature climbed up to 75-78F late afternoon for about 3-4 weeks already.
 
Ouch! But with what they have for heat I am not surprised. I used to own a bar and when our rates went through the roof about ten years ago I got a $10,000 electric bill. Granted they refunded about $4,000 a few months later when everything settled down.My normal bill was about $800 a month.
 
If the supplier is First Energy they are VERY well known to rip off anyone all the time / anytime , They got to get extra money somehow to pay for the First Energy Stadium ( 50 years of rebuilding Browns )
 
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I worked in the meter shop of the local electric power company years ago. Some meters have a multiplier, and once we got in some new meters that had the wrong multiplier. Those meters went out to some customers and they ended up being billed for much more than they used.

Ask the electric company to test the meter including that the meters multiplier (if it has one) is correct.

If the meter has the wrong multiplier (the little tab with the multiplier number does not match the actual multiplier of the meter), the power company can figure out how much the customer over paid, and issue a refund.
 
Originally Posted By: Throt
Specific usage last month (Feb 5th to March 5) was 7,000 kWh.


That is a lot of energy, are you sure your grandpa doesn't have an underground greenhouse of certain plant for "medicinal use"????

Joking aside your energy averages at a power usage of 10 kW or 86 A, the house must have at least a 200A panel to be able to consume that much energy, being all electric it can be possible but to me it sounds like a bad meter,

I don't know about uninsulated houses but that energy usage also is equivalent to about 3000 liters of LPG, people that use LPG to heat their house could tell you how much they use per month to see if it is comparable to your grandad's house.
 
I had the TP (temperature pressure) valve fail on my water heater, went from 60 to 450 in one month. Expensive [censored] 20 dollar valve

Rod
 
You've got a 45% increase in energy use over the same period last year. That's significant, but not astronomical. Check around, but this could also very well be a combination of the most expensive type of heat in a poorly insulated house with thermostats set to high. It's also possible that with the extraordinarily cold weather, the thermostats were set higher than 72.

So, my suggestions once you've done some troubleshooting:

-Upgrade insulation in the attic to R50.
-Replace windows and doors with energy star double pane varieties.
-Convert the house to natural gas if available. Don't forget the range, water heater, and clothes dryer.
-Suggest thermostats be set to 68 during the day when home, 65 at night, and 55 when gone.
 
If that was my home, I would do the following:

1. Contact the power company ASAP. I would have them replace the meter.

2. Lower the the temp. from 72 degrees to say 68 degrees.

3.. Zone heat, (don't heat rooms not in use).

4. Have insulation in attic inspected. Add more as required this spring/summer.

5. If all else fails, I would just sell my present home and get a smaller, well insulated home or apartment.

With the money saved, I could spend some time in Fl. in Jan./Feb. every winter.
 
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Lots of good points about old, inefficient heating, insulation and expensive to run appliances.... but the question I haven't seen asked yet is this- What are the historical averages for this house and do they compare or scale to this year?

I mean if their typical electric bill is $200.00 in the middle of January and now it is $900.00, there may well be an actual problem.

One thing that WILL help, no matter the situation is lowering the temp. Cost to heat is not linear. Lowering the temp even a few degrees can net a noticeable savings.



edit: Just saw the picture that the O/P posted. If that is his parent's bill, then it looks like there may well be a problem.
 
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Was it an actual meter read or an estimate? I recall my utility would do estimate reads if they couldn't do an actual read. It all sorted out when they did an actual meter read.
 
Originally Posted By: Throt
https://www.dropbox.com/s/t90zo1gwv71fikd/IMG_2535.JPG?dl=0

As you can see from the picture we have a near double kWh usage but only a 5 degree lower average.


yikes,
1. being all electric you gpa should get a break in his electric rate, pls confirm he is getting it.
2. Inefficient heating is the cuz of his high bill.
3. head to nearest walmart and buy a electric room heaters for each room he stays in most of the time
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Comfort-Zone-5-120-BTU-Multi-Purpose-Ceramic-Heater-Black-CZ442WM/21899614
try to get ones with digital temp control
4. Lower the main ROOF heating down to say 55F and work with him to run the heaters in the rooms he stays in most and turning them off at night.
 
Originally Posted By: John_K
Anyone I have ever known with that kind of heat has astronomical electric bills.

John


Same here. I have a friend here in NH whose house has EVERYTHING ELECTRIC plus 4 people in the house as the OP talks of and his bill is even higher than what the OP posted. He has had enough and is starting to swap things over to other sources. When his house was built electricity was cheap but that isn't the case anymore.

For an old 2 story house running electric heat at 72 degrees( that is high IMO not normal as the OP said ), combined with an extremely cold and long winter, equals painful electric bills. Around here $700+ for what the OP talks of might actually be low this winter.

Also, check their bill and see if a recent rate hike went into effect? My power company hit us up with a huge rate increase in January and it skyrocketed my bill. It is just me here with an electric hot water heater and dryer and I go out of my way to conserve energy to keep my bill down. My bill really ballooned on me despite my best efforts.

I am not saying something isn't wrong as most others immediately went to but again, to me, the bill sounds right for what the people have. Electric heat in climates that actually get real and prolonged winter weather is not a good idea.
 
I'd start with what has been recommended... call the power company to check the meter, and set up an energy use audit.
 
Has to be an estimated read.

Happened to us but with Nat. Gas, "Sir based on last years bill(house was not occupied) is how we calculated you owe us $500...
 
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