Insane Electric Rate Increase $508.68/1522 kWh

Usually the issue in winter is too low humidity and not too much. Many people run a humidifier in the winter, perhaps you meant to say humidifier and not dehumidifier (?) but then why have one in the bathroom.

Nope, DEhumidifier. It has been mild and wet here lately. The air can also hold less water at 55F compared to 70F, so normally the RH ranges from just over 50% on clear days like today to >60% on rainy days.

We have one in the master bathroom to prevent mold buildup. Without it running the room will stay around 50, just like the outside rooms, but will rise drastically and stay there for an extended period of time after showers.

Also, the ceiling vent fan is broken and access is via the crawl space of an attic. The access is a tiny rectangle in a small closet halfway across the house. I do need to get up there, but the dehumidifier has been working great and provides a bit of “free” heat without pulling colder air in if the room is warmer than the hallway, which is usually the case.

For the guest bath, we use the ceiling vent fan.
 
I did forget to mention the wood stove, and it is a consideration. We actually just had the badly damaged chimney to the stove repaired last year and I have a couple of trees that are too bit and should probably come down, but I don’t have experience with that. I’ve only ever cut down smaller trees, like mature apple trees that were easy to limb and take apart.

The stove is also in the basement on the other side of the house from the room, with the only airflow via a small grate and the stairs to the basement. I’d have to use fans to really get the heat to the rooms I believe. With that said, every house I’ve ever been in with a wood stove this size (and smaller) put out a TON of heat.

This solution will likely make it warmer overall, but with such little use of the heat as is, I’m not sure it makes financial sense. I guess I could save the wood for when family is over and emergencies.

Right there with you on the rates, man. Freakn' Massholes.

My kids are all grown/out and I'm usually the only one at home during the day with the periodic site visit in/around Boston.
My stove is going all the time and it works well and saves us a ton. It's the saving grace until they find a reason to ban them.
 
How old are the fridges? My sister in Pa had an old fridge in the basement, they thought their bill was too high, when they unplugged it the bill immediately went down $30-35/month. They've had it for years.

Dehumidifiers use more electricity that you'd think. Find a cost calculator online. You capture the heat but it can't be a 1:1 energy thing.

Both are pretty new. The old fridge died earlier last year and I bough the smaller one for the basement later last year, new, for $750, because it came with a $250 Costco gift card.

The freezer is older and I should evaluate it’s impact.

I’ve been using my watt meter to check various loads. I havent checked the upstairs fridge nor chest freezer, but the downstairs fridge shows the following:

Compressor off: 68W
Compressor on: 203W

I also get that the energy of a dehumidifier is split up between waste heat and what goes into Condensing off vapor into water. I have to imagine that the difference is smaller than the additional cost of raising the temp of the space.

The basement is also not heated, so a dehumidifier needs to run there. The only savings might be to manually run it at Constant on until the humidity drops to where I want it, then turn it completely off. The fan on the humidifier in the main bath is drawing 20W by itself and it often turn on just the fan to check the RH level, then turns off. I do turn it off on the dry days, but that’s pennies saved to do that, especially in the basement. Some of that 20W goes straight to heat, so it’s really not 20W of waste, several times per hour.

I’m hoping to find 100s of kWh of savings, not onesies twosies.
 
Last edited:
The Henry Hub price of natural gas, used to generate electricity, has now dropped to the lowest point in several years. This should ultimately result in a lower price of electric generation.
 
Can you switch to gas? I'm lucky in Colorado as our gas rates are at least reasonable. Can you use an insulated blanket on your electric heater to increase efficiency ?
Gas prices are 4-5x normal in California anyway. Can't win either way. We need more production and less exports. We keep thinking things will get better but it isn't happening
 
I see two pieces of low hanging fruit .

Get a quality drying rack and air dry some clothes - it's way better for the fabric anyway
A little harder on the dehumidifiers, but you should save a bit overall.

Like John Galt says- usually with electric heat you are usually looking for more humidity did you flip this by any chance?

You can probably skip washing the dishes prior to washing the dishes - just scrape off the plates into the trash and load them up
I haven't pre washed dishes in 20 years.

Get a kill-o watt and rotate it around your house to look at what things are really costing you to run.

The drying rack is a great idea and one I am going to implement. I grew up drying clothes in the basement and they were always fine. A bit stuff when you first take them off the hanger, but they were fine. I mean, the dryer is literally dumping the vast majority of the heat outside! The small amount in the vicinity of the dryer that makes it into the room is likely offset by the air sucked in the house from outside.

I‘ll do some more research, but with the low temperatures we’re maintaining the RH is kept high. It would be lower with warmer rooms by a good amount. The temperatures also aren’t low enough where mold isn’t a concern. It’s still high enough for humidity > 50% to be a concern as far as I know.

I’m going to strongly insist that my wife stops pre-washing the dishes. It really just means that I have to beat her to the punch. It usually gets done while I’m at work, so thats tough.

Im currently using my smart plug with a watt meter to check larger items. I’ll post my prelim findings separately.
 
We have PPL here where I live and our rates have doubled since last year. I still shop for my electricity on pa.powerswitch.com and have a rate locked in for 36 months initially and now about 30 months left of that. Still about 2 points cheaper then PPL. I use a drying rack as someone else mentioned. Just use the dryer on low heat for towels and socks. Use freshen up on the dryer on low setting for 20 minutes when clothes are done drying on dryer rack with a Downy dryer sheet. Why are you running your dishwasher daily? Is there really a need for 2 fridges plus a freezer? Groceries have basically doubled in the last 2 years also -- really hard to save anymore in this day & age. Good luck with shopping your electricity.
 
Last edited:
We've been going through the same thing here. Last month my bill was $170 and my most recent one shot up to $264! However, I think mine is due to some electric oil filled heaters I have. One (living/dining area) had been running on high for most of that month. I've cut down on the usage on those and I removed the one in the dining/living room area. Unfortunately my furnace is fueled by oil and that's ridiculously expensive. We had a 45% rate increase back in May '22 right when AC season was kicking into high gear. No gas or any public utilities out my way, it's electric/oil only.

What’s worse is that the average temperature this month has been 39F. I can’t imagine Feb will be that warm. If our supplier isn’t switched for the entire month my bill next month will be even higher!

While we’ve been lucky to be able to keep the heat mostly off, it will need to be on to maintain at least 50-55. I’ll likely have to run a space heater in the basement if it gets too low, for freeze protection.
 
Good solution: thermal underwear. Some nice polypropylene is the best option.

Good point. I dress warmly and don‘t mind the cold, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to be cozy and warm. I have no issue putting on some wool socks or even more layers to supplement my electric throw. I like to be bundled up and cozy WAY more than being nearly naked and hot in the summer!

My kids, I have to demand that they put pants and socks on. They get cold on occasion, but that’s because they’re running around half naked! “I’m cold daddy” Duh, you’re out here in only a t-shirt and shorts.
 
I try a similar solution with Mamacita. I tell her we should share the zero degree bag and bang it out for heat and energy savings.

It usually does not work.....

I‘ve tried that!

Me: lemme see you nekkid!
Her: Noooo, I‘m too cold for that
Me: Not for long!
Her: *Aggressive eye roll; pulls the covers up higher and tighter

:ROFLMAO:
 
The Henry Hub price of natural gas, used to generate electricity, has now dropped to the lowest point in several years. This should ultimately result in a lower price of electric generation.

The reason for the price jump was reported by the supplier as attributed to high gas prices. :unsure:
 
We had a spike from .17 to 0.33662.

Our electric bill was $300 because of short days and Xmas lights. I pay another $350/month for home heating oil (boiler) 1910 home so in similar boat to keep home 66F/hot water for family 5.

Energy is pricey in New England currently. It will drop.
 
We have PPL here where I live and our rates have doubled since last year. I still shop for my electricity on pa.powerswitch.com and have a rate locked in for 36 months initially and no about 30 months left of that. Still about 2 percent cheaper than PPL. I use a drying rack as someone else mentioned. Just use the dryer on low heat for towels and socks. Use freshen up on the dryer on low setting for 20 minutes when close are done drying on dryer rack with a Downy dryer sheet. Why are you running your dishwasher daily? Is there really a need for 2 fridges plus a freezer? Groceries have basically doubled in the last 2 years also -- really hard to save anymore in this day & age. Good luck with shopping your electricity.

Edit: some examples of money saved on food are chicken I rarely found on sale for a buck a pound, cream cheese (we go through a large tub before it expires), pot pies for less than a buck each; chicken nuggets in bulk, and eggs, just as some examples.) I do need to do the math, though. The chest freezer is old enough that replacing it with a smaller, more efficient one might make sense. I’d be able to sell the old one, too.

All good questions:

I might have exaggerated on the dishwasher use. It’s probably more accurate to say it’s run every other day, depending on what we’re doing. If we eat a lot of leftovers, for instance, that sometimes means having to wash those containers. My wife and kids also refuse to re-use dishes. I use the same coffee cup with just a quick rinse of cold water each morning. I also use plates and utensils multiple times. The plate used for toast doesn’t need to go right into the sink, for instance. I also keep a bowl out if I’m going to have a second helping sometime later.

For the fridges and freezer, we stock up on bulk items while they’re on sale. The sales we take advantage of at places like Costco are pretty good. When we‘re fully stocked we try to go through the majority of the oldest stuff before replenishing. If we don’t find sales on stuff we want, we change things up.

The drying rack and using the dryer on low should help.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top