High Power Bill

[btlegacy]

This is not directly garage related but part of the consumption is the garage.

Just received the power bill for July and it is $329. This is a lot higher than I was expecting as this is a 1600 sq ft house with a 900 sq ft garage. The garage is being remodeled so not much use other than running a small compressor and some lights from time to time.

Inside the house, the water heater is gas and AC has been running due to high temps. The AC is set on 80 during the day and around 73 in the mornings and evenings. Outside temps have been in the 75-95 range for last month. Most of the lights in the house are LED or CFL with a few halogen. The range and microwave are new and supposedly efficient.

The fridge and washer and dryer are a few years old.

The bill show consumption of 1833 kwh last month. This seems quite high to me and I was wondering if there are suggestions for ways I can check things such as the AC unit for amount of usage to try and track down how it all adds up.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

What other electric appliances do u have? Pool, dryer, etc? What was your previous bill usage? How many tons is the AC compressor?

The only way to know consumption is to either put load monitoring on each device or get a clamp meter and eatimate consumption based on the current the device uses and total time its on.

Hve u checked your meter? Maybe it was read wrong!!

 

[tdkkart]

Have u checked your meter? Maybe it was read wrong!!

This......not unusual at all for the meter to be mis-read.
Was your bill last month suspiciously low?? A mis-read last month woudl also screw with this month.

 

[Zeke]

Do you have a smart meter? Your POCO can help with the time of high demand and you can attribute your usage accordingly. It's probably the A/C. What SEER is it? Has the level of refrigerant been tested and serviced?

 

[NUTTSGT]

Does your bill show several months useage ? If it does, compare it to what you have used in the past months. That would be the first step, actually, something you should do every time you open the monthly bill.

 

[btlegacy]

What other electric appliances do u have? Pool, dryer, etc? What was your previous bill usage? How many tons is the AC compressor?

The only way to know consumption is to either put load monitoring on each device or get a clamp meter and eatimate consumption based on the current the device uses and total time its on.

Hve u checked your meter? Maybe it was read wrong!!

No pool, washer and dryer, dishwasher.

Any recommendations for an inexpensive clamp meter

I checked the meter outside and the numbers match

 

[kbs2244]

Is it an estimated bill?
Some companies only actually read the meter every other month and guess at what to bill for the in between months.

 

[btlegacy]

This......not unusual at all for the meter to be mis-read.
Was your bill last month suspiciously low?? A mis-read last month woudl also screw with this month.

The bill last month was around $170

 

[btlegacy]

Do you have a smart meter? Your POCO can help with the time of high demand and you can attribute your usage accordingly. It's probably the A/C. What SEER is it? Has the level of refrigerant been tested and serviced?

I do not have a smart meter. It looks to be an older basic unit. The A/C unit is 21 years old and I am going to see if I can find some identification on it today to look up details. We moved into the house in may and have not had any testing or service on it yet.

 

[btlegacy]

Does your bill show several months useage ? If it does, compare it to what you have used in the past months. That would be the first step, actually, something you should do every time you open the monthly bill.

I bought the house last December and worked on it on it until the end of April and we moved in in May.

From December to May, we averaged around $85 per month.

We have gas heat

 

[cositsworthit]

Well I can tell you about my expierences with lowering my electric bill.

Seal around windows, doors

Radiant Barrier! I did it, and love it!

 

[PelicanPines]

I have two zone HVAC. The coldest setting in summer is 74. The normal is 77. Unoccupied is 81.

It's about 3000 sqfeet with 2 x 6 walls. It's all sealed tight. My electric bill was 260.

Used to live in a 1600 sqfoot home, uninsulated, dimentional 2x4 build. Summer wouuld be 600 a month easy.

------
All that said. It's all about insulation and closing air leaks.

 

[Eriehunter]

In Pennsylvania we can shop around for our electric supplier, over the winter the cost of electricity went crazy and bills got excessively high. If you can shop for your supplier you may be able to save some money, our Local power company was charging .07 per kwh and these suppliers that were supposed to save the consumer money were charging .18 per kwh and up. some were as high as .23 and maybe more. Another scam is balanced billing, the local power company tacked another 20 bucks on the bill for power we didn't use, sure they will charge us less later but I'm not the reserve bank suppling money so they can invest it and use it to make their quarterly number.

 

[Falcon67]

I dunno - we have 1660 sq/ft and a 960 sq/ft shop. I only run the AC (19K BTU) in the shop for the time I'm in there, and there are two units both of which do not have to be on. Pool pump is 1HP, runs 6 hr/day. Last 28 days we're at 1848 kW. Used 100 kW just on Sunday. However, we are all electric.

 

[Mustang51js]

Usually when I see this it ends up that the poco was estimating bill for several months and then an actual read and slam you with the bill.

 

[Jagmandave]

We get up right around $300/mo when we have unrelenting heat and humidity too.....1800 sqft house....10 year old A/C....

 

[Swegner99]

Must be nice, we are are right at $300 almost every month in the summertime.

But thats in the desert, so we have other perks.

 

[Hpozzuoli]

For comparison I am 2300sqft and pay around $240 per month in the summer. I have gas heat/hw/cooking. No pool. I have (2) 2 ton ac units going in the summer. I do laundry at least once a week (electric dryer) and do the dishwasher every other night. I am home all day so ac is going, lights, tv, and stuff in the shop like compressor.

With that said, I think you are at the higher end of "typical". Not sure what my kW cost is. Region plays a part and so does provider.

 

[aandpdan]

The A/C unit is 21 years old and I am going to see if I can find some identification on it today to look up details. We moved into the house in may and have not had any testing or service on it yet.

/\This.

It's 21 years old. Even if the charge is good there is a good chance the evaporator and condenser coils are filthy. Is the condenser clear of debris? Does it have good airflow? How about the filter in the plenum?

 

[sourdough]

I think a lot of you folks pay a lot for power.

I have a 2100' ranch with a 15K window unit and propane heat, hot water, and stove/range. Garage is 1300' but no heat or A/C.

Our previous power bills were about $85-$95 every two months. Since I started using an oxygen concentrator due to lung blood clots, 24 hour use of the O2 concentrator boosted the power bill to $130 every two months. I am now only using O2 during sleeping hours, which should lower the usage and cost. LOL: Had a guy from the local power company show up at our door a few days ago wondering why we were using more power than previously. Showed him the concentrator (120v/4.0 A) and he was satisfied.

I think they probably thought we had a pot grow operation here. Not.

 

[jimindm]

I would check the billing cycle on the bill. We have had as low as 24 days on a bill. Also have had as much as 41 days on a bill cycle.

Certainly a 21 year old outside AC condenser, is not very efficient.

My mom had a chrysler outside unit. It went belly up and the service guy told her he had been in the business for thirty years and had never seen one. We also replaced her washer and dryer with maytag neptunes at the same time. She was amazed at how far her bill went down.

 

[ddawg16]

My electric bill last month was about $45.

 

[IOWNJUNK]

A few (15) years ago my hot water heater **** the bed, just kept getting hotter and hotter. When I tried to replace the thermostat I noticed how old and rusty it was. Replaced heater and my next bill was $400. So was the next months bill, and the next, and the next......... 4 bills in a row of $400+, the exact same bill. My meter reader decided to sit at home and simply copy the previous months power usage instead of reading the meters. When it all got worked out I went a full year without an electric bill.

Current house is 1575 sq ft and my bill is $262/mo for 11 months a year using flat rate billing.

 

[EOC_Jason]

It's 21 years old. Even if the charge is good there is a good chance the evaporator and condenser coils are filthy. Is the condenser clear of debris? Does it have good airflow? How about the filter in the plenum?

Yep, that's what I was thinking. If your filters or coils are dirty, it's not going to cool as efficiently and run longer and use more power. Same as if its low on freon.

Nothing wrong with a 21 year old unit. It was built a hell of a lot better than the **** ones today.

I would walk around the outside of your house on a hot day and feel around your windows & doors for air leaks.

Also doesn't hurt to crawl up in the attic to see what the insulation is like. If it's cellulose it could have settled over the years.

 

[Syberia]

I wish I had your bill. No central air, swamp cooler only, all gas appliances, total usage under 1100 kwh last month, and still a $350 bill

Sent from my Tricorder using Tapatalk

 

[btlegacy]

All the filters were changed in the past 2 months.

I checked the tag on the AC Unit

Trane XE1000 01/94
Model no TTR030C100A2
It is 2.5 Ton and is 10 SEER
I have a thermostat for downstairs and another for upstairs

I recorded a meter reading last night around 8PM and the AC was on until 10AM this morning at which point it was completely shut off until 8PM this evening. The meter showed 18kwh usage in that 24 hour period.

I took a peak and it looks like it could use a cleaning.

Is something like this good for cleaning?
http://www.homedepot.com/p/AC-Safe-...ing-Cleaner-AC-920/100599017#customer_reviews

 

[92GreenYJ]

My house is a little over 1,000 square feet. 2 car garage. 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath. My electric bill is currently sitting at - $175. Yes, that's a negative. The whole house is electric. No gas to the house. Water heater is electric with a solar system attached to it to maintain water temp. I'm gradually changing over all lights to led and only have a few left. Biggest factor, full solar system on my roof. We feed back far more than we use even when I fire up the welder, plasma cutter, compressor, etc.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Do you have a water well, or are you on public water? If a well, check and see if the pump is cycling alot. Leaking back into the well, etc.

Charles

 

[btlegacy]

I am on public water

 

[btlegacy]

The AC was set at 74 overnight and for the time period of 8PM to 8AM this morning we used 15 kwh. Other than the AC and fridge running and couple of phones charging, there was nothing else on so I am definitely going to go down the path of cleaning the AC unit to see if it makes a difference.

 

[Falcon67]

I think a lot of you folks pay a lot for power.

You might fall out if you saw some people's electric rates. We're at $0.135/kWh which is about .05 high, but we're on a co-op and can't shop for power. Folks in the NE with all the old nuc plants are paying out the wazoo.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Rates vary here depending on the time of the year... usually from about .07 to .14 ish...

Though what they **** you on are the TDSP charges (Transmission & Distribution Service Provider Charge)... Which they bill based on peak demand (even if its only for a few seconds)... You can have $100 TDSP charge and only $20 for actual electric usage... Total ripoff...

 

[RossABQ]

The AC was set at 74 overnight and for the time period of 8PM to 8AM this morning we used 15 kwh. Other than the AC and fridge running and couple of phones charging, there was nothing else on so I am definitely going to go down the path of cleaning the AC unit to see if it makes a difference.

That consumption is right in the ballpark for your unit. I'm assuming you have high humidity, mid-80's temps outside? Check to see if condensate is coming out of the indoor coil freely.

I'd suspect that you have a lot of infiltration somewhere, and the unit is having to dehumidify it.

It sure can't hurt to clean both the coils. Don't forget to check the fans, too.

 

[SALIV8]

21 years on a compressor is past its service life. Just a heads up. Sure clean the coils and the squirrel cage (which hasn't been mentioned) and see how long you can get away with this unit. Start budgeting for a new one now cause you will need one soon..

Also what lights are you running? Some can have a profound effect on that bill.. Efficiency is where's it's at.

 

[AnEv942]

The bill last month was around $170

Other than old appliances- our bill spiked a while back and it was refer, recently the dryer was replaced- wow, but we changed it to gas.

But you said garage being remodled. When we redid our small shop-the electric bill doubled. Saws drills compressor lights etc running all day for several weeks.
On top of an old AC?

 

[btlegacy]

I took the covers off the AC unit today and it was filthy. I got some cleaner and went to town. It looks alot better now but I will need to make another run at it with a straigtening brush.

Here is a shot before

and after

 

[EOC_Jason]

Wow, if your condenser is that bad, I wonder what the evaporator coil looks like!

 

[RossABQ]

I'd be cautious with the straightening brush! Those whiskers come off easy.

 

[JCoggin]

Your bill comes out to right at $.18/kwh, that seems high. I would check to see what your power company's residential rate is supposed to be and go from there. I'm in the utility business and a lot of mistakes are being made these days to do processes being automated, etc.

JC

 

[RossABQ]

Your bill comes out to right at $.18/kwh, that seems high. I would check to see what your power company's residential rate is supposed to be and go from there. I'm in the utility business and a lot of mistakes are being made these days to do processes being automated, etc.

JC

Dont forget there are undoubtedly franchise fees (taxes), underground service surcharges, city taxes, state taxes, renewable energy surcharge, fuel cost adjustment, yadda yadda yadda. Easily 10% on my bill. Power bills are a favorite place for taxation, because everyone gets one.