luvit's challenge: keep below 800 kWh each month.

[ranger_dood]

I was looking at 2/12. 16* outside, but only 19.4kWh used.

 

[luvit]

.
oh, i was in left field..
these temperature readings come from my outdoor PowerCostMonitor.. i have found another day where the temperature was just way off. -- typically it's within a couple degrees of the local airport.

i just checked http://www.wunderground.com/history and it said the mean temp was 26, high of 36, low of 15.. i double checked my monitor's history, and it did report 16*.. i doubt i would really be 10* difference within 5 miles..
.
.
check it out, on saturday my daughter had a party.
they spent our daily allowance by 4:30pm, just to prepare for the party.
by midnight, we spent 40.1 kWh, but my running-average only jumped-up .7 kWh.. whew.
.

 

[ranger_dood]

Hey, luvit... how's the challenge going? I just found out that I have one of those fancy "smart" meters, and that my online account shows me daily usage graphs! Thanks, PPL!



This was my last billing cycle. Note that it runs from Tuesday-Tuesday, so the lighter colored bars are sat/sun.

 

[Teken]

Hey, luvit... how's the challenge going? I just found out that I have one of those fancy "smart" meters, and that my online account shows me daily usage graphs! Thanks, PPL!



This was my last billing cycle. Note that it runs from Tuesday-Tuesday, so the lighter colored bars are sat/sun.

Ranger Dood,

What the heck is going on during the week ends that your power consumptions spike so high??

Teken . . .

 

[ranger_dood]

Ranger Dood,

What the heck is going on during the week ends that your power consumptions spike so high??

Teken . . .

Laundry... At least 3 loads every weekend. Plus I usually do more cooking on the weekends, then eat leftovers at work during the week.

I thought everyone's usage spikes during the weekends

 

[luvit]

657.1 kWh !!
This ends my challenge period.
If this were my billing period, my bill would be $75.

The only things my family did which reached this success:

• Luvit yelling: LIGHTS OUT! , when you're not using them. (we already have CFL).
• Luvit yelling: USE FEWER LIGHTS! , use the accent or 'mood' lighting.
• Water heater is off.
• Mild winter, overall.

Just wait until I have to turn on my water heater and Air Conditioner...
Guess what, I don't yell turn-off the lights, very often, anymore.. habit, I guess.
.
.

I have one of those fancy "smart" meters, and that my online account shows me daily usage graphs! Thanks, PPL!

Nice looking chart.. I assume you have to wait to view it after your billing cycle? ..or can you view it daily?
.
.

 

[Teken]

Luvit,

Well done and bravo! Please keep us all posted on the on going progress of your efforts.

Teken . . .

 

[ranger_dood]

Luvit - It updates every few days. I can view daily usage by previous billing cycle, by month, or by week. Here's month to date-

And here's an example of the detail they give me... this is hourly for last Saturday, Feb 18th. You can see I started laundry around noon and then apparently left the house for a little while.

 

[luvit]

611 kWh !! $72 electric bill.
meter reading was yesterday
.
.

 

[wellpoison]

wow. very impressive sir!

 

[luvit]

Alrighty.. I was on a business trip and my wife turned on the A/C, which blows through our outdoor wood burner's HOT heat exchanger.. so basically luke warm air was generated by turning on the AC.
She used 4 days of electic in one day. lol.

My goal for another $70 month is shot. i'm on-track for $130
i'm utilizing the backup appliances: electric furnace and electric hot water heater.

In order for me to modify the boiler to bypass our A/C blower, i had to let the wood furnace burn-out which takes days to cool-down.
Then i had to turn-on the ELECTRIC water heater.. THEN we had some chilly nights.. which means utilizing the Electric Furnace, which is meant for backup purposes.

With electric backup furnace and electric water heating turned-on, i meet my 20kWh per day budget anytime between 8am and 5pm.. no wonder some people can reach > $300/mo electric bills.

I have to add plumbing to bypass or disconnect the heat exchanger during A/C season.
.
.

 

[luvit]

1361 kwh! lol.
I'm guestimating about $156.50 for my bill.

Alright. As I stated in the last post, I shut down my outdoor wood boiler furnace on about 3/15 due to several hot days in March. -- We just couldn't cool-down the house and my wife didn't realize turning on the AC would blow the cool air through the boiler's heat exchanger providing her more heat.

Days after I made the decision to shutdown the boiler, outdoor temps dropped to freezing and our electric furnace backup has been keeping us warm after dark.. March is just too soon to use the electric furnace as backup, but we've had some hot days this year.

The plan was to shutdown the wood boiler, splice the boiler plumbing and add valves so I could bypass our house furnace heat exchanger when necessary, but still provide us hot water to our hotwater tank.. -- I have not modified the boiler plumbing, yet.

I'm just making a post to show the contrast of the following:
$ 72 mo WINTERTIME - home electricity usage supporting boiler furnace & boiler hot water
$156 mo SPRINGTIME - home electricity usage supporting electric furnace & electric hot water
.
.

 

[IONH]

Just got my electric bill and thought I'd post it for reference from the Northeast.

770kWh during 30 days
$50.84 - Delivery services
$51.73 - Total Supply Services
$102.57 - Total Bill

Looks like my lowest rate is up to 600kWh at 0.03257. The next 170kWh waas at 0.03919. The rest of the delivery fees are flat for the entire 770kWh.

I've got a couple of "juice wasters" which are on all the time. 250 gallon pond filter and water bed heater (though the bed heater is probably not on much if at all now). Plus a Bearded Dragon tank which has a 120W MVB on about 12 hours a day.

It's just the wife and I. Electric hot water and electric ovens and cooktop (haven't been cooking at home much lately).

This is my least month's usage as far back as the bill goes. Here's the other months.
6/12 - 770
5/12 - 825
4/12 - 925
3/12 - 1144
2/12 - 1598 (electric baseboard heat, ouch)
1/12 - 1645
12/11 - 1170
11/11 - 821
10/11 - 1052
9/11 - 1209
8/11 - 1300 (25k BTU through wall A/C plus another one or two 5500BTU in a couple other rooms at times)
7/11 - 814
6/11 - 826

 

[Teken]

Just got my electric bill and thought I'd post it for reference from the Northeast.

770kWh during 30 days
$50.84 - Delivery services
$51.73 - Total Supply Services
$102.57 - Total Bill

Looks like my lowest rate is up to 600kWh at 0.03257. The next 170kWh waas at 0.03919. The rest of the delivery fees are flat for the entire 770kWh.

I've got a couple of "juice wasters" which are on all the time. 250 gallon pond filter and water bed heater (though the bed heater is probably not on much if at all now). Plus a Bearded Dragon tank which has a 120W MVB on about 12 hours a day.

It's just the wife and I. Electric hot water and electric ovens and cooktop (haven't been cooking at home much lately).

This is my least month's usage as far back as the bill goes. Here's the other months.
6/12 - 770
5/12 - 825
4/12 - 925
3/12 - 1144
2/12 - 1598 (electric baseboard heat, ouch)
1/12 - 1645
12/11 - 1170
11/11 - 821
10/11 - 1052
9/11 - 1209
8/11 - 1300 (25k BTU through wall A/C plus another one or two 5500BTU in a couple other rooms at times)
7/11 - 814
6/11 - 826

Jesus, you only pay $0.03 a KWH??

Teken . . .

 

[IONH]

Jesus, you only pay $0.03 a KWH??

No, that's the delivery charge. The fees average to be a bit more than that.

 

[Teken]

No, that's the delivery charge. The fees average to be a bit more than that.

But you pay almost $50.** for a delivery charge?

Teken . . .

 

[where2]

I had a nice time reading this entire thread.

I fully expect the "delivery charge" aspect of most energy bills to increase going forward as more people conserve more. A few years ago, we had a drought and water restrictions which limited when people could pouring tap water on their yard with sprinkler systems. Shortly after those restrictions were enacted, the water utilities had to add "temporary surcharges" to everyone's bill to keep the profits coming in that were repaying the bonds for that new water plant they built two years earlier! Apparently, the bean counter who built the repayment schedule never expected a drastic decrease in consumption like the drought restrictions created. I know my local electric company is begging for a base rate increase of roughly $1.10 per customer, and the company share holders are making out well with a 10% profit built into the current rates. (although they'd like 11% or 12%).

When the pallet of 20 solar panels in my garage gets up on my roof, their goal is to offset 600kWh of my electrical usage each month. That will knock my all electric energy cost in half, which isn't bad when you figure I run A/C 9 or 10 months per year!

 

[EOC_Jason]

Yes, every utility it seems is finding ways of charging more for their services...

The "retail electric provider" now tacks on a transport / delivery charge from the company that owns the physical power infrastructure.

Our water bill now has a charge from the "regional water authority" that practically doubles the water bill... Even though our water district has been on its own wells, the state is trying to switch everyone over to surface water. Well, even when our district is pumping water from the wells instead of from the surface (lakes), we *still* have to pay that extra fee!!!

It might be worth while to see how close the nearest Natural Gas service is to your property. See if you can split the cost or do it yourself or something. Using NG instead of electric for things like a dryer, stove, home heat, etc are sooo much cheaper than electric.

Adding more insulation in your attic is great year round. Blown cellulose insulation is very cost effective.

Finally get out that caulk gun and seal up those pesky air cracks around windows and replace weather stripping around the doors! I remember our back door used to let what felt like a small breeze in through the bottom. The dog loved it in the winter to get that nice cool air, she would sleep right up against the door... lol.

 

[where2]

It might be worth while to see how close the nearest Natural Gas service is to your property. See if you can split the cost or do it yourself or something. Using NG instead of electric for things like a dryer, stove, home heat, etc are sooo much cheaper than electric.

Finally get out that caulk gun and seal up those pesky air cracks around windows and replace weather stripping around the doors!

There is no NG near me. I've lived in this neighborhood my entire life and my mom who lives 4 houses down the street used to work for the local gas company. She has LPG for hot water and dryer.

New windows certainly help. I replaced my 1962 originals with state of the art thermal large missile impact rated casement windows and my power bill dropped ~$70/mo. I've got another floor worth of windows to replace when I can next afford to remodel the house for $10k.

If I can throw in a solar hot water heater, I'll unplug my "smart" electric unit, and use a PV panel for circulation pumping.

 

[Alchymist]

Re: luvit's challenge: keep below 800 kWh each month.

You mean like this?

 

[darkk]

I didn't read the full post, but have you tried LED bulbs in place of the CFL bulbs? I have, they are a bit pricey to buy but the savings is substantial and the light output is really pretty good.

 

[luvit]

I had a nice time reading this entire thread.. ..Apparently, the bean counter who built the repayment schedule never expected a drastic decrease in consumption like the drought restrictions created.
When the pallet of 20 solar panels in my garage gets up on my roof, their goal is to offset 600kWh of my electrical usage each month.

you bought a whole pallet??
my intent 6 months ago was to do the same, and i will.
i have so many other things to begin with conservation.. this house is just as difficult to keep cool as it was to heat. -- i'll be finishing 3 seasons before i add insulation, caulk etc.. then in 2013 i hope to generate..
about each week i've been watching the sun rise and set, making mental notes on which building roof will best perform.

..Adding more insulation in your attic is great year round.. ..get out that caulk gun..

i hear ya! i'm so swamped, i at least gotta do it before the cold days arrive!

There is no NG near me.. New windows certainly help.. ..If I can throw in a solar hot water heater, I'll unplug my "smart" electric unit, and use a PV panel for circulation pumping.

i have no NG, but i'm also eliminating how many monthly bills i need to pay.
i'm also going to generate my own electric, so i can have one monthly bill to the electric company, and it will be a reasonably low amount.
--i do need to consider replacing selective windows and doors, but hope the other conservation steps make a notable improvement to put window/door replacements on the back burner..

You mean like this?

..put your bill in perspective for me.
even if you may be a single guy, in an apt, never home... it's helpful knowledge.

I didn't read the full post, but have you tried LED bulbs in place of the CFL bulbs? I have, they are a bit pricey to buy but the savings is substantial and the light output is really pretty good.

i do have some LED bulbs wherever i can justify it.. i don't think they are quite ready for house-wide use.

LED operational payoff period is still really distant compared to their initial price.
1)LED bulbs fail about as often as CFL..
2)i was burned years ago with Sam Club's original LED bulbs (they got dimmer over time.. as dim as 0.3W LED night nights).

experience will vary with brand. i have been VERY selective on each fixture bulb type & wattage, housewide, even LEDs.

I believe naggin turn off the lights or use only as many lights as you needwas well accepted by my family and i almost never say it anymore.

with that said, the following is my biggest energy eaters, year round & respectively: clothes dryer, AC, water heater, blower fan (heat/AC).

in the winter, it's only the clothes dryer and fan..
my bill has been between $72 winter - $150 summer.. but we had a mild winter last year.
.

 

[Alchymist]

..put your bill in perspective for me.
even if you may be a single guy, in an apt, never home... it's helpful knowledge.

Wife and I, country home, here most of the time. Electric water heater, gas heat. 2 window air conditioners for summer. Computers and tv run most of the day, usually until late. Lights in garage on quite often, run woodworking equipment and power tools as I want. Drilled will w/submersible pump. We use what we need anytime we need it. Typical refrig, freezer, electric clothes dryer, clothes never dried outside.

 

[bdamico]

Just tinted the windows in my house with Suntek symphony 25. I already had dual pane thermo impact hurricane glass--but I can tell you there is a huge heat rejection through the tint. I estimate a $30-50 savings on electric a month.

 

[Jaguar Fan]

... When the pallet of 20 solar panels in my garage gets up on my roof, their goal is to offset 600kWh of my electrical usage each month. That will knock my all electric energy cost in half, which isn't bad when you figure I run A/C 9 or 10 months per year!

I don't mean to hyjack the thread, but What brand/model solar panels are you installing? What type of inverters - string or micro? What is your cost per watt installed?

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Teken]

I don't mean to hyjack the thread, but What brand/model solar panels are you installing? What type of inverters - string or micro? What is your cost per watt installed?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Me too, and by all means create a new thread so we can ask on point Q's.

Teken . . .

 

[56rpm]

Great project and thread Luvit. Well done on the home front with 4 peoples and 719 kwh. When you told the girls to turn the lights off, which language did you use? English apparently doesn't work in my house.

 

[EOC_Jason]

My friend had to put those knob style timers in his wife's and girls closets and a few other places. When they walk in they just turn the knob (obviously not caring how long they set it for)... Better for it to be on for an hour than for them to leave them on all day!

 

[luvit]

Great project and thread Luvit. Well done on the home front with 4 peoples and 719 kwh. When you told the girls to turn the lights off, which language did you use? English apparently doesn't work in my house.

It wasn't well received on some days.. if you know what I mean.
I think they just did it so they wouldn't hear me nag. -- within a 2 -3 months it was habit.

My friend had to put those knob style timers in his wife's and girls closets and a few other places. When they walk in they just turn the knob (obviously not caring how long they set it for)... Better for it to be on for an hour than for them to leave them on all day!

in my old house i did that.. my girl's bathroom fan and lights were on a single twist timer.

In my the master bedroom bath, the switch was in the middle of the room.. people would leave it on so it would be convenient.
I put the master bath on a motion sensor and reduced it to 30 seconds.
If the wife was tweezing in the mirror (which takes little motion) the lights would turn off on her... needless to say she would override the motion sensor and forget to turn it back off, sometimes.

 

[Highbeam]

I work for utilities. They have fixed costs for employees, equipment, maintenance, profit, and debt service. The actual cost to produce each unit of water, power, or treated sewer is actually very small. Overall they need a steady stream of money to pay their fixed costs.

The only income they have is from ratepayers and just about every bill includes a base rate and a consumption charge. This revenue stream can be highly variable in the short term such as a drought or heat wave, but also in the long term through efficiency improvements to water fixtures, HVAC, solar panels, government taxes, etc.

The utility must pay their bills. The consumption charge being high tends to drive conservation because without a consumption charge the user would waste the resource. Citizens like being charged for what they use and not paying for their wasteful neighbor. The base rate being high is better for the utility since it is a steady income stream.

I think that our future will see a higher base rate (call it a delivery charge, maintenance, whatever) and a lower consumption rate as a percentage of the bill.

Somehow, the utility must cover their costs. If everybody was able to make awesome improvements and drop their bill 50% then the utility would need to double everybody's bill just to maintain income and remain solvent.

 

[luvit]

^^exactly, and well put.. i could not have put that into the proper verbiage.
i'm hoping to be ahead of the average household before i get a big surprise from being asleep at the wheel.
.

 

[240sxguy]

I just got killed with my electric bill last month. It's been hotter than hell here for an extended period and we used 2,381 KWH. Keep in mind as well, this is a house with two people and a baby. We have gas everything practically. I am not sure where to start. The well doesn't help but there isn't a thing I can do about that I suspect. My gut says I need to get the house insulated and sealed up better.

 

[Teken]

I just got killed with my electric bill last month. It's been hotter than hell here for an extended period and we used 2,381 KWH. Keep in mind as well, this is a house with two people and a baby. We have gas everything practically. I am not sure where to start. The well doesn't help but there isn't a thing I can do about that I suspect. My gut says I need to get the house insulated and sealed up better.

How old is this house / appliances? 2381kwh??

Teken . . .

 

[luvit]

^^^ i can believe 2381 kWh.. that's probably $275/mo.
i have a friend who typically exceeds $300/mo.

ya see, with my wood boiler turned-off, my 40 gal electric heater is on with the AC -- i'm nearly back up to 1,500 KWH/month.

so my goal is easily achievable in the winter, but i need improve my old house.. for summer and winter..
.

 

[where2]

Luvit needs a solar thermal hot water panel or two. The little yellow energy consumption tag on my relatively new 50 gallon hot water heater says it uses ~4622kWh per year. Mind you, this unit has a brain and 3" of insulation around the tank. At my local electric rates that's $40/mo and 385kWh/mo. With only two of us in the house, it's very inefficient for my use. It's on my hit list once I have an anchoring method established for solar on my roof.

Look up CPVC solar collector in Google.

 

[luvit]

Luvit needs a solar thermal hot water panel or two. ...my relatively new 50 gallon hot water heater says it uses ~4622kWh per year. Mind you, this unit has a brain and 3" of insulation around the tank. At my local electric rates that's $40/mo and 385kWh/mo. With only two of us in the house, it's very inefficient for my use. It's on my hit list once I have an anchoring method established for solar on my roof.

Look up CPVC solar collector in Google.

I have my eye on solar hot water, but at $45-50/mo for my hotwater.. i'm average or better than average.
Will keep you posted if I every update this place..
.

 

[johnnie5]

Try Australia mate... 19 cents a kwh,
good thing we only use an average of 8.26kwh per day in this house eh!
My bill for last 3 months was 760 kwh...i.e... TURN OFF THE DAMN LIGHTS.

think youself lucky in melb

in sydney its now up about 27c/KWh

and of course that doesnt include the service charge

my bill just came in for 85 days $226 , about 8KWh/day

fortunatley i have gas cooking, hw and heating

I visit a lot of houses that have $1000+ bills per quarter

next on my agenda is getting rid of the freezer as 3.9 KWh /day


for those out there that still have solar available with big rebates and high feed in tarrifs , then get it while you can before the government shuts it down like they did here

 

[luvit]

think youself lucky in melb
in sydney its now up about 27c/KWh
and of course that doesnt include the service charge
my bill just came in for 85 days $226 , about 8KWh/day
fortunatley i have gas cooking, hw and heating
I visit a lot of houses that have $1000+ bills per quarter
next on my agenda is getting rid of the freezer as 3.9 KWh /day

for those out there that still have solar available with big rebates and high feed in tarrifs , then get it while you can before the government shuts it down like they did here

wow 27¢ plus..
my average consumption combined with delivery & fees is just under 12¢/KWh.
i've heard for a few years that the U.S. is on the brink for electricity to double or triple since a lot of coal burning plants were shut down.

between the price of electric, beef, and gasoline, there is a lot of hype of price hikes that may just miss a few times until it's a solid reality.
.

 

[luvit]

For anyone using American Electric Power in Ohio, Indiana, Texas, etc -- AEP is giving away a home energy savings kit. I didn't pay any attention to the contents when asking for the free kit... I think I ordered this a month ago when I paid my last bill.

Here is what just arrived today.

Pretty decent shower head with 3 spray settings.
Kitchen Faucet, variable flow, tilting aerator.
Bathroom faucet aerator, lower flow. My bathroom has two sinks so i'll compare them later.
8 foam backings to seal the back of power outlets.
4 light switch foam backing sealers.
LED night lite with a dusk to dawn sensor (0.3W)
2" x 15' pipe wrap insulation tape
3/16" x 17' Foam Tape for doors and windows
5 CFLS (23W, 20W, 20W, 13W, 13W).

I'll probably put everything to use except for these light bulbs.. all my light bulbs are less than 9W for CFL and less than 2W LEDs.

If I had to buy this stuff, I could pobably find it for under $20, but some could pay over $30.

To get the kit, I just fiddled with an online energy checkup, got bored, but i made it through..
I think I was auto enrolled for the free kit.

Here's a pic of a small kit sent from the Indiana AEP I stole this pic from some blog. -- My kit had so much more in it.

 

[Teken]

For anyone using American Electric Power in Ohio, Indiana, Texas, etc -- AEP is giving away a home energy savings kit. I didn't pay any attention to the contents when asking for the free kit... I think I ordered this a month ago when I paid my last bill.

Here is what just arrived today.

Pretty decent shower head with 3 spray settings.
Kitchen Faucet, variable flow, tilting aerator.
Bathroom faucet aerator, lower flow. My bathroom has two sinks so i'll compare them later.
8 foam backings to seal the back of power outlets.
4 light switch foam backing sealers.
LED night lite with a dusk to dawn sensor (0.3W)
2" x 15' pipe wrap insulation tape
3/16" x 17' Foam Tape for doors and windows
5 CFLS (23W, 20W, 20W, 13W, 13W).

I'll probably put everything to use except for these light bulbs.. all my light bulbs are less than 9W for CFL and less than 2W LEDs.

If I had to buy this stuff, I could pobably find it for under $20, but some could pay over $30.

To get the kit, I just fiddled with an online energy checkup, got bored, but i made it through..
I think I was auto enrolled for the free kit.

Here's a pic of a small kit sent from the Indiana AEP I stole from some blog.

That's fantastic to see the POCO offering so much for free. Our local POCO offered something similar but it was not geared toward electrical but more toward saving water.

The only thing I could use from the kit was the insulated foam pipe wrap. All of the hand held shower heads, sink aerators, and water related devices I gave away to my family members.

There was a however a pretty slick looking credit card size temperature magnet to confirm the fridge / freezer was set correctly. They had some brochures about being green etc and how to *Slow the flow* but nothing Earth shattering.

The 3 kits took more than 12 weeks to arrive though . . .

Teken . . .