Second electric bill - radiant heat

[kvom]

My electric bill for Feb/March came today. The combined daily average usage for the house and garage/shop was 41 kWh. Last year the average was 20 and the year before 25. If I assume then that the house uses about 22, then the garage used 19 kWh per day. The average cost per kWh was $.09 + 7% sales tax, for an average cost/day of $1.83, or $51.23 for the 28-day period.

The electricity is used for both the water heater (full time), shop lighting, and my 3-phase machine tools, which are used for an average of 1-2 hours/day.

I have now turned off the water heater until next winter, so the following month's bill should indicate what the non-heating usage is.

Hope this helps anyone's planning.

 

[tdkkart]

I only wish my costs were that low. Up here in the great white north I was using an average of 50KW/day($.12/KW) for almost the entire month of January to heat a 16x30 space to 60*.

There are some inefficiencies in my system that are to be addressed before next year, the biggest of which is that there is no edge insulation on my slab, most of which is essentially exposed to the outside world for 3/4 of the perimeter. I had an 18-24" band around my building that had no snow on it all winter.

The real piss-me-off is that my house gets electric at $.08/KW, but because my shop is on a seperate meter on the same property it is assumed as a business and gets charged the higher rate. Even if it was a business, why does it cost more to deliver electricity to one building over another??

 

[kvom]

I should have stated that my shop space is 25x36, with good insulation in walls/ceiling but not under the slab. Weather during this period was typical for GA in that it was 30s-40s at night but 50s-60s during the day, so most heating was happening at night. Although I do have an upstairs apartment, little of the heat went into that space as the stairway is closed off, and the walls+ceiling are 5/8" drywall.

The thermostat was set for 60F.

Also, the electric usage is tiered, with the first 500 kWh costing about $.12. Since I was computing the incremental cost of the garage I attributed the lower tiered price to it.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

I only wish my costs were that low. Up here in the great white north I was using an average of 50KW/day($.12/KW) for almost the entire month of January to heat a 16x30 space to 60*.

There are some inefficiencies in my system that are to be addressed before next year, the biggest of which is that there is no edge insulation on my slab, most of which is essentially exposed to the outside world for 3/4 of the perimeter. I had an 18-24" band around my building that had no snow on it all winter.

The real piss-me-off is that my house gets electric at $.08/KW, but because my shop is on a seperate meter on the same property it is assumed as a business and gets charged the higher rate. Even if it was a business, why does it cost more to deliver electricity to one building over another??

I'd assume the power company doesn't really want to set more than 1 meter per property, so they've set up a rate system to discourage it. Let me guess...it's an REMC?

So....they're gigging you for an extra $60 per month?

I'd be running a line from my house out there and eliminating the second meter.

BTW...if you're getting charged $180 for 1500KWH...that's 5.12 DTH of gas....even if you call that 6.4DTH at 80% efficiency...that's less $70 of natural gas at $11/DTH...maybe $120 worth of propane?

Phil

 

[tdkkart]

I'd assume the power company doesn't really want to set more than 1 meter per property, so they've set up a rate system to discourage it. Let me guess...it's an REMC?

So....they're gigging you for an extra $60 per month?

I'd be running a line from my house out there and eliminating the second meter.

BTW...if you're getting charged $180 for 1500KWH...that's 5.12 DTH of gas....even if you call that 6.4DTH at 80% efficiency...that's less $70 of natural gas at $11/DTH...maybe $120 worth of propane?

Phil

I assume by "REMC" you mean a Rural Electric Coop?? I wish, the REC we have in this area is cheaper than the big boys that I'm connected to, and much more responsive to customer needs.

You'd have to see the lot situation to understand why the previous owner did the seperate meter deal when he built the shop building.

Hooking to the house would have meant:

1. Upgrading the house service. The house was originally all electric, which means the 200A panel is very nearly full.

2. Digging through an extensive amount of raised patio/landscaping.

3. Crossing, or going around the septic tank/drain field.

4. Buying more wire, since the next utility pole/transformer in line is actually closer to the shop than running from the house.

Gas was not an option at the time the building was built, gas service didn't come till 2 years later. Running a gas line from the house now would also mean dealing with much of the above.
Plus, according to my agent,if I have gas to the building my insurance rate goes up. They could care less about electric.

Cost comparisons show electric vs propane as being a wash at $.12/KW vs $2.00/gal propane, which is what it runs around here. If I can get the electric rate down to the same as the house I'll be happy, I'll be paying less than my friends that are using propane for their shops.

A rep from the power company called yesterday saying that his computer showed the same rate for both my meters?? It may have gotten changed, since I've had 2 people here to verify that I'm not running a business, and have bitched to multiple people. We'll see when the next bills show up.

If I make a couple efficiency upgrades, which are in process now, I should be in good shape.

 

[kvom]

Since my shop is attached to the house, local fire code requires a single electric disconnect for the entire structure, hence a single meter. The wiring from the street was sized for 400a, so with a new meter base I have 200a in both the house and the shop. I have 6 220V circuits, so the panel is almost full (1 empty slot remaining).

 

[HoosierBuddy]

It's ALWAYS easier to have the utility set a second meter.

It's ALWAYS cheaper to run it off the existing meter. Besides the charge for power (whatever that is) you get hit with a second meter charge. Meter charges for power meters can run anywhere from $10 to $40 per month for a residential sized meter.

I build underground utility systems for a living, so I guess running across a yard has never seemed like a big deal to me.

BTW...BTU to KWH 12 cent power equals $3.336 propane. If you gig the propane 10% for end use efficiency, it's $3.00 propane. In other words...if you could buy your propane (95KBTU per Gal) at $2/gallon you'd be saving 33% vs 12-cent power. Now if your power is 8 cents...it's a wash. Natural would be half.

Phil

 

[kvom]

I just received the bill for the first full month where the radiant heat was not used at all. Compared with the previous year we used 2 kWh/day more, so if I attribute that to the electrical usage in the garage outside of heat then the heating cost was 17 kWh per day.