Frustrated with electric costs...what's your average bill?

[pat fan]

We have paid nearly the same amount per month since we moved into our house 18 years ago. The last few years I have been getting those little pamphlets in the mail that say your electric usage is higher/more expensive than your neighbors, but I figured it was just bunk. After reading the electric bill thread on the community board, I think I DO have a higher bill than most! What gives????

Our bill is usually $75-$80 in the summer and anywhere between $100-$130 in the winter. We have solar hot water so that's why it's a little higher in the winter, the electric element comes on for an hour in the am & pm if the panels are snow covered or the water is not up to temp because of low sun. It's always higher at the holidays too for Christmas lights & baking, but I'm ok with that We heat with wood too, so no furnace is running in the winter.

No AC ever in the summer, but quite a few fans.

 

[Pooh2]

Ours runs about $120, a little higher in winter. That is just for 2 people! We do not even own a tv!

 

[lauradis]

how old are your appliances? We replaced my beloved war horse of a dryer that died and the bill dropped 30 bucks month.

1800 sq ft house, gas for hot water stove heat yes we run ac avg bill is 132 for three people

 

[pat fan]

how old are your appliances?

Fridge is only 5-7 years old and and an energy saver model. We brought the oven with us, so at least 17 years old. Dryer is 8-ish years old but I normally only use it for whites and if the weather is rainy for extended periods of time. I dry our clothes on the line in the summer and on racks by the wood stove in the winter. Washer is probably 12-ish years old too. We do have a chest freezer, but only got that about 3 years ago and I didn't see a big jump in our bill.

I try and not have lights on if we are not in the room, but I admit that if we are home, the tv is on, mostly for the noise.

BTW, it's just the two of us now that the kids have moved out.

 

[shana398]

I wish my bill was so low! We are from south Texas. It is not possible to get away with no AC here as the temps are usually over 100 most days from June to September. It is hot here basically ten or 11 months out of the year. Our bill is 250 in the summer and maybe 150 in winter due to AC and the only reason it's that low is that we got a new AC system last year. Before that it was over 400 in the summer and 200 in winter. That's for a 2300 sf home.

 

[jrw118]

All I have to say is wow! I have never paid less than $200 a month for electric!!!! I am in Long Island. My last house 1700 sqft with central air was about $215 a month on a budget with gas heating. Our new house 4000sqft is about $230 a month. Heating with oil was absurd so we just converted to gas and did some energy improvements. Even when I lived in a 1 bedroom apartment it was not $100 a month. What states are you from?

 

[DawnM]

Ours averages around $200/mo.

However, we don't have a gas bill or a water bill, that covers everything. 3,500 sq. ft., we are on a well, so we have an electric pump too.

Dawn

 

[PatMcDuck]

Hard to believe, but our electric bill is way down! We got a new HVAC system late last year, and they put additional insulation on the attic floor. And they did all sorts of other energy savings things, like venting the new furnace(gas) and hot water heater (gas) to the outside, not thru the roof, etc. It was a energy program thru the gas co. The new AC keeps house more consistantly cool too.

But the HUGE problem was our sump pump. DH went to adjust it, and said, wow this water is HOT, in the sump hole. Hmm, it should be just above freezing in the winter, very cold..... figured out the pump was heating that water, 24/7, which would take SO much energy, to keep reheating the water over and over, after it emptied and refilled back up. New sump pump installed.... Such a weird issue.

 

[Narnia_girl]

You might check if your electric provider allows you to go to the actual pricing system. We switched about 15 months ago and have saved over $300 (total) during that time. We generally save 5-20% every month over what we used to pay.

Here the program is called Power Smart Pricing. Normally, the electric company charges you a flat rate per kilowatt and that's what you pay even if the cost for electricity is less (or more) at certain times. Power Smart Pricing fluctuates with the actual price of electricity so we can look at that day's chart to find out when it's the cheapest and when it's most expensive. At this time of year it's higher from noon to 6 p.m. so we avoid doing laundry, running the dishwasher, etc... We do more of that stuff in early morning or late evening. They will email us if they have high pricing alerts which is nice.

http://powersmartpricing.com/

 

[pat fan]

http://powersmartpricing.com/

Neat site! I try and do my laundry early or late anyway, my mom taught me that one

 

[Dean1972]

$190 per month (Aussie $$) just for the 2 of us.
We have very high electricity prices here in Australia often blamed for the carbon tax

 

[rachel09985]

I live in a 600 square foot apartment and our bill is like $100 in the summer and $45 in the winter!! I think that is ridiculous for a 600 square foot apt! We don't keep stuff constantly on either

 

[elgerber]

Mine is about $115 in the winter (more with Christmas lights) and I just got a bill yesterday for $190, but next months will be higher (more A/C). That doesn't include my heater, dryer or stove, all of which are gas.

 

[Brer Shay]

We're on the "budget plan" with an annual reconciliation. The monthly is $121. Five years ago it was $92, so it's definitely been on the increase. Our heat and hot water are natural gas. Have a minisplit for AC on the main floors and two window units in bedrooms. Family of five.

 

[LJSquishy]

We live in a small 1905 two-story house (1500sqft) in Washington State. The windows are vinyl but the original siding is on the house and does not have added insulation other than in the attic. We have gas heat but everything else runs on electricity. Our heat is a forced air furnace, and we have 3 window A/Cs that run for about 18hrs/day.

We do "comfort billing" so we pay the same amount each month rather than pay $60 in the summer and $200 in the winter for example. Our monthly bill is $125/mo or so. We replaced our washer & dryer a couple of years ago and both our electric bill & water bill went down noticeably. We just replaced our dishwasher so we're hoping for another small reduction in the bills.

 

[mrsabbott]

Our house was built in the late 90's. we have new appliances and use energy saving bulbs. Last year, our electric was high in the summer and we couldn't keep our house cool. Turns out we were using the wrong filters for our unit, causing it to overwork itself and freeze up. Last year our bill was over $200 in the summer months. Thus year, about $180. Way less the rest of the year. We are a family of 6 in an 1800 sq ft home. Hubs also keeps a window a/c running in our bedroom all the time cause he can't be hot at night.. Too much time in the desert I guess!
I am always trying to lower out electric bill, keeping lights off, etc.. Hubs isn't as concerned and will leave lights and TVs on all day and night.

 

[pat fan]

Ok, so maybe my bill isn't as atrocious as I thought it was. I just know people at work who say they $50 a month and I'm like...What????

Maybe we need to invest in new appliances too! (probably not gonna happen!)

 

[BCmomma]

Your bills sound low to me!

2500sqft house, central air, new appliances - we pay about $100-$150/month in summer and upwards of $250/month in winter (but we're working on being much better with our energy saving methods and after a few months we figured out how to save more money.)

I'm in Vancouver BC

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

All these bills sound good to me ! We are in south Fla- so heat, but the humidity is the worst. We use the a/c a good part of yr. Ours go from 275 at the lowest to 575 in Aug/Sept.

Ours home is bigger than most mentioned so far, about 3300 ua plus our fla room(600 sq ft) has a small sep a/c . Then we have a second garage on prop -no a/c but lights , fans, we have a pool , second frig in garge...things like that.

I love when it finally cools and we can open all the windows but our bill is still pretty high. My neighbors/friends homes are about half the size and their bills are half the size. Same goes for the ins bill...but that's another story.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Long Island here. Balanced billing of $180. Mos down to 158 last two months. All new kitchen appliances. Washer dryer are about 10-15. Oil hot water. We have three zones for winter heating which helps and we also use one of those temperature timer thingy. 3 br have AC and they re basically only on at night to sleep. It's a colonial 2000 sq ft or so. The entire main floor is cooled by 2 newer units with a ceiling fan in the kitchen which is between the rooms that have the units. I'm satisfied with the bills and noticed that marked drop after the new appliances.
Some of your bills are so high, Ouch!
Stay cool everyone.....