Has a slight heart attack.... O.O

[SandrA9810]

I just saw the electric bill online... it hasn't come in the mail yet so I don't know exactly how much we've used yet.

The last place we lived in our average bill was less than a 100$... this one is 175$. There's a first time set up fee of 15$, and this was a slightly longer month because we had service set up on Apr 25th and instead of giving us a partial month, they lumped it into May (reading on june 8th).

I need to get better at hitting the power switches on these surge protectors. I know that stupid DVR box has to be pulling some juice in more than the tv being off. It was nice when we only had antenna tv because it had an annoying blue LED on it, so I always remember to turn it off every night.
And the cable internet box is always hotter than can be... but with a room-mate that uses it wirelessly, I have no idea when she's on it or not. So I'd feel bad if I pulled the plug on her. I wish I had the money to buy a flat screen monitor, it'd use less than this old CRT.
I sure hope this is a one time thing only. I don't think we could afford another bill like this again.

What's a polite way of asking room-mates to be more energy conscience?? I've opened the dishwasher afterwards to find that a lot more could've gone in, and I think she uses a halagon bulb for her lamp. And unfortantly we didn't buy enough CFLs before she moved in to put in her bathroom/closet. I know we're all culprits in this bill... but it went a lot higher than I would've expected for 3 people.

On my way to finally install our preset thermostat... since Kari hasn't made time for it. (she doesn't trust me to do it right, but what she doesn't see can't hur her.)

 

[Kellydelly]

I can't see how any of the things you mentioned are making your electric bill high. If you live in Florida, I would think AC would be your biggest energy drain. Televisions, computers, cable boxes and DVRs don't usually use that much electricity. Leaving lights on is probably worse! We have all of the things you mentioned on all the time and our bill is less than $80 right now.

 

[SandrA9810]

Well like I mentioned our last place we installed our preset thermostat the day we moved in. We couldn't find the small screw driver when we first moved in here, and I keep bugging Kari to do it, but she's always too tired to take care of it at the moment.

And I want to say the AC units here are newer than the last place. I also figured living in the middle (2nd floor) it would help keep this place a little cooler. And the appliances are new here too. Our last place the fridge was 10 years old.

I wish Kari's dad was here, he used to work for FPL as an energy consultant. So he'd be able to tell us whether the AC was appropriate for this size place. And this place is only 200sqft more than the last place.

 

[a1tinkfans]

well, the fridge is usually a BIG drain and thats not an issue.
Are you sure you're getting billed for just your unit??? Could it be something "fishy" going on??
My house is 203. a month and I am Okay with that..it is a house after all......
but I STILL go around shutting off the lights as others leave a room....drives me crazy

 

[Tink_fanatic]

Mom says our bill averages about $300 a month. She would be doing a happy dance if she got your bill lol

 

[rcraw45425]

Trade ya. My average summer bill is $700

 

[SandrA9810]

Well my last place my water was also billed with the electric. Water was only like 15$ max because they always charge you a base fee of 7$. Now this place uses thier own water company... one more stupid bill to deal with. And it's annoying too cause I can't get the stupid online thing to work. And we don't use checks with our checking account, every payment is paid directly by our bank through the online bill pay (cc, insurance, student loans), or automatic through our debit card (cell, sea world). And we only get money orders for our rent (publix lets us use our debit card to purchase money orders so we don't have to pull out the max for like 3 days in order to buy a money order.) and 1.90 is a small price to pay to know that a check is not going to bounce.

 

[SandrA9810]

Trade ya. My average summer bill is $700

Please tell me you live in like a mansion... or a mc mini mansion at least...

This is only 1200sqft total.

 

[rcraw45425]

4500sq ft over three floors with two teen aged girls on the top floor. I go up about every other day and adjust the thermostat.

 

[jessica52877]

Our 1600 sq ft home is on average $250/month with the ac set at 78. I don't think the bill seems that high but if you are comparing it to the last home then I am sure you know. Did you change electric companies where the cost could be different?

 

[SandrA9810]

Nope same company. We moved like 5 blocks down the road from the last place.

Now there was a major difference from our first place in orlando (1bed, 550sqft) which averaged like 75$ a month (water came with place) to our kissimmee place (3bd, 1050sqft) which averaged 80-90$ (including water).

Part of the problem is we'd turn the AC down on occasion, but forget to turn it back up the following morning. With our preset, there would be a setting for day/night, weekday/weekend. So if we turned it down at night, come day time it would go back to it's preset, unless we selected "hold". Like if we went on vacation.
So now if we decide to turn it down a bit at night... it might stay like that for 24-36hrs before I realize the temps been changed.

 

[Piecey]

Ohmygosh, the last electric bill I paid for our other house was $45.

 

[Illuminations_Rocks]

I don't really think your bill is that much higher than you should expect. If you paid $100/month in the last place, for say, 30 days, then for the 44 days you've received service, $160 is just SLIGHTLY more than the approx 150$ you'd have had before. And this place is 200 sq feet larger.

I think it will go down, though, if you do get that programmable thermostat installed.

The rest doesn't add up to all that much, and unless your roommate was in her bathroom/closet for hours on end each day the cost of the CFLs vs cost of energy is not going to help. LCD monitor would help you if you are on the computer LOTS, but cost vs energy on a monthly basis isn't that much.

 

[SandrA9810]

Well it averaged about 90$ during summer - 15-20 for water (since that's seperate now).
So if I say put in our electric at 75$ for 30 days. It should come down to 2.5$ per day. And for 45 days total, it should only be about 115$. Plus the 15$ set up fee. That's still 40$ more than I was expecting.

I wish they would've given me a partial month bill instead of a month and a half bill. I only budgeted for a 100$ electric bill. I've underestimated every bill this month... I sent a payment late on my homedepot card (they did reverse the late fee), but I still owe 40$ more than my usual payment. We went over on our cell phone and owed 15$ more than usual (although there might have been a late fee applied). Hopefully there's no hidden surprised on my first cable bill, I've budgeted 100$ for that, and when I signed up the bill's only supposed to be like 90$ total.

 

[SandrA9810]

The computer is a new energy use for us. We didn't hook up the computer till like 2 months before we moved out. And some days I can be on here all day. I try not to, but it is highly addicting with the internet again.

 

[TaraPA]

4500sq ft over three floors with two teen aged girls on the top floor. I go up about every other day and adjust the thermostat.

We have the same square footage & while our electric isn't too bad (about $350 a month in summer with AC) the gas bill is easily $600-$700 each for Dec. Jan. & Feb! Ouch!

 

[J3nn78]

I just rejoiced over a $450 bill. Ours has been as high as $900
No we don't live in a mansion. We do have 9 people living here though.

 

[englishteacha]

If you have a DVR, you don't want to unplug it if it's set to record shows. You could put everything else on a power strip and leave the DVR plugged into the wall. Then just make turning off the power strip a habit whenever you turn off the tv. You could even put a note on the remote. Setting your dishwasher to air dry instead of heat dry is an energy saver, too. Little things do add up, but I don't think you'll see huge differences. Do you have a washer/dryer? Electric water heater? I started washing all our laundry in cold, and try to hang dry most of our clothes. I take quick showers (usually because I like to sleep till the last possible moment, but it can't hurt the power bill!). Our house is smaller than your apt., and our bill is always close to $200. My husband works at home, and often has 3 or more computers running all day long. (He's a computer guy)

 

[Illuminations_Rocks]

Ugh, I can see the upset since it's ALL more than you thought! I am fearful for your cable bill, mine seemed to be like $15 more due to all of the taxes - so hopefully they included those in their figure to you!

As I said before, the little things don't add up all that much. And to have the internet/computer and not use it... well that's just a waste of that money, haha! So the computer usage is going to raise your bill some.

I found an interesting link....

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html

That tells you how much each appliance (approximately) uses and how much you could expect on the bill because of it.

An electric oven and the a/c are HUGE (well, and heat, but I'm only going to venture a guess here that you're not using that most of the time!!!) compared to the others. The best thing for you is going to be that thermostat, and maybe set it a little bit warmer than you were used to, and perhaps get a couple of cheap floor fans (I have a stand oscillating one in my bedroom I got at wal-mart for under $20). Other than that, it seems to only run the dishwasher with no-heat (I always do that, and open it when it's done -before the "heat dry" cycle would even start, for some reason it still would run through that time even though I have it set to not do that - so that the plastics dry off), and run the washer on cold (I do that too, except I do towels on hot about once a month, and I do run whites on warm when I bleach them) would really help significantly. Being diligent about turning off the actual TV and the computer AND monitor (not standby/sleep) when not in active use will help some.

Unfortunately, none of it will help on that budget breaker bill.

 

[rcraw45425]

I just rejoiced over a $450 bill. Ours has been as high as $900
No we don't live in a mansion. We do have 9 people living here though.

Ooo, that makes me worry about this summer. WE are on an electric Co op, their summer rates are just double their regular rates. My last bill was around $275, we'll see what this next one brings.