How much is your electric bill rising? Ways to save

[threeboysmom]

I plugged a powerbar into an electric timer. The timer is set turn on at 3am and turn off at 7am. I plug my cellphone and tablets into the powerbar so that it charges only when I'm sleeping and it's ready when I wake up.

I have a second powerbar/timer setup for my laptops. It comes on for 5 hours when I get home, turns off when I sleep.

You can also buy powerbars with electric timers.

Cordless phones? Instead of multiple chargers, I use ONE charger and charge each handset individually. This allows the handset to do a proper drain when it's not plugged into the charger. This extend the battery lifespan.

Yes, but how much does that actually save someone? I'm guessing it's just a few dollars a month... if that.

 

[mrodgers]

Yes, but how much does that actually save someone? I'm guessing it's just a few dollars a month... if that.

I don't know how much stuff like computers or phones use. I found this....

http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/electric/electricity-calculator.htm

You can select an appliance and it will enter the suggested watts used. Select laptop and it states 50 watt power consumption. I plug in 24 hours and my $0.07/kWh rate and it tells me $0.084 per day usage.

The electricity usage is quite a small percentage of my bill. If I recall, it is about $30 worth of my $150 bill. The largest is just fees and taxes. My bill has gone up many times. I've had a $0.07/kWh rate for 14 years that I've lived here at this house, yet my electric bill has gone up from about $50 to $90 and recently to $150 per month over the course of 14 years. It's all the fees that have gone up so unplugging things or not using things wouldn't have helped with the increase one bit.

I read someone posting about leaving an outside light on all the time but now they turn it off. A 100W lightbulb running 24/7 would cost $5/month. Figure if you have it on a daylight sensor and it turned on when it got dark out, say average of 7 pm to 7 am, it would cost half that, $2.50/month.

Heck, even the clothes dryer, we run about 2 loads a day, but not every day. Plugging in 2 loads a day 7 days a week, it only costs $12/month. It all would add up doing a lot of stuff, but it would be a real hassle not to use the stuff. There's at least 1 light on in the house all day long and 3 in the evenings when the kids are home (though they are 30W CFL rather than 100W incandescent.) 2 loads of laundry, desktop is always running, a laptop is always running, at least 1 phone at any given time charging, and usually 3 cheap tablets charging since they only get about 45 minutes worth of use per charge. 2 fans run all night long when sleeping 365/year (mine and my oldest daughter's or neither of us would be able to sleep.)

 

[xlxo]

Yes, but how much does that actually save someone? I'm guessing it's just a few dollars a month... if that.

It also depends how much our rates are.

• Is your power from hydro electric dams? You will see little difference here compared to other forms of generation.
• Is it from coal?
• Is it from nuclear plants?
• Is it wind? Is it solar?
• Is it local or imported from another country?

 

[Cibahwewah]

Last spring we added attic insulation to R-30, installed vinyl double hung double pane windows with argon gas insulation, and sealed the house, then despite some hefty rate increases, our bill went down $20-$75 per month and the usage decreased about 20%. And the house is quieter and more comfortable. We keep it at 78 in summer and 65 in winter, and have ceiling fans in nearly every room. I close the door to the laundry room when in use, oh, I have a dryer vent that doesn't allow outside air in. I try not to use the oven too much in summer, and in winter, when I'm done baking, I open the oven door while it's cooling (off) to warm up the kitchen a bit. We keep window blinds closed during the bright hot part of the day in summer.

 

[Computermama]

We're in Southern Ontario and our gas company announced a 40% increase last year. I live in a newer home and thankfully it's sealed pretty tight. I am on equal billing so payments are estimated and charged all year. I was at $60 a month which was nothing, now we are 40% higher which still isn't bad in the grand scheme of things. However electric costs went up substantially over the last few years as well (that bill is almost $200 a month).

For electric we are on a system that charges more or less depending on the time of day. The biggest adjustment we have made has been to not do laundry or run the dishwasher or have lights on etc during the day on weekdays. I work from home so that's a bit of a pain. We have switched to doing those things after 7pm or on weekends. It makes a big difference.

Yeah, we're in Southern Ontario too, and our budget billing gas plan jumped from $70/month to $100/m in August when it was re-evaluated. I've got a couple places earmarked for some spray foam before the snow flies. We also cook with gas, so that's part of it. The little one is potty training, so it's hard not to keep the house warm when I'm trying to make it easy to get her out of her bottoms quickly.

For electric, I'm going to be working afternoons, so the plan is to be out of the house in the mornings, leaving off things like lights and the giant TV. Toddler still naps in the afternoon, so I can just putter around and clean until the hubs and older child get home and I go to work. Timers on the washing machine and dishwasher help immensely - I can set up both right after supper and they start after 7. I also try to catch the dishwasher as it's entering it's dry cycle and shut it off - dishes can air dry and not cost me money. I keep bugging my husband to set up my umbrella dryer outside, but we're past the time of year where that's practical. I shut off my computer where I can, but it's the media machine, so sometimes that's not practical. I do shut off the peripherals when I'm not sitting at it though.

 

[kbwright]

Looks like all of us in the U.S. will be getting slammed with increased electric costs this winter.

How much will yours rise?

In MA ours are going up by 37%

Anyway, I thought it might be a good time to share on ways to save, specifically, on ELECTRIC COSTS.

In the same boat with National Grid. Thankfully, I have a wood stove so don't use the furnace as much as I would otherwise. I did enroll in their budget plan, where it is a consistent payment through out the year which makes me a little less angry about the whole deal.

I try to unplug things that are not in use so that I am not paying for them to sit in a wall. I have also been switching my light bulbs out to energy efficient ones as the older ones die, trying to let the dishes air dry in the dishwasher, and shut lights off that are not needed. Over the summer, I did notice I saved about $10-15 a month b/c I bought a new a/c that was clearly more energy efficient then the 15+ year old one I had used in years previous.

 

[Jedana]

I'm not sure how much the local rates are fluctuating because we're on the budget billing plan. For the first 6 months, it was $129 a month. For the last 6, it's been $131. It's about time for them to readjust the plan, and I'm hoping it goes down a bit.


No gas or anything--it's all electric in the house. We do pay water/sewer, and it runs about $57 a month (mostly due to the sewer use, for DH's dialysis)--no pool or watering the lawn. It's Florida--it rains enough that we don't need to water!

I put the computer into sleep mode when I'm not on it, and turn off lights during the day. TV is off when I'm not watching it during the day. I run the a/c at 76 (any hotter and I get ) and the heat at 68. The only things I keep unplugged are items like the toaster. I leave the microwave and table top oven plugged in all the time. When I used the Keurig a lot, it was plugged in all the time.

We run DH's dialysis machine 5-6 days a week for 4 hours at a time. We also have a water cooler w/hot and cold water that is on all the time.

ETA: We are in a co-op for electric. It's a really good thing, our rates are 3x lower than they were when we used JEA in Jacksonville.

 

[threeboysmom]

I don't know how much stuff like computers or phones use. I found this....

http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/electric/electricity-calculator.htm

You can select an appliance and it will enter the suggested watts used. Select laptop and it states 50 watt power consumption. I plug in 24 hours and my $0.07/kWh rate and it tells me $0.084 per day usage.

The electricity usage is quite a small percentage of my bill. If I recall, it is about $30 worth of my $150 bill. The largest is just fees and taxes. My bill has gone up many times. I've had a $0.07/kWh rate for 14 years that I've lived here at this house, yet my electric bill has gone up from about $50 to $90 and recently to $150 per month over the course of 14 years. It's all the fees that have gone up so unplugging things or not using things wouldn't have helped with the increase one bit.

I read someone posting about leaving an outside light on all the time but now they turn it off. A 100W lightbulb running 24/7 would cost $5/month. Figure if you have it on a daylight sensor and it turned on when it got dark out, say average of 7 pm to 7 am, it would cost half that, $2.50/month.

Heck, even the clothes dryer, we run about 2 loads a day, but not every day. Plugging in 2 loads a day 7 days a week, it only costs $12/month. It all would add up doing a lot of stuff, but it would be a real hassle not to use the stuff. There's at least 1 light on in the house all day long and 3 in the evenings when the kids are home (though they are 30W CFL rather than 100W incandescent.) 2 loads of laundry, desktop is always running, a laptop is always running, at least 1 phone at any given time charging, and usually 3 cheap tablets charging since they only get about 45 minutes worth of use per charge. 2 fans run all night long when sleeping 365/year (mine and my oldest daughter's or neither of us would be able to sleep.)

Thank you so much for this link!! Very helpful! I don't feel so guilty now leaving lights on or things plugged in 24/7, lol.

 

[daughtersrus]

Our village negotiates lower rates. As a result, our bills have been much less than when ComEd was providing the electricity.

Our furnace, dryer and stove are all gas

We replaced all of windows several years ago. That made a difference as well.

 

[threeboysmom]

Using the calculator link...

I plugged in my clothes dryer, running 2 hours a day (which I really don't use it that often... maybe 2-3 hours a week) with my rate of $0.16253 per kWh and it came to $29 per month IF I used it daily.

Running a desktop computer 24/7 only came out to $12 if running 24/7.

Still trying to figure out what in my home is causing me to use over 400 kWh - for some reason my usage keeps creeping up each month lately so my bill keeps increasing. And the price increase hasn't even hit yet...