Ouch! - Dec/Jan Heat Bill

[Jennasis]

Our Energy bill was astronomical too. PLUS, the house was still cold as a coal digger's bum. System was just unable to keep up with the droppong temps.

 

[4nana]

I hear you and also dread the last month's bill as it's been unusually cold and windy! We're on a year around budget plan of $200. mo, but only heat the top 1500sf living quarters of our split foyer house. Spent too many years being cold when younger, so as seniors with a few aches and pains, like it 70* day time, 68* night, long as we can swing it!

 

[geffric]

we keep our heat at 60 at night and 64 during the day.. can't wait to see the heating bill ..my guess is that it will be high..

 

[DarthKTrava]

We always keep ours around 68-69. We should probably keep ours lower, but we have such horrible drafts in our house that we're always FUH-REEZING...even with layers. Ah, the joys of living in a 90 yo house.

Mine's at least 50 years old. It's drafty as heck. Our electric bill runs about 130 a month during the summer due to a window AC unit. Heat is oil and I dread having to get that each year.. Gonna have to do that when I do my taxes. Last year to fill it up was over $600.

We keep the heat at just below 60 and layer up.

 

[charming23]

Our bill went up from $86 in November to $141 in December. I did turn the heat up for about 2 weeks while it was unbearabley cold here. Right now we are keeping it set at 68 which feels pretty good.

 

[Docwoods]

The new furnace is really paying off! Just got the bill today-we're in Naperville,IL,and it was 185.00.It's usually at least 100.00 more at this time of the year.Feels good!

 

[Robinrs]

Mine was $150... I'm still trying to figure out how they charged us $95 for November after the flood and we didn't move in until December 24th...

I called and complained and they thought it was the contractors using the heat. uh...NOT. The pilot wasn't even on when I moved in and we didn't have heat for 3 days... and FROZE!!

Finally found out that the therms they used were an ESTIMATE, not an ACTUAL!! WTH???

 

[si-am]

I'm in Atlanta, our gas bill was $150 ($90 last month). We keep our heat set super low-- 68 degrees for morning and evening hours when we're home, 60 degrees for overnight and daytime.

Our power bill went up, too ($100 from $60) so I'm not sure what that's all about.

 

[wdwfan16]

Just curious for those of you with big bills do you adjust your thermostats down when it gets colder?

Around here October and May are generally the cheap months, no heat or air being used. My AC is cheap for the summer and I keep the house at 70-72 when we are home and 75 for the pets during the day.

In the winter, my gas heat is not cheap and the daytime temp is 60, the evening is 62 and overnight is 55. Our heater turns on in the mornings to 66, that is the one time we all decided we couldn't deal with a cold house. Last winter I bought the entire family footy pajamas for lounging around in the evenings. We all wear them, add a lap blanket and we make it thru the winter without an astronomical bill. My bill is generally about $250 less per month in the winter than my neighbor whose house is 400' smaller than mine with same family size.

Heck no! I hate being cold! its set at 71* no matter what the temp is outside... we do not have central air.. we have window units. I will NOT suffer in the summer either!

I am with Helene. I will not freeze to save a few dollars. We keep the family room at 70 when we are home. It is 67 at night when we sleep.

 

[golfgal]

Just curious for those of you with big bills do you adjust your thermostats down when it gets colder?

Around here October and May are generally the cheap months, no heat or air being used. My AC is cheap for the summer and I keep the house at 70-72 when we are home and 75 for the pets during the day.

In the winter, my gas heat is not cheap and the daytime temp is 60, the evening is 62 and overnight is 55. Our heater turns on in the mornings to 66, that is the one time we all decided we couldn't deal with a cold house. Last winter I bought the entire family footy pajamas for lounging around in the evenings. We all wear them, add a lap blanket and we make it thru the winter without an astronomical bill. My bill is generally about $250 less per month in the winter than my neighbor whose house is 400' smaller than mine with same family size.

A REALLY BAD heating bill for us is only $250/month and we live in MINNESOTA where it actually gets cold-3500 sq foot house too. I think a lot of you need to put some insulation in your homes. We keep our heat at 68 during the day and 63 at night-but then we also have on warm clothing-sweaters and pants so any warmer than that and we would roast.

 

[C.Ann]

I hear you and also dread the last month's bill as it's been unusually cold and windy! We're on a year around budget plan of $200. mo, but only heat the top 1500sf living quarters of our split foyer house. Spent too many years being cold when younger, so as seniors with a few aches and pains, like it 70* day time, 68* night, long as we can swing it!

I remember when my widowed aunt retired (after working 40 yrs. for the same company) her policy on heat was: "I didn't work for 40 yrs. so I could freeze to death in my old age.. No matter what the cost, I refuse to be cold!!" So - she signed up for the budget plan and kept her house nice and cozy until the day she died.. (Unfortunately, it wasn't for that long a period of time.. She died of stomach cancer a few short years later.. )

I feel the same way.. My heat/ac at the lake is on the budget plan and I refuse to freeze or roast to death just to save a few dollars.. I would definitely cut back somewhere else before I would cut back on that..

 

[MickeySP]

I don't feel so bad now - mine jumped by 1/3 too. This is the first year I am paying bills solo so never noticed.

 

[Lintasare]

I am so glad my apartment complex pays the gas bill. We only pay electric and on our budget plan it's only $48 a month.

 

[mousetravel]

They had an announcement on our local news station that our local power provider is raising everyone's power bill by $9-$13 starting next month.

 

[Disfan1]

My electric bill was $160 something last month - this month it is $360! I guess it was worth the $200 to stay warm during that freezing cold snap, though.

 

[DarthKTrava]

A friend of mine who's living in my aunt' trailer just got his power bill. $270. He was completely floored. He was running his heat at around 70 and running a 120W bulb to keep his chicken warm.

 

[Abbie]

$909.75 And that's with the upstairs unit set at 66 degrees and the downstairs unit set at 69.

Sigh.

 

[Abbie]

A REALLY BAD heating bill for us is only $250/month and we live in MINNESOTA where it actually gets cold-3500 sq foot house too. I think a lot of you need to put some insulation in your homes. We keep our heat at 68 during the day and 63 at night-but then we also have on warm clothing-sweaters and pants so any warmer than that and we would roast.

I think it's not as much an insulation problem as whatever type of heat you are using. Here, we are all electric, which means heat pumps. And a heat pump pulls whatever warm air it can get from outside....when temps are below freezing there's not much warm to pull! So it runs and runs and runs but blows out chilly air, ugh. We also have oil back up which blows out nice warm air but that's pretty expensive too. And still takes electricity to run it. I'm just waiting for spring!

 

[HelenePA]

$909.75 And that's with the upstairs unit set at 66 degrees and the downstairs unit set at 69.

Sigh.

for one month?!?! holy cow! Maybe I'd freeze if I got in a bill like that

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Avg. temp for Dec 34 degrees.
Bill $75.


But, our house was born in 1894, so 116 years old, and is roughly 3000sq ft. We have fireplaces though so the outside temperature doesn't effect our bill too much, the one room we don't get great heat in is heated by a small space heater. Our bill is generally around $60-$80.

For me, cable and a DVR are loads more important than excessive electricity use, even without a fireplace network as we haven't always had it.