This so made our day!

[mommy2_3]

we just got our electric bill today. we have been trying different ways to cut back on our use of electricty. usally our bill around this time is about $130+ and goes up to around $150ish by july/aug. last month we paid $130. so we decided to keep our thermosate at 72-73. we just put in a digital thermostate in feb. so with our ceiling fans on all day the a/c doesnt kick on to often. we also turn it off at night. so we were so happy when we opened our bill and it was down over $40!! yes we are very happy about that! the ceiling fans were a great investment IMO!

 

[squirrel]

Interesting, my cousins husband is an electrician and he said ceiling fans waste energy. I love the heat (it doesn't usually get too hot here) so I rarely use the ceiling fans.

 

[MoniqueU]

I really wish I didn't live in CA alot of the time we don't even get to 150 ish in the winter. Last year our bill one month topped out at 1070 bucks, no kidding. 2 ac units, hotter then hell, a pool and I am home all day. We kept our thermostat at 79. We pay 3 times per KWH what my friend in Alabama does. Our gas and water are cheap though.

 

[Nayan]

Ours usually runs around $300 in the summer, but we just had new windows and doors put in so I'm hoping to shave some off the bills this year. The heat index for today in Orlando is going to be around 108! I know my a/c will be running nonstop.

 

[minnie1928]

Interesting, my cousins husband is an electrician and he said ceiling fans waste energy. I love the heat (it doesn't usually get too hot here) so I rarely use the ceiling fans.

Perhaps your DH is considering them from the wrong point of view. A fan won't actually drop the temperature of a room, so from that standpoint, I can understand what he says. However, the air blowing across your skin will make you feel cooler which will allow you to raise the temp in the house to compensate. If you think about it, it makes sense...would you rather stand in a warm room with a fan, or without one?

 

[Shyvioletisme]

we just got our electric bill today. we have been trying different ways to cut back on our use of electricty. usally our bill around this time is about $130+ and goes up to around $150ish by july/aug. last month we paid $130. so we decided to keep our thermosate at 72-73. we just put in a digital thermostate in feb. so with our ceiling fans on all day the a/c doesnt kick on to often. we also turn it off at night. so we were so happy when we opened our bill and it was down over $40!! yes we are very happy about that! the ceiling fans were a great investment IMO!

wow where do you live that you can keep the thermostat so low and have a cheap bill?...here we'd be spending probably $300 or more a month if it was that low. We keep it at 82 during the day and drop it down to 78 at night and our bill is still around $130 during the summer. and we're in Texas where it's been in the mid to upper 90s for over a month now.

 

[piglet33]

Wow, 82 degrees? We'd die if our house was that hot. We keep our A/C set to 68 at night and 66 during the day. My house is in the sun all day and would be way too hot if it was set any higher than 70. Our electric bill runs about $156 a month, and I'm fine with that especially since we're comfortable.

 

[sydneysmom]

we run out ceiling fans all day too.....they actually HELP conserve energy, not waste it. They help keep the air moving so that your air conditioner doesn't kick on as often. If you live in the south, celing fans are a necessity!!!!
We keep our thermostat at 77 / 78 in the summer. Anything more and it seems like it's way too cold. In the winter, we keep it around 68/69 and it's perfect.

Another thing we found that lowered our electric bill ALOT was we changed out all our lightbulbs to CFL bulbs. (including the recessed lights...they make them specifically for recessed lighting. Also, we changed the outdoor flood lights to CFL floods)

Originally, our electric bill was running at around $ 150 / month. ( we're on budget bill for that so it's approx the same each month) Well, we made those changes and for the past year it's been progressively going down. Our bill is now at $ 79 / month. That's a MAJOR drop. I'm thrilled with the change !!

 

[hffmnheidi]

My parents had to replace their furnace/ac unit last year. It had been in the house since it was built in 1980. Their bill went from about 277 a month(they have level pay so each month the bill is the same, regardless of the useage and pay the difference in July) to 53 a month. Definitely pays to look into replacing older units with the new energy efficient ones.

They keep the temp at 72 degrees year round now and it is nice and warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

 

[Psychodisney]

Just a thought, make sure it is an "actual" read not an estimate! Sometimes I get thrown off by a higher or lower bill until I notice it's an estimate!

 

[SandrA9810]

68-72 degrees... I would not want to see that electric bill in florida.... I'm used to 77/78 and 75/76 was a treat.

You can knotch up your thermostat if you have a ceiling fan in that room. It usually makes you feel a couple degrees cooler. And it can cost you 10-15% more for every degree cooler you set your thermostat. But make sure you turn the fan off in the room when you're not there. It doesn't actually make the room any cooler.
Window AC units also can help majorly if you have one room that's always hot. Especially like an office with the computer running all day. It can be way cheaper to use a HE model for cooling that room rather than knocking the thermostat for the whole house down.

I also love using power strips. Before we had cable, we just used an attena for TV, well it had a little blue LED on it that could light the whole room at night. So it made it very easy to remember to hit the switch to turn everything off.

 

[mommy2_3]

wow where do you live that you can keep the thermostat so low and have a cheap bill?...here we'd be spending probably $300 or more a month if it was that low. We keep it at 82 during the day and drop it down to 78 at night and our bill is still around $130 during the summer. and we're in Texas where it's been in the mid to upper 90s for over a month now.

we are in southern kansas.

we run out ceiling fans all day too.....they actually HELP conserve energy, not waste it. They help keep the air moving so that your air conditioner doesn't kick on as often. If you live in the south, celing fans are a necessity!!!!
We keep our thermostat at 77 / 78 in the summer. Anything more and it seems like it's way too cold. In the winter, we keep it around 68/69 and it's perfect.

Another thing we found that lowered our electric bill ALOT was we changed out all our lightbulbs to CFL bulbs. (including the recessed lights...they make them specifically for recessed lighting. Also, we changed the outdoor flood lights to CFL floods)

Originally, our electric bill was running at around $ 150 / month. ( we're on budget bill for that so it's approx the same each month) Well, we made those changes and for the past year it's been progressively going down. Our bill is now at $ 79 / month. That's a MAJOR drop. I'm thrilled with the change !!

we have also switched all our light bulbs to the engery saving ones. we also have one bulb in each light. we dont like it very bright in our house so that works just fine.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

I am in So CA and close to the ocean and ocean breezes. I use my AC about 4 days a year, if that. Same with the heater... maybe 4 nights. Dual pane windows, energy star appliances, high efficiency washer, gas dryer, gas stove, compact fluorescent bulbs in every light fixture... 2050 sf house. My gas/elec each month runs about $43. In those months where I do have to use the a/c or the heater, it runs about $11 more. In the summer when we grill outside almost every night it runs about $5 more. Using laptops and putting them in sleep mode instead of having a desktop on all the time saves about $15 a month, too. Water/sewer runs $80 a month, and trash about $20.

 

[Ava]

Originally, our electric bill was running at around $ 150 / month. ( we're on budget bill for that so it's approx the same each month) Well, we made those changes and for the past year it's been progressively going down. Our bill is now at $ 79 / month. That's a MAJOR drop. I'm thrilled with the change !!

I want to get on budget billing for our electric too - how does it work though if you end up using more than you paid for at the end of the year? Do you just owe the difference, or does it raise your bill for the following year?

 

[pixiewings71]

I really wish I didn't live in CA alot of the time we don't even get to 150 ish in the winter. Last year our bill one month topped out at 1070 bucks, no kidding. 2 ac units, hotter then hell, a pool and I am home all day. We kept our thermostat at 79. We pay 3 times per KWH what my friend in Alabama does. Our gas and water are cheap though.

You're paying more because you're using more. You must have a huge house if you have 2 a/c units or you have 2 floors and need a unit for each floor. I have NEVER paid $1000 for electricity, if I did I would make them come to my house to check my meter....Even when we had our 180 gallon saltwater fish tank we didn't pay that much! That's insane. Currently we are paying about $150, we haven't turned on the a/c this year so that's a nice thing. We use ceiling fans in all our rooms, it really helps cool it down, it also gets really cool at night because we have the breeze off the delta come thru so that helps a lot too. If we pay over $200 a month for gas/electric I get mad. LOL

OP glad yours dropped, I need mine to drop more too......

 

[jedijill]

I want to get on budget billing for our electric too - how does it work though if you end up using more than you paid for at the end of the year? Do you just owe the difference, or does it raise your bill for the following year?

You generally have to "catch up" at the end of the year and then they adjust the payment for the next year based on last year's usage (of course if you owe less than your budge amount, you will get a check for the difference!).

Hope that makes sense.

Jill in CO