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Old 08-24-2018, 03:13 AM
 
14,613 posts, read 17,293,877 times
Reputation: 7781

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Quote:
Originally Posted by fbf2006 View Post
Not really. I read old posts and it doesn’t look like that’s the answer.
I also live in a 4000 square foot house, but the oil heat is supplemented with electric heater. Over the last 8 years, we have average 67.7 kWh per day (over 2000 kwh per month). But monthly bills have swung from highs to low depending on temperature and what is going on in the house.

Deg kWh Days month
37 3,608 32 2
26 3,601 29 1
32 3,488 34 1
31 3,203 29 3
31 3,093 32 1
23 2,934 30 2
37 2,849 29 4
36 2,844 30 5
33 2,834 32 4
34 2,829 32 3
37 2,827 29 3
25 2,802 29 3
77 2,778 32 8
35 2,774 30 12
...
70 1,488 31 7
71 1,453 29 7
56 1,424 29 10
71 1,420 29 7
65 1,414 30 6
70 1,369 29 10
71 1,349 29 9
64 1,334 32 5
67 1,265 30 7
71 1,134 29 6

So your square footage is probably not as important as what kind of heat/air conditioning you use and your insulation. If you have electric heat, that number is not even shocking.
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Old 08-24-2018, 06:04 AM
 
Location: Clear Lake, Houston TX
8,376 posts, read 30,568,556 times
Reputation: 4718
First, 10.9 cents is a pretty high rate. You should be able to get it down closer to 8.5. So that there will save you >20%.

I have a 3500 sf house that is also 20 yrs old and have never used more than 3000 kwh in a hot month, and I usually run it from 75-78 with ceiling fans blasting. It has 2 original AC units (4 ton + 3.5 ton) however we did buy it with a silly amount of extra insulation added by the original owners. You'd be surprised how much that helps.

I would have a "health check" done on your AC units and look into insulation as at 20 years the original stuff is most definitely settled. The suggestions about lights and fans are fine but they won't help much in the grand scheme of things.
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Old 08-24-2018, 06:21 AM
 
1,501 posts, read 1,749,615 times
Reputation: 1320
Bet you $1000 you don't want them in a 20 plus year old house. They only suck conditioned air out of the house. The proper solution is radiant barrier.

OP, I usually go over 3000kwh in the hot summer months and have a smaller house(than you) so it very well could be normal for your situation. Also, like tstone said, there are rates around 8.5 right now so if you aren't locked in I would switch. That's about 100 bucks right there.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Dopo View Post
I bet $1000 that your house doesn’t have roof attic fans to get the hot air out of your attic
I have that problem right now .... it’s like having a huge oven above your house.
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Old 08-24-2018, 07:17 AM
 
Location: Houston TX
2,429 posts, read 2,467,886 times
Reputation: 1784
Also not only square footage matters, but the entire volume of the house. AC pumps the air through the system, and larger volume of hotter air = higher energy consumption. High ceilings = larger volume. I have a high ceilings and it takes more efforts to cool down that volume.
And of course the No1 factor is that you work from home.
If I worked from home, I wouldn't be surprised to have such a huge energy consumption in my not very energy efficient house, even though it has less square footage.
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Old 08-24-2018, 07:36 AM
 
234 posts, read 418,785 times
Reputation: 131
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dopo View Post
I bet $1000 that your house doesn’t have roof attic fans to get the hot air out of your attic
I have that problem right now .... it’s like having a huge oven above your house.
Or Ridge Vents...
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Old 08-24-2018, 08:29 AM
 
23,739 posts, read 14,840,115 times
Reputation: 12774
Some think as that radiant barrier gets dusty, the efficacy diminishes. IDK

We had a 20 year old 4500 ft house. We put double paned low e windows on the south side, got a 14 SEER hvac, ridge vents when the new roof was installed, insulation, weatherstrip the attic door and a lot of caulk. Cut kWh in half.

Don't know how much electricity we could have bought with what all that cost. But it cut down on our usage.

We did all that in the next 20 year old house we bought a couple years ago. We got all new windows. We are the largest house on the block and have the cheapest electric bill. We pay way less a kWh than .10, maybe 8 something.
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Old 08-24-2018, 08:49 AM
 
Location: Cypress, TX
348 posts, read 455,175 times
Reputation: 317
Thanks everyone for all the responses. I really appreciate it!

I believe our home is NOT energy efficient. We still have old appliances (fridge, dishwasher, stove and microwave are old and black but functional so didn't really think they needed to be replaced yet). It doesn't look like we have double-pane windows. I don't know what a radiant barrier is. I know our attic gets very hot because some guy came around in May to do some testing and was trying to sell us something (can't remember what exactly...windows maybe).

I don't know the SEER rating of the HVAC. I know the listing said '2-HVAC 2009'). We probably just need to do what crone did.

Working from home, we don't unplug our laptops and monitors each night so that probably adds to it.
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Old 08-24-2018, 08:53 AM
 
986 posts, read 1,260,077 times
Reputation: 1043
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texascrude View Post
I drive a 13 year old car and cut my own hair, but I decided a long time ago that I make enough money for 2 things:

1) To have my house at whatever temperature I want, and

2) When I go to Mexican restaurants, I'm getting fajitas
Apparently you're the last person I repped because I'm getting an error message that I can't rep you again.

Anyway, this made me laugh out loud, and I agree about the A/C. I used to try to economize and then I decided that an extra $100 a month was best spent on making my house feel good.
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Old 08-24-2018, 09:18 AM
 
1,501 posts, read 1,749,615 times
Reputation: 1320
I know. Forget that nest crap. My ac only has one setting.....COLD. And I run it 24/7 in the summer.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PinkLadyK View Post
Apparently you're the last person I repped because I'm getting an error message that I can't rep you again.

Anyway, this made me laugh out loud, and I agree about the A/C. I used to try to economize and then I decided that an extra $100 a month was best spent on making my house feel good.
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Old 08-24-2018, 10:25 AM
 
223 posts, read 258,166 times
Reputation: 260
Quote:
Originally Posted by hendersj31 View Post
Bet you $1000 you don't want them in a 20 plus year old house. They only suck conditioned air out of the house. The proper solution is radiant barrier.

OP, I usually go over 3000kwh in the hot summer months and have a smaller house(than you) so it very well could be normal for your situation. Also, like tstone said, there are rates around 8.5 right now so if you aren't locked in I would switch. That's about 100 bucks right there.
Who are you using for $0.085/kWh? I'm only seeing 2,000+ kWh plans around $0.09 or higher for 12 month plans. Grabbing a 9 month plan in August puts you up for renewal again right before peak summer in June '19.
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