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You've indicated that this is your first winter in the house, and that the renovation was completed about 4 months ago. That's about 4-5 electric bills which were primarily in mild weather. My vacation house has FHA heat and my electric goes up considerably as the temps plunge -- despite the thermostat being set low in my absence. When I first bought it, the electric company based my bills on the previous owner's historic usage, which was considerably higher than mine. Is it possible this might be a factor in your situation?
Yes that is correct first winter and a bad one at that, just trying to see if this is normal elec usage for what I have or there is a bigger issue.
House is maybe 2300 sq feet. Oil heat. We work full-time so not much is going during the day although I have been working at home more with the bad weather..since this is supposedly an estimate that shouldn't matter.
We keep the temp really low during the day..like 50. We can't agree on whether it makes more sense to do that and have it take more time to heat up when we come home(programmable thermostat) or have it at higher temp during the day(I;ve heard arguments for both views). It's set to rise to 65 for the evenings and down to 60 while we're in bed. 65 weekends.
We try to be pretty frugal with electricity but we need to work harder at it obviously.
House is maybe 2300 sq feet. Oil heat. We work full-time so not much is going during the day although I have been working at home more with the bad weather..since this is supposedly an estimate that shouldn't matter.
We keep the temp really low during the day..like 50. We can't agree on whether it makes more sense to do that and have it take more time to heat up when we come home(programmable thermostat) or have it at higher temp during the day(I;ve heard arguments for both views). It's set to rise to 65 for the evenings and down to 60 while we're in bed. 65 weekends.
We try to be pretty frugal with electricity but we need to work harder at it obviously.
Wow interesting. Last night I tried to keep the temp at 68 and my wife was complaining that she is very cold this is before going to sleep and during the night had it at 66 and she woke me up complaining that she is freezing. I had a thermometer by her said and it really was 66. My daughter also complained that she was cold at night. So Im not sure how to keep temps down.
We keep the temp really low during the day..like 50. We can't agree on whether it makes more sense to do that and have it take more time to heat up when we come home(programmable thermostat) or have it at higher temp during the day(I;ve heard arguments for both views). It's set to rise to 65 for the evenings and down to 60 while we're in bed. 65 weekends.
It is better to turn it down (but not too far that your pipes may freeze). I'd say 60F would be a good low-point. What it comes down to is heat loss will occur regardless and if you're setting it to maintain a temp when nobody needs it, you're just throwing money out the window. Is it more energy-efficient to keep the heating on all the time? I find that the heat catches up pretty quick as opposed to my CAC.
Don't blame PSEG. We're one of the only power systems in this part of the country that does not have access to Nuclear Power. Had Shoreham gone online, our bills would be much lower. But Cuomo's father put a stop to that. I remember the battle in the 80s, meanwhile all we have to show for it is an empty shell of a building in Shoreham, and an environment that's already been ruined by overdevelopment. The rates are lower in CT, NYC (ConEd), and NJ because they have nuclear power plants in their grid. We rely on aging fossil fuel plants, and heavy importing of power. Indian Point, Millstone, Hope Creek all help keep power rates low for ConEd, CL&P, & PSEG in NJ. Lets also not forget the cost to fix LIPA's years of no maintanance on the power system.
Wow interesting. Last night I tried to keep the temp at 68 and my wife was complaining that she is very cold this is before going to sleep and during the night had it at 66 and she woke me up complaining that she is freezing. I had a thermometer by her said and it really was 66. My daughter also complained that she was cold at night. So Im not sure how to keep temps down.
The highest I set my thermostat is 66! It's not cold. At night I turn it down to 60. When I get up in the morning the thermometer on my desk reads 62. So I turn the heat back up to 66. I'm never not comfortable.
I have FHW baseboards. You couldn't pay me to have FHA. Been there, done that - paid the bills.
My gas bill Dec-Jan was fairly close to last year's for the same period in terms of therms. About a 9% increase in amount due though.
There were reports that people called pseg and they said they were adapting to a new billing system and there have been unexpected results. Call them.
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