Electricity Costs of $100-300 a Month (house, buy, living)

[DriveNotCommute]

Originally Posted by mikumiku

We need night lights on so we can see in the middle of the night, when needing to use the restroom. As far as unplugging the TV, don't you have to go and reset the TV every time you uplug it, and leave it unplugged for several hours? Wouldn't that be a hassle to do, everytime?

I know the water heater is on 24/7, same with the fridge, stove/oven, sinks, bathtub, I know in my room I have my laptop charging cable always plugged on, same with my printer, and side table lamp, wi-fi router device, and TV/VCR/DVD player are always plugged on as well as the TV Antenna.

Now my parents are complaining about the way I wash our dishes, we have a dish washer but its from 70's era and was never fixed. So we don't use it period and wash our dishes with soap and water, but my parents have suggested get a bucket, fill it with soap and water, and take a plate, wash it with the sponge, as well as the other dishes and cups, then rinse everything, and everything will be cleaned. INSTEAD of wasting water, by letting the water run, and wash at the same time.

I prefer letting the water run and wash at the same time, but they want me to use the bucket method, and not waste a lot of water. Typically it takes me about 5-10 minutes to wash everything in the sink at times, having the water running while washing everything. Is that too much time wasting water and soap?

How do you all wash your dishes?

Before everything else, about how many people are in your household? Not to state the obvious, but a household of 3 or more people will use substantially more power than someone living by themselves.

Switch out your night lights to battery powered, motion sensor activated LED ones. One of the popular brands that I've seen online is Mr Beams, you can start your search from there.

Unplugging stuff, I don't think Ruth4Truth necessarily meant to unplug anything the moment it's going idle for a few hours. If you have a rarely used spare/guest room at your place, unplug the lamps, clocks, or spare TVs. Think over how often anybody actually uses some of those appliances, like exercise equipment.

Your parents are sort of on the right track if you're looking to squeeze out a little more efficiency. How much you'd benefit from changing your own washing habits depends a lot on your own current skill and average load of dishes. If you decide to give their idea a try, then rather than using a bucket it'll be easier to just plug the drain in the sink. I wouldn't bother if you're just washing dishes for yourself though. Might be worth it if it's for a couple of people or more.

[mikumiku]

Well my parents are still complaining about the bill being so high just because it was $350 like once, they say our bill should be around $150-200 bucks not $300 or more. So again is really unplugging the TV, TV anetenna, turning off the ceiling fan, unplugging the night light, REALLY going to save money on electricity?

[Mr_Geek]

Originally Posted by mikumiku

Well my parents are still complaining about the bill being so high just because it was $350 like once, they say our bill should be around $150-200 bucks not $300 or more. So again is really unplugging the TV, TV anetenna, turning off the ceiling fan, unplugging the night light, REALLY going to save money on electricity?

No. Not much.

[mikumiku]

Here is what one of our bills looked like, and with water and elecrticity put together it came out to around $366.81.

ELECTRIC SERVICE
Customer Charge 22.75
Energy Charge 227.19
Electric Regulatory Adjustment Charge 11.37
Public Benefits Charge (3.6% of the Electric Total) 9.41
Electric Total $270.72

WATER SERVICE
Water Customer Charge 58.50
Tier 1 12.00 HCF 28.08
Tier 2 0.14 HCF 0.40
Drought Charge ($0.75 x 12.14 HCF) 9.11
Water Total $96.09

So it being in the $300's is a lot of money according to my parents.

[Cloudwalker]

Taking a closer look at my own bill, I can see why your parents are concerned.


Who is your provider and what part of the city do you live in?


Were the bill totals you quoted for the usage you indicated earlier, i.e. $270 for Electric Usage 543 kWh, and $96 for Water Usage 10.65 HCF Usage in Gallons 7, 966? If so, then someone needs to call the utility and question the rates they are using for both power and water, because they would appear to be way out of whack.


As a comparison, we are with LADWP and for the 60 day period ending mid-March, we used 1565 kWh (electric space heaters and crappy pool pump that we need to replace pushing usage up) and our total bill for electric charges including tax and surcharges was $272.82. You used a third of the amount that we did, but you were billed the same amount. There is differential pricing in the city - but not that much different.



Same for water (and you seriously need to look for leaks). We used 22HCF and our total water bill was $102.39. You used only 12HCF, but your bill is almost the same.


It's also worth figuring out if your bill is based on estimated usage or actual usage. If it's estimated, and you think it's too high, you can request that they come and read the meter. But this can also work the other way, e.g. if they've been sending you bills based on estimated usage and then they read the meter and the actual usage is higher, you'll get a higher bill.


If your household is low income, you may qualify for California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) which gives a 20% discount on power rates and the CA Low Income Energy Efficiency program which helps with insulation, water heater blankets, etc. There's also a program called Project Angel to help people who don't qualify for those types of programs. But for all of them, you have to ask, it won't just be offered.


Probably the best way your parents can start to reduce the bill is calling the utility and getting them to explain the rates.

[mikumiku]

Originally Posted by Cloudwalker

Taking a closer look at my own bill, I can see why your parents are concerned.


Who is your provider and what part of the city do you live in?


Were the bill totals you quoted for the usage you indicated earlier, i.e. $270 for Electric Usage 543 kWh, and $96 for Water Usage 10.65 HCF Usage in Gallons 7, 966? If so, then someone needs to call the utility and question the rates they are using for both power and water, because they would appear to be way out of whack.


As a comparison, we are with LADWP and for the 60 day period ending mid-March, we used 1565 kWh (electric space heaters and crappy pool pump that we need to replace pushing usage up) and our total bill for electric charges including tax and surcharges was $272.82. You used a third of the amount that we did, but you were billed the same amount. There is differential pricing in the city - but not that much different.



Same for water (and you seriously need to look for leaks). We used 22HCF and our total water bill was $102.39. You used only 12HCF, but your bill is almost the same.


It's also worth figuring out if your bill is based on estimated usage or actual usage. If it's estimated, and you think it's too high, you can request that they come and read the meter. But this can also work the other way, e.g. if they've been sending you bills based on estimated usage and then they read the meter and the actual usage is higher, you'll get a higher bill.


If your household is low income, you may qualify for California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) which gives a 20% discount on power rates and the CA Low Income Energy Efficiency program which helps with insulation, water heater blankets, etc. There's also a program called Project Angel to help people who don't qualify for those types of programs. But for all of them, you have to ask, it won't just be offered.


Probably the best way your parents can start to reduce the bill is calling the utility and getting them to explain the rates.

We live in Glendale so its the Glendale Water and Power company here, and with their jobs and how much they make, I doubt we will qualify for any government programs, and knowing my parents they will say we don't need those programs because all we have to do is cut back on usage and we can do it ourselves not need help etc.

[Cloudwalker]

The bill would still seem to be way out of order.


These are the rates per kwh for standard service from Glendale Water and Power website (sorry, don't know how to reduce font size on this site):

Customer Charge - per meter per day
$0.3500 Energy Charges - perkWh July through October (High Season) First 10kWh per day$0.1544 Next 10kWh per day$0.1914 Remaining kWh$0.2284 November through June (Low Season) First 10kWh per day$0.1295 Next 10kWh per day$0.1604 Remaining kWh$0.1977

Even if you worked it out charging all usage at the highest rate during the low season (0.1977 x 543kwh), that's still only $107.35, less than half of your energy charge of $227.


Has anyone actually called them and queried it?

[mikumiku]

No, my family has not called and ask them any info, what should they be asking when they do call them?

[Ohky0815]

Why are your parents asking you to do this and not themselves?

You can turn down your water heater or put it on a timer even. Wash your clothes on cold. Line dry your clothes. Alternate dishwashing and clothes washing days. Take showers and NO baths. Cover any windows with film to cut drafts. Use fans and set AC to different temp so it doesnt run as much.

[mikumiku]

Originally Posted by Ohky0815

Why are your parents asking you to do this and not themselves?

You can turn down your water heater or put it on a timer even. Wash your clothes on cold. Line dry your clothes. Alternate dishwashing and clothes washing days. Take showers and NO baths. Cover any windows with film to cut drafts. Use fans and set AC to different temp so it doesnt run as much.

Because they don't like the fact, that I have the TV on, while my laptop is on and I have 2 things on at once, and using both at the same time wastes a lot of electricity. And then me sometimes having the TV, laptop, and ceiling fan going is more electricity and money adding up the the bill.

We all take showers, never take baths just use the shower head. And we don't have a dish washer, we use our hands to hand wash the dishes, cups, etc.