BGE bill seems outrageous - anybody else? (Frederick, Laurel: appliances, credit)

[FallstonDad]

I live in the Fallston area of Harford County in a single family home approx 3000 s.f. I use electric for everything (no gas or oil etc...). My BGE bill is between $900-1100 every month during the winter and about $400 in the summer months. The winter months seem extremely high to me, and I was wondering if anyone else has similar bills. It seems I use between 6000-8000 kwhs during the winter months. BGE assures me that many people pay that much, and it costs a lot to heat a house. I would say that too if I were them. Anyway, just wondering what other people in a similar situation are paying. Also, my house is not that old, is fairly well insulated, and I have two new heat pumps (one for the lower levels and one for the upper level).

[mmemk]

That does seem pretty high. We live in a TH (1900 square feet), and have been paying in the low 200s the last few months (around 300/mo during peak of summer), for generally 700-800 kwhs. We 're split between gas and electric, though.

[childofaaco]

No one is home most of the day, and we keep our heat between 63-67 degrees in an 1100sqft 2 story duplex w/heat pump & electric furnace. Our BGE bill just hit $200. We also ran 7 strings of christmas lights for 2-3 hours a night. Come to find out that the coils on our 10yo heater are almost completely clogged, which is causing the auxillary heat to run a lot which is expensive. A friend w/a 1900sf 2 story single family home, heat pump electric furnace just spent $350 last month, 2 people are home all the time and like it warmer (72-75ish) but they have a new heat system (<2 years old) and just had their siding insulated and replaced, and added fresh attic insulation. Both houses have vinyl replacement windows.

[7th Direction]

That seems really high!!!

We have Allegheny Power, which is about 1/2 the cost per kwh than BGE (I'm familiar with BGE) and we only spend about $130 during the coldest of months (translate that to about $260 for BGE)! We have a 2000 sqft home a little over 1 year old that is heated by electric.

However, my husband's parents have BGE and their bill was for $700 last month. I'm not surprised though, they constantly have a lot of lights on (during the day) and TV on constantly and appliances on/plugged in all the time. They don't believe in conserving energy, so I guess they shouldn't complain about the bill!

[PenguinSix]

We hit $500 sometimes with a four floor high ceiling house with two heat pumps.

You might want to check if your heat pumps are out of date and not efficient.
If your water heater is heating the water too hot.
If you have a lot of computers on 24/7

Check the BGE calculator here and see if you are in the ballpark. If not you might want to call BGE and ask for an audit or a possible repair of your meter.

BGE :: Home Energy Suite

[Njrover0216]

I own a duplex that has about 1800 sq ft. We run basement heater when we are downstairs and keep our thermostats at 70-73, I am home all day and my bill budget bill is 190. I have brand new windows and a brand new unit as well...

[bande1102]

We have a two-story, 1800 ft SFH and everything is electric. We have new windows (put in last year), but our hot water heater is ancient and our heat pump is about 7 years old. I also work from home and have a huge computer station so sure that plays into it, too. We average about $200/month (taking into the account the extremely hot weeks in summer and cold days in winter). My most expensive bill ever was last winter when it hit close to $300. That was when it was bitter cold and my auxiliary heat kept cutting on--that uses tremendous electric. Anyway, we'd done budget billing for years and BGE was charging us $272/month. And then we'd end up with close to two months free. The credits showing up on our bill were ridiculous. Yet BGE would still adjust upwards every year. Not sure what's going on with that, but it was happening to several of our neighbors, too. We canceled budget billing.

[trying2moveup]

We just moved from Frederick to Laurel, and will now have both gas and electric through BGE (I was disheartened to read above that BGE is about double the kwh of Alleghany Power - poo!). We had a 3 level TH on gas heat in Frederick and I think the most we ever paid a month during the 8 years we lived there was $170 during the winter. Electric, the most we paid during the summer was probably $110. We are very conservative - have CFLs for all lighting and i would keep the heat at 60 during the winter and the a/c at 80 until I couldn't stand it anymore during the summer (then knock it down to 78). We also sleep inthe winter with the heat at 55-58. We have 2 kids too - just layer upon layer upon layer while awake and lots of blankets while asleep.

Here, in Laurel, we just moved so I am awaiting the first bill from BGE. We did go with the budget plan because we are now in a SFH that is about 600 sq ft more than our 1900 sq ft TH. They are using the previous owners' budget estimate for the first quarter until they adjust; they were at $347 for gas and electric. I am dying to see what we are actually using b/c I am freezing my a** off in this house (but my hands and feet are constantly cold due to medication I take). But I refuse to give the gas companies more of our hard earned money when we could use it for other things. I will keep tabs because if they are constantly adjusting upward as someone else mentioned above, we'll go off the budget plan - I was hesitant to do it in the first place (never done it before) because I feel that they ALWAYS end up making money on you somehow when you just pay the same thing every month. . .

To the OP - what do you keep your settings at?

[kjg1963]

We also live in Laurel and have BGE. Our budget billing is $273 a month. I always have a credit at the end of the year. Usually at least a month's worth. We live in a duplex built in 1898. It is just under 1,500 sf. It has no insulation whatsoever but does have new windows. We actually have breezes blowing through the house. We have to keep the heat at 76. We have no heating vents upstairs (luckily heat rises) and we use window units for AC. We probably have the least energy efficient house around. We have lights, tv's, appliances, and computer on constantly (shame on us). Ideally, our bill should probably be double what it is. However, they are using actual meter readings. I couldn't imagine having a bill as high as the OP. I'd have to give up eating food paying those kind of prices.

[ReefAreCoolToo]

I live in a 50 years rowhome with basement. My total bill for gas and electric is $196 but my actual usage is only $140. Budget billing..