Be ready for your electric bills to skyrocket! (Duquesne: 2013, loan)

[gg]

Originally Posted by Caladium

One silver lining for those who don't have AC is they won't have to pay the high bills that everyone with AC will be seeing as a result of the heat wave.

I will pay for A/C in this weather. Not sure how anyone can sleep in this, unless they have a whole house attic fan. Those help and I have lived with them. At least they drag some of the heat out, but the humidity stays.

[hempfield mania]

Originally Posted by Caladium

I'd look into this raubre. Even my bills weren't that high and I live in a fairly big house.

Agreed,
Something wrong with your bill unless you are keeping your AC on at 62 degrees constantly.

Heck, I pay as I go and $150 is a bad month (high) for me and that is a 1500 sf crappy Ryan split entry home and I run an auxilary unit for my addition plus I have a pool filter on a good bit of the day.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

I will pay for A/C in this weather. Not sure how anyone can sleep in this, unless they have a whole house attic fan.

We sleep in the nude and just sweat it out. It's like we have our very own personal saunas!

[raubre]

I talked to my landlord yesterday to se ewhat he would recomend having my thermostat set at in the summer. He said most people in my complex have thiers set at 76 when they are at home. When they aren't they up it to 80. I had mine set at 73 when I was both at home and away. I guess that's what happened.

But anyway I called Duqesne Light and asked about the budgest ammount. They said I can pay that (which I probably will start doing) but adding a bit more into that each month so it somewhat evens out.

I am not very savvy when it comes to the thermostat. :/

[greg42]

Heh, you're like my boss. He has a big house with two A/C units, zones, etc. And he complains that it will only get down to 76 in the 90-degree days. He'd rather have it be like 72 or lower!

For most people, though, 76 should be enough to feel comfy inside when it's hotter than that outside. (When I was growing up we were lucky to get much of the house down to about 78.) I usually bump it up a degree or two in the morning when I leave the house, but I just realized I forgot this morning. Oh well. Even if it's about the same temp outside the A/C will probably feel better because it takes the humidity out of the air.

Another thing to keep in mind with central A/C: if you are having trouble with certain areas of the apartment, for example where it gets more sun, they may not get down to the temp that the A/C is set on before it goes off. To fix that you can adjust the vents so that the one nearest the thermostat is closed or mostly closed. Some tweaking of the vents can help equalize the temperature throughout your apartment/house.

If you have a window unit with a digital thermostat, though, it wouldn't be that unusual to set it on 73 IMO. I stayed at a house last week with a window unit in bedroom, and we actually set it on 70. It didn't actually get that cold in the room, though. Only the air right next to it ever really gets that cold, so you have to compensate a bit for that fact by setting it lower. Even just a few feet away the temp was likely a few degrees warmer.

I've never paid the budget amount, but certainly that's a way to have a level electric bill throughout the year if you prefer it. For me, it's always been that when the electric bill goes up the gas bill goes down and so forth, so it kind of equals out that way. I just like to keep paying the real bills.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

My house gets cold like a morgue, so setting the AC to 72 degrees isn't a real task. My electric bill will go over $200 maybe once a year, however I can get several gas bills that go into the $400's in the winter......

[gg]

Originally Posted by raubre

I talked to my landlord yesterday to se ewhat he would recomend having my thermostat set at in the summer. He said most people in my complex have thiers set at 76 when they are at home. When they aren't they up it to 80. I had mine set at 73 when I was both at home and away. I guess that's what happened.

But anyway I called Duqesne Light and asked about the budgest ammount. They said I can pay that (which I probably will start doing) but adding a bit more into that each month so it somewhat evens out.

I am not very savvy when it comes to the thermostat. :/

Just so you know, the so called budget plan is more expensive. You are going to be lumped in with the people that can't budget themselves. I have read about that so-called budget crap and it is a ripoff.

[tranceFusion]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Just so you know, the so called budget plan is more expensive. You are going to be lumped in with the people that can't budget themselves. I have read about that so-called budget crap and it is a ripoff.

This is completely wrong. You pay for your own electric. They charge you more in the winter and you have an escrow balance that shows up on each bill. The price each month may fluctuate if your escrow gets too small/large because you are tracking ahead/behind of their estimate for you for the year.

In other words, if you would normally pay $50 in the winter and $150 in the summer, you just pay $100 each month year round.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Just so you know, the so called budget plan is more expensive. You are going to be lumped in with the people that can't budget themselves. I have read about that so-called budget crap and it is a ripoff.

LOL No. You're thinking of some kind of assistance program. "Budget plan" for a utility bill is simply a way of evening out the monthly payment throughout the year. Really useful for gas bills for some people. Instead of getting $400 gas bills in winter and $50 bills in summer, they average out your usage and come up with the amount, maybe $160 per month all year. That amount may vary by $10 or so here and there if your usage tracks away from the pattern, but ultimately it tracks your personal usage and only yours. Has nothing to do with anyone else's usage. Gas companies and electric companies typically offer this. If you eventually end service, your final bill is the real amount, could even be a refund.

[gg]

Originally Posted by tranceFusion

This is completely wrong. You pay for your own electric. They charge you more in the winter and you have an escrow balance that shows up on each bill. The price each month may fluctuate if your escrow gets too small/large because you are tracking ahead/behind of their estimate for you for the year.

In other words, if you would normally pay $50 in the winter and $150 in the summer, you just pay $100 each month year round.

Wrong? Really? Seems you just used the word, "escrow". Are you to tell me the use of YOUR money isn't useful to them and not you? Add all those people up that can't budget their electric bills or gas bills and tell me the electric company's aren't making plenty of money on all the lovely interest off the poor.