What am I doing wrong? (Palm Springs: lease, mattress, homes)

[elflngchld]

That's interesting to know Sheri!

However, I did complain to them about the extreme costs of our bill and they brought someone out to "check our meter" and then told me it was accurate. Our January bill was $1000 and our February was $550, so if there's an adjustment coming, I'd love to see it!

I know our electricity is going to be higher than normal b/c we are all electric as there was no gas lines in our neighborhood, but this is ridiculous.

Do you use your heater or a/c? What kind of temperatures do you use to keep your bill down? If you don't mind sharing, how much of a difference is it?

I was just... completely outraged at the total on our bill. I was just certain it was a mistake. However, they told us about three weeks after the initial bill that the recount showed that there was no error.

I see so many other people talk about how $200 for electricity is high. ROFL!!!

Would love to hear how other people keep their bills down. I think I am going to invest in:

A. Ceiling fans for the large rooms.
B. Dark curtains for south and west facing windows (two sliding glass doors and a total of four windows.
C. Look into the costs for a whole house swamp cooler.
D. Keep the thermostat as high as i can comfortably without killing me, my cats, and my chinchillas.

For the winter, i know i have to start really using the fire place, and keep the thermostat lower when we do use it...

Originally Posted by sheri257

I don't live that far from you and, our bills never got that high ....

But, we just had a HUGE adjustment in our utility bill to the point that we haven't had to pay anything for four months.

I don't know what happened or why but, I got a bill showing adjustments going back to last summer ... stating that our account had been credited for various amounts over several months.

I didn't call the power company about it but, maybe this is what happening in your case. Some of kind of major error because ... your bills are way higher than ours were ... even before this adjustment.

[da jammer]

Originally Posted by elflngchld

Thanks for the response da jammer. However, we are a single story house, no garage, and no attic. We have an under-house crawl space, but that's all. The house does have insulation throughout.

I'll think about a pay-plan, but my interest is in reducing the amount of electricity used, not spreading the cost out throughout the year. Thanks

Understood but please note that while every response by members may not work for or interest you we have hundreds if not thousands of people reading this that are in a similar situation and they may be able to apply some of what is discussed here to their circumstances.

The area between your ceilings and roof would be what I was referring to when I said "attic space". This is the area that can usually benefit greatly with additional insulation. I know there is window tinting available that is safe and compatible for dual pane windows which should help with the summer heat.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by elflngchld

Our house was getting down to 50 at night internally once we stopped running the heater at night, and that just made getting out of bed so hard! But we got used to it after that nasty bill.

Get a programmable thermostat. Set it to go down to 50 at bedtime so you don't have to remember to turn it down. Then set it to blast the heat for a bit before you get up so the house is warm when you get out of bed. In my case, my wife gets up about 6:00 and leaves by 6:30. I don't get up until about 7:30-8:00 most days. We have the heat come on from 5:45-6:15 at 72. It never really reaches 72 but it does take the chill off when its been 50 inside overnight. Then it goes back down during the day so, again, we don't have to remember.

[sheri257]

Well ... everybody I know who has a swamp cooler says it's not that effective because, even though we live in desert, swamp coolers work best with little humidity but, with all of the new development our area has enough humidity to render it useless.

At least that's what they tell me ... I don't know for sure.

For winter nights I run the heat at 65. Why? Because a couple of years ago we had a bad freeze and people's pipes burst ... literally displacing people from their homes for months on end so ... I don't take any chances with that. If you're not going to run the heat at least run drips on your faucets.

Summer, of course, is the toughest ... usually August is the worst. But we run the thermostat at 75 because we need to keep our dogs cool during the day. Basically August or July is usually our worst bill of the year ... sometimes up to $600. But, at some point the marine layer usually kicks in and we get a reprieve with 80 degree weather.

I don't know what to tell you. I had some really high bills last year ($300+ on average) and figured it was the much publicized utility rate increase, then they reduced it so ... I'm as baffled as you are at this point.

[elflngchld]

That is really interesting Sheri!

It's still pretty dry over in my area so maybe the swamp cooler might work. Our pipes did freeze on one of the nights this past winter. They didn't thaw out until about 12 the next day. The water company told me to run a slight drip in one of the faucets whenever it is predicted to get 35 or under at night, and that really did help. My kitty loved it too She sat at the faucet drinking the drip! Since our water bills have been very low, that seemed to work fine.

It was AUgust when we had the $800 bill. I guess I'll just do my best to make modifications to my house to keep it cooler and use the fans, keep it at about 75-80 during the summer for the cats and chinchillas, and plan for a high electricity cost during August in particular. - and I better go get a programmable thermostat too!!!

Thank you so much for your feedback!

I was just so baffled, I'm glad to know what I'm doing wrong! Being a first time homeowner, I've never had to deal with this type of stuff before. All of your suggestions have been very helpful!

Originally Posted by sheri257

Well ... everybody I know who has a swamp cooler says it's not that effective because, even though we live in desert, swamp coolers work best with little humidity but, with all of the new development our area has enough humidity to render it useless.

At least that's what they tell me ... I don't know for sure.

For winter nights I run the heat at 65. Why? Because a couple of years ago we had a bad freeze and people's pipes burst ... literally displacing people from their homes for months on end so ... I don't take any chances with that. If you're not going to run the heat at least run drips on your faucets.

Summer, of course, is the toughest ... usually August is the worst. But we run the thermostat at 75 because we need to keep our dogs cool during the day. Basically August or July is usually our worst bill of the year ... sometimes up to $600. But, at some point the marine layer usually kicks in and we get a reprieve with 80 degree weather.

I don't know what to tell you. I had some really high bills last year ($300+ on average) and figured it was the much publicized utility rate increase, then they reduced it so ... I'm as baffled as you are at this point.

[Niners fan]

Just a follow-up to what I posted earlier... I just read that the ban on wood burning stoves was approved. It applies below 3000' and on certain days when the air quality is particularly bad.

[Wandering_Spirit]

I don't have much to advise on this but the only thing I can contribute is that out of all the heating methods around (oil, gas, electric) electric is the highest costing. I found this out a few years ago when I got my winter bill from the electric company. They were going over all the electric run things in the apartment and when I mentioned that I had electric heat the lady said: ahhhhhh, that explains it then. She even told me that the electric heat can be costlier than running the A/C in the summer, and this is with it off for at least 10 hours a day, or more, when I wasn't in the apartment. I feel for you with the high bill you have. Wish I had better things to say but it seems like many others have already given some great suggestions. Good luck with it.

[bhcompy]

because you're totally electric, another problem will be the water heater. i dont know if there is such thing as an on demand electric water heater, but you may want to invest in one or at least wrap your waterheater in insulation to prevent the cold from getting to it. when i had a water leak in my apt my power bill shot up like crazy because it was a hot water faucet. if you had a leak it would consistently be high though.

solar electricity and solar water heating are both viable solutions that would assist in reducing your energy, especially if you plan on staying a while(to get some sort of return for your investment). my grandparents had solar water heating installed in 1980, the government gave them a tax credit for most of it, and its paid huge dividends over the years with rising cost of natural gas.

the nice thing is that even if it is cold, the sun is out a whole bunch and has a high uv index in the southwest and still works great for both solar systems.

[whitechocolate86]

Is it because you are out in a rural area, that there are no gas lines coming to your house?

[EscapeCalifornia]

Is propane heat an option? I see people in rural areas with big tanks in their yards but I don't know if they hold enough to run the central heat for an reasonable amount of time.