Poll: Californians - How much was your December PG&E Bill? (Redding: apartment, mattress)

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

This is my first attempt at posting a poll, so bear with me if I do it wrong...

We hear people constantly on the California forums wondering about the cost of living in CA.

Yes, housing is often very high in CA depending on where you are. But, the cost of heating/electricity/gas is usually much lower here compared to other states.

So, if you answer the poll, please also post what city/area you are in in CA, and approx how many square feet you are heating, so people researching whether or not to move here can see what their costs would be.

I am in Redding, CA, in a tiny studio apt approx 250 sq ft, on the 2nd story of an old converted hotel, which was renovated to be really energy efficient.

My Dec bill for all electricity, including heating, was only $30. I only use electricity in my apt, no gas, and my hot water is included in my rent. So, this bill did not include my hot water usage.

The coldest it ever got in my apt was probably 63 degrees and I actually rarely turned on the heat during Dec. It got down into the 30s at night, but into the 60s during the day.

[Galaxie Girl]

I think PG&E stands for Pacific Gas & Electric, right? We don't have that here in SoCal. We have SoCal Gas and SoCal Edison (electric), which come on separate bills.

I live in north OC, probably about 15 to 20 miles in from the beach (as the crow flies). We have a 4 bed 2 bath house but we have the 3 spare bedrooms closed (and the vents to them closed) since we rarely use them (office, spare bedroom, and storage rooms). Whole house is about 1200 sf, but we heat about 800 sf of it or so. We have central heat and a/c. Heater, dryer, water heater, and cooking range are gas, wall oven is electric. As I recall, I believe our last bills we got were around/just over $30 each, so just over $60 total.

Our bills fluctuate throughout the year: more electric in summer than winter, more gas in winter than summer, so it typically balances out. Highest electric bill ever was about $65, lowest was about $25 I think. Highest gas bill ever was about $50, lowest was about $15. I'm ballparking here, trying to remember off the top of my head. Normally, when you add our power and gas together each month, it's between $60 and $80 a month.

I should note 2 things:
1) We have a fireplace, and we scrounge around all year long for free firewood. We burn fires on cold evenings, which heats our living/dining/kitchen area nicely. Since we want it colder (low 60s) when we go to bed, and our master bed is at the other end of the house from the fireplace, we don't have to turn the heat on much during the night (just set it to low 60s, typically only comes on during really cold nights). However, we've been using the heat more than we used to (been living in this house almost 6 years), and I haven't really noticed a change in our gas bill, probably since gas is a pretty efficient energy source.
2) We are super frugal on our energy usage (helps that we only have 2 people in our home, no kids.... yet). We get the little letter from SoCal Edison every so often, and we're always in the bottom 3 households in our neighborhood for energy usage (apparently they monitor each house and compare them). We're very cheap in general.

[18Montclair]

Around $300

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Just north of $50.

However ... we sucked it up during the cold snap barely using the heat (house was about 64 F for most of each day). Late in the month when it got warm we used no heat.

[OwlKaMyst]

We have a 3 bedroom house which I think is over 1,300 sq ft., gas heater in the basement. The heater works way to well in the bedrooms, but not so well for the rest of the house. We cook on gas and have a gas waterheater. Sometimes we turn down the heater and just used electric space heaters for the room we are in.
I just got the bill yesterday $215, we are in Mendocino Co. outside city limits between Hopland and Ukiah.

[sav858]

$436! I live in a 1100 sq ft apartment with an electric heater from the early 80's. We even try to limit using it by having space heaters and leaving the central heat off at night. It's ridiculous. Sorry but I can't afford to Spare the Air at night many nights lol.

[BeauCharles]

It more than doubled from mild November. $122 for a 1200 sq foot house. I have an elderly parent living with me, so I need to keep it warm for her (72 degrees). If it were just me I'd turn the thermostat way down.

[tehsquishmeister]

$350+

My house is 3000 sq/ft with 2 furnaces. Cathederal/vaulted ceilings which look beautiful, but are really expensive to heat (give this some thought if you ever buy a house with high ceilings). I burn wood on top of that just to keep the house at a reasonable temperature.

I think electric blankets are in our future

[twins4lynn]

My PGE bill was $278 for December. 1450 sq ft home on the peninsula. Gas heater & stove, electric diswasher/washer/dryer.

My highest PGE bill usually is for the month of February and hits around $400. We'll see what happens this year.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by tehsquishmeister

I think electric blankets are in our future

LOL! When my husband and I were on our honeymoon in Maine, we had our first experience with a heating mattress pad. They're like heaven! I have one now. Like lying on a heating pad, great for my old bones and muscles, too. And allows me to keep the heat off at night.

Oh, and the dog likes it, too