[NewJeffCT]

Those bills do seem pretty high - I lived in a 3,600 square foot home in Avon for 5 1/2 years and our gas bill was $400 once in that entire time, and most winters topped out around $300 for a month. A programmable thermostat could help you out - if your bedrooms are on the second floor, you could have the thermostat downstairs programmed for 60 degrees at night, and then have it go back up to 66 or 68 maybe 30-45 minutes before your normal waking time. Then, you have a comfortable kitchen area to have your breakfast. Then, if it takes you an hour to get ready for work & school, you can have it go back down after you leave - only to go back up 30-45 minutes before the first person normally gets home from work.

Not sure if they still do this or not, but CL&P used to have residential rates that are higher during the daytime on weekdays, as most people were assumed to be at work. So, if somebody is at home doing laundry and using an electric clothes dryer during the daytime, you could be paying a higher rate for that electricity than you would if you did your laundry in the early morning, at night or on the weekends.

Also, I believe CL&P can do an energy audit of your home to see where you can save money through efficiency.

[urbanmyth]

Originally Posted by Autum1031

My family and I moved from Midwest to CT area this past fall, and we are dealing with serious sticker shock when it comes to utility costs. We're renting a 2900 sq foot home with natural gas heating, and both electricity and heating have been astronomically high. Every month we have been on a mission to try and be more efficient. We're better at turning off lights, turning the heat down during the day (we can't too much as we have a 3 year old at home), and so on. Heat ranges from 66 - 68 degrees depending.

A month ago we got a bill for $176 in electricity and $375 in heating...this considering we were gone for 8 days of the month for the holidays! So we really doubled down-- we made sure no outdoor lights were on, ever. We're religious about turning lights off in most rooms, making sure our computers are turned off at night. We have a dual zone house so we make sure to turn the lower level down when we go to sleep upstairs.

Today I got our new bill. For our efforts, our electric went UP to $202, and our heating at $418!

I am just staggered by this and I don't know what else we can do to lower costs. Before moving in, our landlords estimated "$500 a month for utilities but we like to keep the house really warm" which my realtor thought really high. Now we're paying $600, and I'm freezing half the time!

We've done the usual methods of walking around the house looking for things draining energy...what else can we do? Is it worth asking for some sort of inspection to see if we're losing a lot of heat through poorly insulated doors or windows?

I know some of this is just the sticker shock of things costing so much *more* out here, (my winter time electric bill used to be $50, and my gas bill $150 tops), but this seems excessive considering we are actively trying to conserve. Are my expectations just out of whack or is this really high?

It's isolated to Connecticut. Our electric bill for the house in north central NC was $307 last month. it's 1600 square feet and we keep the thermostat at 65f.

[Autum1031]

Thanks everyone. A little more background...

We live in the Danbury area, and we use Connecticut Light & Power. I'll look into to see if there are other options to choose from.

The home was built in 2000. We've noticed some draftiness near the front door and the exterior walls in parts of the house are quite cold. For example, I left a pile of blankets next to the outside wall in our living room, and they were noticeably chilled when I picked them up several hours later. Never ran into this "back home," even the subzero temps of Minnesota.

No one is ever "not" at home, except for the 1-2 hours when maybe we're out shopping, or something. My husband is a SAHD with our 3 year old son, so there is always someone at home.

We don't turn the heat off, we just turn it down at night when we're sleeping, especially on the lower level.

I do the laundry every 2 weeks or so, it tends to pile up, and I do it on the weekends. We run the dishwasher every 2-3 days. All appliances are brand new. (stove and oven are gas but I think they still use a little electric). I don't use a hair dryer. We don't watch much TV, even on weekends. There are days we never turn it on. Appliance-wise, our computers gets the heaviest use.

The thermostat is the old-style, manual, non programmable ones. We used to have the programmable ones back home which we loved...we are asking the landlords if we can install programmable ones.

I don't consider 66 to be "high," actually, (though I'll agree 68 can be for a lot of people). It's a step down for us from what we're used to. (Yep, that's right, we could keep the temps at a cozy 69 degrees in the winter and pay $100/month to heat our house!) I'm sure my husband would be thrilled at turning the temps down even more as he's naturally warm, all the time, but my son & I are always cold when the temp is 66 in the house. Yes, of course we wear sweaters, flannel, etc.

We have thermal curtains for most of the rooms--brought them from Minnesota!-- but both my son & I are allergic to wool, down, etc. Even something with 10% wool makes me break out in hives.

I'm definitely going to investigate the electric companies, thank you for the list! Where I come from there are no options-- you have one company that services one area, that's it. (Of course, since my electric costs were typically around $50 for the whole month in the winter, it's not like I was going to complain!)

We will be buying a home in the next 1-2 years, and we'll definitely be looking for something smaller and easier to heat.

[JayCT]

Another thing you can do is have an energy audit done. CL&P offers a low cost audit where they come in and identify ways to cut energy costs. They will seal cracks and add weatherstripping. It really is worth it. Jay.

[willow wind]

In CT you will not ever have an electric bill of $ 50 a month for a 2900 square foot house. Just not going happen no matter what you do.

Be very careful when checking other electric companies. Sometimes their rates seem lower. However, you still have to use CL & P's distribution lines and other service charges. So while it may cheaper at the outset by the time Cl & P adds in their share there may not be that much of a difference. Check carefully.

I have to agree with the others- lower your thermostat. It's ridiculous, I know, to live in a cold part of the country and not being able to heat your home to where it's comfortable. The thermostats at my home don't know what it is to be set above 60-62 degrees even on the coldest days.

Learn to live in layers of clothes.

[urbanmyth]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Another thing you can do is have an energy audit done. CL&P offers a low cost audit where they come in and identify ways to cut energy costs. They will seal cracks and add weatherstripping. It really is worth it. Jay.

Absolutely right. It's a great service. Really helped my elderly parents.

[jp03]

Originally Posted by willow wind

In CT you will not ever have an electric bill of $ 50 a month for a 2900 square foot house. Just not going happen no matter what you do.

Be very careful when checking other electric companies. Sometimes their rates seem lower. However, you still have to use CL & P's distribution lines and other service charges. So while it may cheaper at the outset by the time Cl & P adds in their share there may not be that much of a difference. Check carefully.

I have to agree with the others- lower your thermostat. It's ridiculous, I know, to live in a cold part of the country and not being able to heat your home to where it's comfortable. The thermostats at my home don't know what it is to be set above 60-62 degrees even on the coldest days.

Learn to live in layers of clothes.

See I don't get this...is it worth saving 50 or 75 dollars a month to live in misery at 60?

Last winter did an experiment for 1 month kept temp 2 degrees colder than we normally do (64 instead of 66) we saved 22 lousy dollars. Set it at a temp you can at least live at. Living in blankets and sweaters all winter? I'd move first.

Same applies to summer..setting the temp at 76 instead of 73 net about a 25 dollar savings...and we were sweating the whole month.

[pulpfiction]

Welcome to CT...where you pay up the nose for everything, and get absolutely nothing particularly great in return.

Unless you moved here for some once in a lifetime career opportunity...I'd recommend returning to the midwest where it's far more livable.

Originally Posted by Autum1031

My family and I moved from Midwest to CT area this past fall, and we are dealing with serious sticker shock when it comes to utility costs. We're renting a 2900 sq foot home with natural gas heating, and both electricity and heating have been astronomically high. Every month we have been on a mission to try and be more efficient. We're better at turning off lights, turning the heat down during the day (we can't too much as we have a 3 year old at home), and so on. Heat ranges from 66 - 68 degrees depending.

A month ago we got a bill for $176 in electricity and $375 in heating...this considering we were gone for 8 days of the month for the holidays! So we really doubled down-- we made sure no outdoor lights were on, ever. We're religious about turning lights off in most rooms, making sure our computers are turned off at night. We have a dual zone house so we make sure to turn the lower level down when we go to sleep upstairs.

Today I got our new bill. For our efforts, our electric went UP to $202, and our heating at $418!

I am just staggered by this and I don't know what else we can do to lower costs. Before moving in, our landlords estimated "$500 a month for utilities but we like to keep the house really warm" which my realtor thought really high. Now we're paying $600, and I'm freezing half the time!

We've done the usual methods of walking around the house looking for things draining energy...what else can we do? Is it worth asking for some sort of inspection to see if we're losing a lot of heat through poorly insulated doors or windows?

I know some of this is just the sticker shock of things costing so much *more* out here, (my winter time electric bill used to be $50, and my gas bill $150 tops), but this seems excessive considering we are actively trying to conserve. Are my expectations just out of whack or is this really high?

[pulpfiction]

I have an 1,110 sq. ft. place. My thermostat is set to 63 degrees 24/7. I use a space-heater (found a great Lasko-branded one on Amazon) while I'm home, as well.

You'd think this would result in reasonable bills, given the conservative energy use and small area to cover.

My bills? $80-100/month for CL&P, and $200/month for propane.

[beer belly]

Originally Posted by Autum1031

Thanks everyone. A little more background...

We live in the Danbury area, and we use Connecticut Light & Power. I'll look into to see if there are other options to choose from.

I don't know if there is any truth to what I'm about to say (write), but a friend of mine told me that the other electrical companies will offer a teaser rate at first, then raise the rate once they have you......he also said that these smaller companies are unregulated, and can do as they please without approval from the commission......still gotta pay a delivery service to CL&P.....something to look into