extremely high electric bills--Any ideas??? (Dallas, Austin: apartment, power lines, coop)

[Dinkyfish]

We bought a brand-new "green" home in summer of '07. The house has all new energy efficient appliances. We have not received an electric bill as of yet under $350, highest was almost $500...We are very thrifty and our thermostat in the winter never goes above 68 and in the summer stays on 78. We are appalled. We've had the TXU come out and investigate. They've sent Oncor out to investigate. The AC/Heat people have investigated. We've changed bulbs to energy saver bulbs. We've tried unplugging anything not being used. Nothing seems to help. No one seems to have an answer. our kilowatts show an average of 3,000 a month, this is double the average household. We live in a 3000 s.f. home. anyone have any ideas for avenues we haven't tried? we're extremely frustrated! We moved here from the Austin area in '07. In 23 years this is our 4th home. We've never ever had this problem before (our 1st home was a 50 year old home, no insulation, old drafty windows---never high bills like this one).

[poisonakki]

Seems like you're doing everything reasonably possible too save on energy bill. The energy company usually don't offer you squat in terms of explaination other than give you suggestions on how to minimize your energy consumption (often time stuff we already know and have done). got a $266 bill on a 2 bedroom apartment that I share with no one and isn't home half the time . They couldn't explain that either.


And I thought about TXU but hearing this makes me think they are all the same (the one I currently use is reliant)



Good Luck!

Originally Posted by Dinkyfish

We bought a brand-new "green" home in summer of '07. The house has all new energy efficient appliances. We have not received an electric bill as of yet under $350, highest was almost $500...We are very thrifty and our thermostat in the winter never goes above 68 and in the summer stays on 78. We are appalled. We've had the TXU come out and investigate. They've sent Oncor out to investigate. The AC/Heat people have investigated. We've changed bulbs to energy saver bulbs. We've tried unplugging anything not being used. Nothing seems to help. No one seems to have an answer. our kilowatts show an average of 3,000 a month, this is double the average household. We live in a 3000 s.f. home. anyone have any ideas for avenues we haven't tried? we're extremely frustrated! We moved here from the Austin area in '07. In 23 years this is our 4th home. We've never ever had this problem before (our 1st home was a 50 year old home, no insulation, old drafty windows---never high bills like this one).

[loves2read]

you should consider the idea that the meter on YOUR house may actually not be the meter that is being gauged for your usage...all meters have a code number--if the installers switched the meter that was tied to the address/your account and installed it at different location--whenever it is being read, it goes to your account---
have heard on the Dallas board of that happening in new development--person had been paying a much lower bill than seemed "normal" for house/family size--when mistake was discovered that person had actually used many more KWH (in part because they thought house was efficient and they could be greedy with electric use and not see uptick in meter readings)...
person owned for monies used and not paid by THEM--the other person who had been paying higher bills than they should have got rebate...

second--have the Oncor people turned off all electricity to your house and verified the meter was not running --
there are small, individual meters you can buy and use to assertain how much each appliance/or electrical item is using...you plug it into the outlet and plug the device into it--
might consider hiring one of the energy saver type companies to come out and do audit for you

frankly just because a house is advertised as "energy efficient" does not mean it is ... if you have a tract home/large developer built--then many builders do the minimum necessary to get that rating--and often it involves just using appliances rated as energy efficient but other factors like the HVAC system is pretty in-efficient--do you have ALL electric home or natural gas heating/water heaters???
there is probably not OVER abundance of insulation--just the code minimum and often lot of inefficient duct work in attic and a furnace/compressor that is minimum SEER rating--using an electric water heater is pretty inefficient as well if you have one of those...
if you have can-lights in ceiling=-they are notorious energy hogs...unless they are upgraded...

just be aware that almost anything plugged in to an outlet is drawing power when it is not turned on/in use--if you want to make sure that "idle" electrical appliances are not drawing power you have to plug into power strip and turn that off after using the items...
had to do with something like built in microwave or oven--and they draw some power all the time just to keep the clock running if nothing else...
and unless you are getting your electric from a co-op you probably will never get a fair electric rate...since most electric providers have higher need for profit than a coop does...

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by loves2read

you should consider the idea that the meter on YOUR house may actually not be the meter that is being gauged for your usage...all meters have a code number--if the installers switched the meter that was tied to the address/your account and installed it at different location--whenever it is being read, it goes to your account---
have heard on the Dallas board of that happening in new development--person had been paying a much lower bill than seemed "normal" for house/family size--when mistake was discovered that person had actually used many more KWH (in part because they thought house was efficient and they could be greedy with electric use and not see uptick in meter readings)...
person owned for monies used and not paid by THEM--the other person who had been paying higher bills than they should have got rebate...

second--have the Oncor people turned off all electricity to your house and verified the meter was not running --
there are small, individual meters you can buy and use to assertain how much each appliance/or electrical item is using...you plug it into the outlet and plug the device into it--
might consider hiring one of the energy saver type companies to come out and do audit for you

frankly just because a house is advertised as "energy efficient" does not mean it is ... if you have a tract home/large developer built--then many builders do the minimum necessary to get that rating--and often it involves just using appliances rated as energy efficient but other factors like the HVAC system is pretty in-efficient--do you have ALL electric home or natural gas heating/water heaters???
there is probably not OVER abundance of insulation--just the code minimum and often lot of inefficient duct work in attic and a furnace/compressor that is minimum SEER rating--using an electric water heater is pretty inefficient as well if you have one of those...
if you have can-lights in ceiling=-they are notorious energy hogs...unless they are upgraded...

just be aware that almost anything plugged in to an outlet is drawing power when it is not turned on/in use--if you want to make sure that "idle" electrical appliances are not drawing power you have to plug into power strip and turn that off after using the items...
had to do with something like built in microwave or oven--and they draw some power all the time just to keep the clock running if nothing else...
and unless you are getting your electric from a co-op you probably will never get a fair electric rate...since most electric providers have higher need for profit than a coop does...

Excellent post. Too soon to rep you.

[Guingirl]

I am assuming that you made sure that your price per killowatt was not changed? Currently we are with Reliant and pay 13.6 per killowatt, have a 3500 sq ft house and pay about 325.00. It did spike for December, but we always do due to the colder temperatures and Christmas lights, etc.

[loves2read]

the energy companies were just like anyone else--when prices for oil/natural gas were so high in May they "locked in" their prices to avoid having to pay higher--supposedly for the good of their clients---
unfortunately they were not any more prescient than most people and when the bottom fell out they are still committed to paying higher than market--
so for the past 4 months or more--rates have been high because the raw fuel used is still at the higher prices of summer months...
when will users start to see benefit of lower raw energy costs--probably never--
face it
once people are used to paying higher bills--what company will turn away higher profits--if their costs go down, they will find ways to cause users to pay more--
either the surcharge for peak use will cover more KWHs--there will be fees for doing things like providing "improved service" i.e. clearing trees along power lines, adding digital meters that no one wants that should be normal operating costs taken out of their profits so that profits go down--that is not happening...
they are already complaining that useage is dropping (people really are trying to cut back and construction slowdown has reduced number of new users)...so their baseline is dropping...and their overall gross income is dropping--so they have to do something to max profitability...

until the state utility board gets off its collective doofus and become "energized" about giving power to the people/consumers vs the power companies/lobbiests---you will never see "cheap" energy rates

[corpex]

I would love to have a $500 max electric bill! Our bills in the summer averaged $750 with the highest besing $899!!

Which is another reason why we are getting out of California and moving back to Fort Worth.

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by corpex

I would love to have a $500 max electric bill! Our bills in the summer averaged $750 with the highest besing $899!!

Which is another reason why we are getting out of California and moving back to Fort Worth.

That is HORRIBLE! It's almost as much as my mortgage! BTW, our bill for an 1800 square foot house averages around 130 dollars a month year round. It peaks in the Summer at about 170 and goes down in the Winter to around 110.

[corpex]

Tell me about it. it is sad when you open the bill and see $625 and start high fiving!

Mind you this is for a 3500 sqft house, but my home in Crowley is 2400 and the highest we ever has was $350 and that is with the thermo on 72.

Can't wait to get back!

[booz30]

I have a 3000 sq ft house in california in the desert and i pay 100 bucks:d