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I own a rather old house that was built in late 80s. I just got a stunning 275$ bill this month. I can admit that AC is running 24/7 and the usage has tripled!. But still I was taken aback by this bill. Is this normal, even if the AC ran 24x7? Any pointers on how to reduce the bill? Without AC, in the kind of heat we have here, the house will quickly turn into an oven.
Are we talking 1880's? There's no insulation.
1980's? That's not an old house! Still might have crappy insulation.
How big is this house? How many levels?
$275 a month was normal on a brand new house when I lived in SC. Summers were hot. We had central air.
Are we talking window units or central air? Huge difference. If central air, get it serviced.
How hot has it been where you are located? What's the thermostat set to? Is the unit really running 24/7? If it is, you need a service call immediately or else it will burn it's self out.
Turn the temp up in your house especially at night when you're sleeping. if you have different thermostats in different rooms, change the ones for rooms you don't use often. If you're not home during the day, turn the temp up!
Northeast Texas here - highs are in the upper 90s to around 100 in the summer, and lows are in the low 80s. Our house is 2500 square feet or so, two stories, and there are two of us here. We are home a lot.
I hate to say it, but we pay little attention to "energy conservation" when it comes to electricity and our comfort. It's hot hot hot here in Texas for about four months out of the year and we're just not going to be hot inside if we can help it!
We run the dishwasher once a day, and we do a load of laundry about every other day. We keep the AC at 72 degrees downstairs and 78 upstairs (we only turn it down upstairs if we are having overnight guests). We are not sticklers about turning off lamps and usually keep several on till we go to bed at night.
We have electric AC and gas heat. Just got our most recent electric bill and it was under $200, which is OK by me! Gas bill usually runs about $60 in the winter and about $30 in the summer.
Our water bill is the one that fluctuates the most, and it can get pretty high in the summer because we have an automatic sprinkler system and if we don't water things every other day, they turn brown. That bill can spike up to close to $200 in the hottest part of summer, but is barely noticeable in the other months.
Go solar and 2 things will occur
1.the solar panels o the roof will add an insulation factor against the heat of the sun during the day .
2. the power generated will some what compensate for the high energy bill .
I built my own solar array on my shop trailer so where I move It goes with me .
The house I live in is a modular so the roof is not designed for the added weight of solar panels .other wise I would do it my self.
My highest electric bill is about $85. ..I use a swamp cooler and only during the heat of the day.
When it cools in the evening I usually thoroughly open up the house and cool it down during the night, in the morning close every thing windows and shades ,and it makes a big difference .
Average humidity is about 50% and the temperatures are 95-100+ out side. It can get up to 85 in the house but that's a big difference from 100.
Estimated bill in previous months can lead to a high bill later
Quote:
Originally Posted by YelloJacket
I own a rather old house that was built in late 80s. I just got a stunning 275$ bill this month. I can admit that AC is running 24/7 and the usage has tripled!. But still I was taken aback by this bill. Is this normal, even if the AC ran 24x7? Any pointers on how to reduce the bill? Without AC, in the kind of heat we have here, the house will quickly turn into an oven.
What is "normal" is very subjective, and depends in part on your local rates, your house and household.
Was your meter replaced recently? Does a meter reader come and manually read the meter?
Before my area got "smart" meters with remote reading, sometimes the meter reader would skip my house two months in a row and I would get an "Estimated" bill. Then when he finally did take an actual reading, that month I'd get a huge electric bill.
I own a rather old house that was built in late 80s. I just got a stunning 275$ bill this month. I can admit that AC is running 24/7 and the usage has tripled!. But still I was taken aback by this bill. Is this normal, even if the AC ran 24x7? Any pointers on how to reduce the bill? Without AC, in the kind of heat we have here, the house will quickly turn into an oven.
Depends on where you live.
If you live in Texas, you can shop for a lower rate from a new electric provider, since it's deregulated.
A 1980s house is not old to me.
1. How much sf do you have?
2. What temp are you keeping the thermostat on?
3. Have you had the freon checked lately?
4. Do you change the thermostat temp up during the day to conserve, or whatever?
5. Is this a sudden rise in KW use? If so...it's not the house, is it?
6. Is it hotter this year than last year?
There are a lot of things to lessen elec bills. But if this is a new height of elec bill for you, and you're in the same house...it's not the house. It's your habits or the RATE.
If you look at your account online, most elec providers have charts and graphs showing your usage. You can look and see what days your KW use spiked, and even what hours.
I did a lot of things with my old house to lessen elec bills. No need to post those here, since it sounds like that's not your problem. A sudden rise in kw usage is not the house, since you had the same house last year, last month.
Yeah, a dollar amount for an electric bill is kind of meaningless without qualifying it with a lot of details about location, square footage, age of the house, age of windows & doors, how much insulation has been updated, type of A/C, what is used to run range, water heater, clothes dryer. It also needs to be expressed in kWh since electric costs vary wildly across the country.
My base electric draw is about 200 kWh. Any light that is on all the time is now LED. Heat, hot water, clothes dryer, and range are all natural gas. A big chunk of that load is a cable modem, a WiFi router, and a set-top box that all draw 15 to 20 watts 24x7. My plasma panel is also an energy hog.
I'm 1000 square feet with between R-30 and R-49 in the attic, R-13 walls, mostly argon-filled thermopane glasing, new exterior doors, and minimal air leaks since all the exterior walls have been gutted, re-insulated, and any air leak foamed. I cool with a 19 SEER mini-split that I turn on in May at 72F and run 24x7 until October. I'm in coastal Massachusetts where 90F is unusual. My peak A/C usage is another 125 kWh.
Electricity is expensive where I live. It's 22.1 cents per kWh this year and was 25.9 a year ago. My July/August electric bill is usually $60-something.
If I lived in a big plastic box in Texas or Florida, I'd expect massive electric bills. My big energy bills are in the winter for heat. I'm rarely cooling from much more than 85F down to 72F.
If I lived in a big plastic box in Texas or Florida, I'd expect massive electric bills. My big energy bills are in the winter for heat. I'm rarely cooling from much more than 85F down to 72F.
What about people who just live in regular houses in Texas or Florida?
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Estimated bill in previous months can lead to a high bill later
