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I'm really ticked right now!!! Just got the power bill and it's showing a portion "at the old rate" for $30 something. And then "at the new rate" over $173! The bill is $232! I am calling them tomorrow. What did they do, pass another major rate hike and forget to tell us??
We have a newer fridge that is more energy efficient than the old one, all the light bulbs are CFL's, the a/c is set at a suffering 85 24/7 and there isn't much more we can conserve on and the bill went HIGHER than last month when we used more power!
I am suspecting that nobody is really reading the meter, and they are "assuming" we are one of those "average" households, but we are not! Or, the stupid smart meters have arrived. I thought those were set up to punish the a/c hogs.
Something is going on, and if this is going to be a trend, I definitely want to relocate to a state where we actually just pay for usage and not tons of fee's for other junk, building more power stations etc. We just cannot afford these kinds of bills!
I'm really ticked right now!!! Just got the power bill and it's showing a portion "at the old rate" for $30 something. And then "at the new rate" over $173! The bill is $232! I am calling them tomorrow. What did they do, pass another major rate hike and forget to tell us??
We have a newer fridge that is more energy efficient than the old one, all the light bulbs are CFL's, the a/c is set at a suffering 85 24/7 and there isn't much more we can conserve on and the bill went HIGHER than last month when we used more power!
I am suspecting that nobody is really reading the meter, and they are "assuming" we are one of those "average" households, but we are not! Or, the stupid smart meters have arrived. I thought those were set up to punish the a/c hogs.
Something is going on, and if this is going to be a trend, I definitely want to relocate to a state where we actually just pay for usage and not tons of fee's for other junk, building more power stations etc. We just cannot afford these kinds of bills!
I'm looking at a bill that is almost to the dollar of your bill. I'm barely even comfortable sitting in my house and still paying out the you know what.
For some time I have thought things are fishy. Although I do click down the AC to 82 when we sleep, I can't sleep when it's hot, I generally run the AC on 84 and put it up to 86 when we leave. I used to run the AC on 78 and our bill is much higher than past summers.
I usually just read the forums for info, but the smart meter stuff peaked my interest because it's something I've been reading about for some time. Unfortunately (depending on your point of view) "smart meters" are coming and they will be here to stay. Contrary to one of the earlier comments, these meters are NOT being removed by other states. The Federal Government has encouraged and heavily subsidised the implementation of these meters, and as a result power companies are installing them all over the country. Lawsuits and PUC complaints have surged all in markets where these are installed, but from what I've seen/read almost every one was found to not be the result of an inaccurate "smart meter." Most common is the old, mechanical meter was less accurate and recording lower usage than what was actually occuring. In some parts of the country ulilities have purchased meters that have the ability to be disconnected and reconnected remotely. Not every "smart meter" has this capability. Like another poster explained, there's nothing about these meters that will save consumers money because they are fundamentaly the same as the meters they are replacing: they measure and record power consumption. These new meters are able to record usage on daily or even hourly intervals to give a better representation of when power is being consumed, instead of the current system that relies on a meter reader to record a reading on a monthly basis. These meters also have better theft and tampering prevention built in so again, there's another revenue protection incentive for utilities.
One of my big concerns is where are all the old meters going? There's likely millions of meters in this country that are going to be disposed of over the next decade or so. I suspect like everything else that's hazardous, they'll be shipped to China.
The bottom line with these new meters, at first you can expect to be wowed by your utility with announcements about how much more these meters are capable of (choosing your due date, seeing when/how much you use, improved accuracy to name a few), but these will ultimately be used to change the way we pay for power. Utilities would love to pass on high power costs to consumers who use a bulk of their power during peak times, these meters are a starting point. I don't understand NV Energy's claim that these new meters will add jobs. Most of these added 200 jobs will be contract workers doing the installations, but meter reading positions will be eliminated, some meter repairmen and field reps (if remote disc/reconnections are utilized) may also be eliminated as well. They will probably add a few departments to maintain the new system, but this won't result in a net gain, or even close to a net gain of employees.
I'm really ticked right now!!! Just got the power bill and it's showing a portion "at the old rate" for $30 something. And then "at the new rate" over $173! The bill is $232! I am calling them tomorrow. What did they do, pass another major rate hike and forget to tell us??
We have a newer fridge that is more energy efficient than the old one, all the light bulbs are CFL's, the a/c is set at a suffering 85 24/7 and there isn't much more we can conserve on and the bill went HIGHER than last month when we used more power!
I am suspecting that nobody is really reading the meter, and they are "assuming" we are one of those "average" households, but we are not! Or, the stupid smart meters have arrived. I thought those were set up to punish the a/c hogs.
Something is going on, and if this is going to be a trend, I definitely want to relocate to a state where we actually just pay for usage and not tons of fee's for other junk, building more power stations etc. We just cannot afford these kinds of bills!
I found this today which is most likely the reason for your higher bill....
"July 2010 will go down in the history books as the warmest on record for the Las Vegas ever. It also tied the record of 31 days of 100 plus heat, which we haven't seen since 1988. As far as rain - you guessed it dry and dry, Las Vegas had no real measurable rain for the month. Hopefully August will be different."
NV Energy customers pay about 12 cents/Kwhr which is probably close to the national average. Unfortunately installing CFLs does nothing to your bill when you have a/c and live in the desert. Replacing your fridge might save you a couple bucks a month, and in 10 years or so, the savings will pay for itself. Unless of course the compressor on your old fridge was running all the time. Even with t-stats turned a few degrees down, it was hot 24/7 and a/c's probably ran more than they didn't.
I read my meter a couple times a month so I'm not surprised when these big bills hit. It also helps me see what appliances are influencing my usage (aka seeing how much my 2 a/c units are killing me), but it also is a good way to compare my data to the power company's data. I'm obsessed with energy consumption so I'm trying to see what I can do to control it. If you suspect your meter is not being read, read it yourself and compare your reading to the one on your bill. Your bill should say when your meter gets read. It's highly unlikely that the meter reader is not reading your meter and then billing you whatever they feel is right.
NV Energy customers pay about 12 cents/Kwhr which is probably close to the national average. Unfortunately installing CFLs does nothing to your bill when you have a/c and live in the desert. Replacing your fridge might save you a couple bucks a month, and in 10 years or so, the savings will pay for itself. Unless of course the compressor on your old fridge was running all the time. Even with t-stats turned a few degrees down, it was hot 24/7 and a/c's probably ran more than they didn't.
I read my meter a couple times a month so I'm not surprised when these big bills hit. It also helps me see what appliances are influencing my usage (aka seeing how much my 2 a/c units are killing me), but it also is a good way to compare my data to the power company's data. I'm obsessed with energy consumption so I'm trying to see what I can do to control it. If you suspect your meter is not being read, read it yourself and compare your reading to the one on your bill. Your bill should say when your meter gets read. It's highly unlikely that the meter reader is not reading your meter and then billing you whatever they feel is right.
Contrary to what you may think, there have been many cases where NV energy does not have people read the meters, they lump so many area's into "averages." I am contacting the company this week and see what they can tell me. I find it pathetic that we do everything we can to save money, and it isn't happening.
Last year,bills were quite low compared to now. They keep raising the rates so they can build new power plants, or whatever, plus we are also going to get to pay for the new dumb meters with another raise in rates.
I would also like to know how others can set their thermostats at 75 or 78 24/7 with a bigger home SF wise and have lower payments than we do, with our smaller place. It doesn't make sense.
Contrary to what you may think, there have been many cases where NV energy does not have people read the meters, they lump so many area's into "averages." I am contacting the company this week and see what they can tell me. I find it pathetic that we do everything we can to save money, and it isn't happening.
Last year,bills were quite low compared to now. They keep raising the rates so they can build new power plants, or whatever, plus we are also going to get to pay for the new dumb meters with another raise in rates.
I would also like to know how others can set their thermostats at 75 or 78 24/7 with a bigger home SF wise and have lower payments than we do, with our smaller place. It doesn't make sense.
There's only 4 answers to that question. They either have better insulation, a more efficient AC unit, they are never home or they are lying.
I'm really ticked right now!!! Just got the power bill and it's showing a portion "at the old rate" for $30 something. And then "at the new rate" over $173! The bill is $232! I am calling them tomorrow. What did they do, pass another major rate hike and forget to tell us??
Your rate went DOWN during the month. If you don't like the change, maybe you can ask them if you can continue paying the higher rate.
Quote:
I am suspecting that nobody is really reading the meter, and they are "assuming" we are one of those "average" households, but we are not! Or, the stupid smart meters have arrived. I thought those were set up to punish the a/c hogs.
If you suspect your meter isn't being read, why don't you just go read it and compare it to your bill? I read mine on the last day of my billing cycle and it matched my bill.
Quote:
Something is going on, and if this is going to be a trend, I definitely want to relocate to a state where we actually just pay for usage and not tons of fee's for other junk, building more power stations etc. We just cannot afford these kinds of bills!
I guess using less energy didn't occur to you. You should be thankful that you only have to pay $0.12 per kwh. Las Vegas wouldn't exist if it weren't for cheap energy. Move to CA and you can pay PG&E four times as much for every kwh of electricity you use.
Here's my bill. My house is 2200 sq ft, I keep it at 78F constant, and I run my pool pump 18 hours a day. I only see $19 of fees, the rest is for electricity.
If I felt the need to lower my bill I'd blow some more insulation in the attic, install a radiant barrier, and plug the big hole in my garage where the previous owner thought storing stuff under the stairs was a good idea. House could stand new windows but the payback period is very long.
In cases where they do choose an average billing because they were unable to read your meter (usually because they cannot physically access the meter), it will be adjusted back to your real usage on the next physical meter read.
So if they used an "average" that was too high then your next bill would be lower than it's supposed to be, if they used an "average" that was too low then your next bill would be higher than it's supposed to be.
You pay for usage. Simple as that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PinkString
Contrary to what you may think, there have been many cases where NV energy does not have people read the meters, they lump so many area's into "averages." I am contacting the company this week and see what they can tell me. I find it pathetic that we do everything we can to save money, and it isn't happening.
Last year,bills were quite low compared to now. They keep raising the rates so they can build new power plants, or whatever, plus we are also going to get to pay for the new dumb meters with another raise in rates.
I would also like to know how others can set their thermostats at 75 or 78 24/7 with a bigger home SF wise and have lower payments than we do, with our smaller place. It doesn't make sense.
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