How much are your electric/power bills? (apartment, appliances)

[binba]

We moved... from:
Mid-Wilshire, 800 sq.ft 1BR on the 8th floor, central A/C
To
North Hollywood, 650 sq.ft 1BR on the 3rd floor (top floor), central A/C

Our electric costs spiked: from $91 (600 KWh) to $235 (1,400 KWh). Both amounts are for the respective June-July periods. Going back to the summer of 2012 (still in mid-Wilshire) we paid $70 for 485KWh.
Even in the winter (Nov-Dec) we paid $72 (475KWh)

Does $235 make any sense? Would the temperature uptick in the valley justify a 130% increase in power usage? In both places I've always kept the thermostat at 78-80°F. And no, I haven't started an iron smelting factory at home or something...

(PS I can't figure out what the A/C power consumption should be... the label has about 20 different "heater amps" values, ranging from 18 to 54.)

[SUPbud]

next door neighbor has tapped into your electric line,
and is using the juice tied to your meter to grow their indoor pot farm.

[Texamichiforniasota]

Originally Posted by SUPbud

next door neighbor has tapped into your electric line,
and is using the juice tied to your meter to grow their indoor pot farm.

The above is possible

The valley is hotter, a top floor unit will be hotter, especially if the roof isn't well insulated or if it's tar/black shingles. Also the last two summers were cooler than avg. Still, the bills seem high for that sized unit.

[thelopez2]

If you kept it at 78-80, it will hardly run. Raise the outside temps to 85 now it is constantly running, it doesn't take a lot of difference to run up your AC bill. Is that DWP for June through July 1 or June and all of July?

[Mr_Geek]

Do you have window shades open during the day? What direction do your windows face? Being on the top floor is bad too. The roof absorbs heat all day and guess where that goes? The windows are also probably old and not efficient and the insulation is probably poor.

With that being said $235 is high for that small of a place. I have a really old, poorly insulated 800 sq foot house that I keep the AC much lower and my bill last month was only $150ish. Most utilities will do energy audits for free. Check out the website of your utility company. Someone may be stealing your electricity.

edit to add: does the AC seem to run all day at the temp you keep it at? It may need servicing (Freon etc..)

[BRinSM]

$235 is for 2 months, right? LADWP bills come every other month, so i assume so. anyways, the valley is hot, so that amount doesn't surprise me, ever for a smallish apartment. i have a 1600sf house in the valley, you don't even want to know what our big summertime LADWP gets up to. i can't even imagine what people with larger houses are shelling out.

[binba]

It is LADWP, so it is a bi-monthly bill (June 1 to July 31, more or less). The building is from 1984 and we don't get direct sunlight in the unit; the roof seems to be concrete but I've only got a glimpse of it once. (It definitely makes sense that the roof is in part the culprit, since we have to run the A/C more during the evening (7-10pm) than in the AM hours. The A/C was serviced a few months ago and had freon added so it seems to run well. It does not run all the time at all.

I was trying to get an idea of how much others pay, and it seems that our bill is excessive. I know I should do a 24hr "almost-all-appliances-off" cycle and check the meter, but it's not easy with me often working from home and with 2 cats that need to not melt.