What Does Your Electric Bill Average?...my latest one blew me away! (appliances, how much) - Mississippi (MS) - City-Data Forum

aiangel_writer · 08-19-2009, 01:40 PM

I got my latest electric bill in and almost stroked out!

It was $395.00....the only time it has ever been that high was when the a/c unit went on the blink!

I've used around the same amount of electricity as last year but the bill is much higher.

I live in about a 1600 sq ft house, one story with trees shading front yard and home from afternoon sun

What about you? What does your monthly electric bill look like, how does it stack up against same time one year ago?

jsherman9901 · 08-19-2009, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aiangel_writer

I got my latest electric bill in and almost stroked out!

It was $395.00....the only time it has ever been that high was when the a/c unit went on the blink!

I've used around the same amount of electricity as last year but the bill is much higher.

I live in about a 1600 sq ft house, one story with trees shading front yard and home from afternoon sun

What about you? What does your monthly electric bill look like, how does it stack up against same time one year ago?

Mine was $210. I have the same situation as you with shade trees, but my house is 2400 sf plus a 400 sf guest house. And I had guests for a week, running the air conditioner full-time in the guest house. I live in Lowndes County, power comes from 4-County Electric.

You should probably discuss this with your utility co. Sounds very, very unreasonable.

aiangel_writer · 08-19-2009, 08:35 PM

wow, sounds like I do need to have a talk with the utility company. It just perplexes me to no end on how I have such a high bill. On another thread someone mentioned turning all computers to sleep mode at night, and I am going to try that. We leave one small light on during the night and that is all.

It's not been a really hot summer, so the a/c has not been working overtime.

Thank you for your post. Seems many have dropped by but must not have any problems with their bills being a bit high.

jsherman9901 · 08-20-2009, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aiangel_writer

wow, sounds like I do need to have a talk with the utility company. It just perplexes me to no end on how I have such a high bill. On another thread someone mentioned turning all computers to sleep mode at night, and I am going to try that. We leave one small light on during the night and that is all.

It's not been a really hot summer, so the a/c has not been working overtime.

Thank you for your post. Seems many have dropped by but must not have any problems with their bills being a bit high.

Angel, do you have an electric water heater? I have 2 of them, but turned the temp down in each to 110. Plenty hot for my needs, and saves a bundle on the power bill. Also, do you use your electric dryer much? Those things are murder on the meter.

aiangel_writer · 08-20-2009, 08:12 AM

yep to both. I am constantally drying clothes. Used to hang them on the line, but severe allergies prevents me from doing that now. I have teen age son at home, he is quite the clothes man! And I do have an electric water heater, hmm...but this huge jump has me baffled..It was kind of sudden. I'm wondering if my a/c might be on the blink again. DH says its because I like it like a meat locker in here at night! sigh

marylee54 · 08-20-2009, 08:48 AM

unplug tv's at night, even when off the LCD is still on, draws power, that's how it picks up the remote signal. Only problem, it messes up all the game settings.

And unplug cell phone chargers if not charging, that is, don't leave them in the plug, they draw power. Little things do add up, our highest bill was $700+

Best thing I did was to get a lock box for the ac controls (we have dual zone). Personally, I don't care for programable thermostats, mainly because my daily schedule varies and I'm never on the same schedule. I found its cheaper to keep it at a constant setting than monkeying it up and down to meet your schedule, anyways.

But the best thing was that lock box, my kids were playing with it, one night found it at 65! Also, we had "guests" who would exclaim "its hot in here' then adjust it to their liking, hey, I put a stop to that. Its on 79, that's it, if you don't like it, go to your own home and set it on deep chill. Also, kids and their friends can't play with it.

A lock is better than a programable thermostat, IMO, you really have no idea how much people will play with that thing for their own comfort and your expense!

Oh, BTW, last bill was $275, with all of the above implemented!

Synergy1 · 08-20-2009, 09:13 AM

We have a 3,100 SF home. Our electric last month was $403.02....It is about $85 more than usual....Humidity was high so was our bill... We have a higher than usual insulated home that is 4 years old. Our A/C unit is also 14 SEER which is considered good.
Our friends keep their thermostat at 78 degrees and 80 at night....To us 78 is way too high and we keep out thermostat at 75 during the day and 74 or 73 at night......

aiangel_writer · 08-20-2009, 09:13 AM

Wow....that might be what I need to do, lock it and give my dh the key!!! I try using fans during the day which seem to help....and there are many plugs that I can unplug! Thank you for that info....

I wondered, do computers use much power when not in use? I have three in my office and son has one.

southernnaturelover · 08-20-2009, 10:24 AM

I don't think unplugging TVs and computers is going to help much, they amount of power they use is just a drop in the bucket compared to the bigger appliances.

I have been keeping my thermostat on 79, that's warmer than I like it, but it really helps with the power bill. When it comes to clothes, heavy fabrics like jeans and towels are really hard to dry, so what I do is hang them outside until they are just damp, and then I throw them in the dryer to finish them off, that cuts about 40 minutes off of the dryer time. Cooler and shorter showers will also help. I do put my computer on standby when not in use, but it's a laptop and it gets hot if I dont.

poptones · 08-20-2009, 10:26 AM

Are they CRT monitors or flat screens? A PC that's more than a couple years old and running in standby is going to draw 60W easily, 200W or more when active. If it's a CRT monitor or flat screen prolly another 15W in standby, 150W or more when running. Plasma sets run 250W or more when not in standby. Most people don't realize how much energy is wasted on computers and monitors and tv sets! My brother had two montiros he used to leave on 24/7 and I told him they were probably costing him 40 bucks a month and he didn't believe it - until he remodelled in that room and had them off a couple of months. The PCs running in standby and the two 17" crt monitors were costing him 50 bucks a month!

Useful stuff to know but I dunno if its relevant to you. Did you compare the KW hrs from the previous months to the one you mention here? Has your usage changed or just the price? Did they perhaps take oyou off a payment plan? I am on a payment plan designed to level off my bill - my last one was pretty high too but would have been over $300 if not for the payment plan. I jsut had central heat and air installed so I can't really say what's going on with mine, but you need to compare apples to apples.