Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona > Phoenix area
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 10-04-2010, 09:59 PM
 
710 posts, read 3,384,544 times
Reputation: 1054

Advertisements

yeah ..220 for that house is not bad at all. My house is smaller, and we keep it at 76 degrees. No time of use, because we're home all day. highest is 260 a month - last month was 200.

Oh well.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 10-05-2010, 01:30 AM
 
3,886 posts, read 10,057,936 times
Reputation: 1486
Quote:
Originally Posted by jukeboxx99 View Post
A quick shout out to all who have responded to my post, thanks!! We moved here knowing that the bill would be higher we just weren't sure how high. We have replaced the bulbs with CLF's,and reduced the pool pump to a few hours a day. Unfortunately, washer & dryer are electric and are only used during off peak hours. I agree $220 per month is very doable, guess I read the estimator wrong and thought the amount was for only 9 days not the whole month. The house is realitively new and I believe the air conditioner is energy efficient. We just changed the filters yesterday so maybe that will help a little. We will definitely try the tips/hints that everyone has offered. Thanks Again!!

Kim
Oh, yea, thats great actually! Let us know if thats really all it is, if so, you're doing great!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-05-2010, 01:32 AM
 
3,886 posts, read 10,057,936 times
Reputation: 1486
Quote:
Originally Posted by notmuch69 View Post
We have the Off-Peak plan. The off peak hours for our plan are 9:00 pm - 9:00 am. Our house is 2850 SF. I have our thermostat programmed for 76 degrees 9:00 pm - 6:00 am; 72 degrees 6:00 am - 9:00 am to keep it cool through the day; OFF 9:00 am - 9:00 pm; 77 degrees all weekend. On the hottest weekdays it will get to abut 82 degrees by 5:30 pm and about 87 degrees by the time it turns back on at 9:00 pm. Our electric bill rarely reaches $200. Our neighbors with the same size houses say there's are regularily $400+. The key is that if you have the Off-Peak option you will pay dearly for anything used during On-Peak hours.
OMG, I would die of heat stroke if my house was 87! You are a brave little sun devil. lol I'm hot at 80.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-05-2010, 10:05 AM
 
Location: Wisconsin
570 posts, read 1,749,435 times
Reputation: 401
Quote:
Originally Posted by twiggy View Post
OMG, I would die of heat stroke if my house was 87! You are a brave little sun devil. lol I'm hot at 80.
It doesn't get uncomfortable until about 7:00 pm or so, then the air kicks back on at 9:00 pm. It's worth it to us to save $200+ a month.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-05-2010, 10:12 AM
 
Location: Oxygen Ln. AZ
9,319 posts, read 18,705,272 times
Reputation: 5764
Quote:
Originally Posted by jukeboxx99 View Post
Hello All,

I have been living in the Gilbert area for approximately a month, we have rented a single family 1 story house with pool approx. 1900 square foot. We use SRP as our electric company and are on the 1pm-8pm plan. I recently went online to browse the sight and found the estimation tool, well, to my surprise for 9 days of electric my estimated bill was $220. Now I knew the electric bill would be higher here than in my previous state (NJ) but that amount was a shock to me.

We are a family of four, run the pool filter about 5 hours a day (off peak) and leave the air on 80 when we r home and 86 when we r out. Washer and dryer only used off peak as well and used every other day. We use a crock pot, grill, stove top for dinners and try to avoid using the oven. Lights r on only when needed and TV usage is a couple of hours a day (peak & off peak combined).

We have tried to be as diligent as possible, are we missing something?? Any hints or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks

Kim
Is that all? We have 2,069 square feet, no pool, but do have Koi pond and our bill was over $400 at the peak month. We set our temp around 83. We did opt to have more insulation blown it to see if it helps and will purchase some ugly solar screens next year. We sit in the dark at night and only watch 2 hours of t.v at night.

I know APS has a rebate program to send an energy consultant out to see where you have room to save and if you do more insulation, they rebate some of the costs. Not sure about SRP but might be worth checking you energy supplier to see what is available.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-07-2011, 07:27 PM
 
34 posts, read 47,269 times
Reputation: 17
@Kim- glad you guys are doing great. And if you want to reduce your bill even more, consider home improvements for insulation and window tinting.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-07-2011, 10:48 PM
 
Location: Chandler, AZ
453 posts, read 1,624,270 times
Reputation: 338
when I lived in FH last year I had a 4 bed/3 bath 2800 sq foot home built in 2007 with no pool, 2 air conditioning units, one kept slightly cooler than the other but never too cool, my bill in the summer months was alway in the $500 dollar range. Never went below $200 even in the winter. Maybe the high ceilings?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-07-2011, 11:29 PM
 
2,879 posts, read 7,760,416 times
Reputation: 1183
http://www.aps.com/_files/services/E3App-English.pdf
If you make less than the income levels given, for the size of your household--save up to 40%--for APS Customers.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-08-2011, 07:16 AM
 
Location: Oro Valley, yeah....we are residents here now....
190 posts, read 615,585 times
Reputation: 190
Wow, just read this thread and another twice. Surprised there is so much variation in electric usage cost. Guess with all the other little things I am concerned about; this may add another to the list.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-08-2011, 11:35 AM
 
Location: Peoria, AZ
162 posts, read 428,797 times
Reputation: 152
We live in a 2 story home with crappy 1 pane windows that is actually about 3000 sqft (garage was turned into bedrooms). The first summer we spent here, our monthly bill went to about 450. That was NOT ok by me, so I set out to do stuff about it. Insulated cracks, doors, etc. Put solar screens (the 90% ones) on all the windows that get sun (this has made a noticeable difference). Another thing that we did is last summer we basically stopped using the upstairs bedrooms and moved downstairs. This has made a huge difference, lowering the bill to barely over $300. I know that's an inconvenience, but at at the moment we need to save. We moved back upstairs for the winter and that was just great because the heat goes up.
Through the winter I installed some shutters on some of the big windows and I know that will help too by trapping another layer of air and providing more insulation and shade. They're not pretty. I got them off Craigslist and modified them to fit the windows, but it only cost me $100, and to me that's worth it to have more privacy and lower bills.
The biggest thing we could do next would be to get a new AC units since ours are 27 years old. BTW, I maintain those too myself as much as I can except for the stuff that really needs a professional.
Oh another thing I did was to clean the coils on the AC units. I am sure that it made a difference. it's not hard to do either. You buy a spray at homedepot and spray it in there, brush with a soft brush and hose it off. It also helps to straighten out the fins on the AC condenser if they're bent. you can buy a little comb to do that, and it increasses efficiency.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona > Phoenix area
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top