My electric bill doubled!

[Zysoclaplem]

I went from using an average of 700-800 kWh to 1700 kWh. Weird thing is, nothing changed. Still kept the heat on 65, neither me or my roommate is home very often. Ugh. $111 dollars last month to $225 this month. Is this a common occurance during the winter?

 

[kyparrish]

Ummm, do you have electric heat? If it was a hell of a lot colder outside, you were using more energy to keep the temp @ 65

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

One thing to check is how many days were in the last cycle. My bills sometimes are for a cycle as short as 26 days or as long as 33. While that won't account for doubling, it sometimes can account for a nice increase anyway, and any changes over that time will be more pronounced as well due to the longer time frame. Does your bill include an average-per-day? That's a better indicator.

 

[newb111]

I think all the guys having affairs with you bumped your bill up a few $$$.

 

[manicfool]

The colder it gets outside the more your heater has to run to maintain 65 degrees in the house. My electric bill did the same thing this month as yours did. I also noticed that during the recent very cold spell we had where I live recently the heater was running seemingly non-stop on those days where it was coldest.

 

[KeithTalent]

Mine tripled in January :Q

It was pretty cold here plus I was playing too much LOTRO!

 

[j00fek]

stop growing weed in your house!

 

[Zysoclaplem]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
Mine tripled in January :Q

It was pretty cold here plus I was playing too much LOTRO!

I did play a lot of Guild Wars.

 

[Zysoclaplem]

Originally posted by: kyparrish
Ummm, do you have electric heat? If it was a hell of a lot colder outside, you were using more energy to keep the temp @ 65

Yes. Blah.

 

[manicfool]

Originally posted by: Zysoclaplem

Originally posted by: kyparrish
Ummm, do you have electric heat? If it was a hell of a lot colder outside, you were using more energy to keep the temp @ 65

Yes. Blah.

The question is why isn't this obvious to you?

 

[IGBT]

..get used to it. We're all going to get hit with global cooling tax soon. And you asked for it too.

 

[Zysoclaplem]

Originally posted by: manicfool

Originally posted by: Zysoclaplem

Originally posted by: kyparrish
Ummm, do you have electric heat? If it was a hell of a lot colder outside, you were using more energy to keep the temp @ 65

Yes. Blah.

The question is why isn't this obvious to you?

Well I expected it to me a bit more. Not double then plus some.

 

[lokiju]

Depends on your heater also.

For electric systems there are two common methods IIRC, one of which involves basically heating a coil of sorts (think of a space heater on a larger scale) and then blowing air over it and into the home, this method is very inefficient and cost a lot to do but produces more heat faster, a lot of times this method will be referred to as "emergency heat" on systems that have both methods. The other method is slower to get the temp to what you want but basically reverses the method the AC unit does to cool the home down and uses a lot less energy.

I'm no expert but this is how it was explained to me awhile ago.

 

[markgm]

My electric bill actually went down, but my gas bill went up a couple of bucks. I thought that was weird because for 2 weekends I had the heat set to 40, but I guess the cold spell won in the end.

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

I have a gas furnace so my electric bill doesn't feel a pinch in the wintertime from the cold; but it still triples because there just isn't any damn sunlight! Too far north. I think my bill is like $40 in the summer and $200 in the winter. Wow.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
Mine tripled in January :Q

It was pretty cold here plus I was playing too much LOTRO!

is that game any good?

Originally posted by: lokiju
Depends on your heater also.

For electric systems there are two common methods IIRC, one of which involves basically heating a coil of sorts (think of a space heater on a larger scale) and then blowing air over it and into the home, this method is very inefficient and cost a lot to do but produces more heat faster, a lot of times this method will be referred to as "emergency heat" on systems that have both methods. The other method is slower to get the temp to what you want but basically reverses the method the AC unit does to cool the home down and uses a lot less energy.

I'm no expert but this is how it was explained to me awhile ago.

yes, that's electric forced-air vs. heat pump. electric forced air you get at most 1 btu of heat per btu of energy expended (because you're generating heat), while heat pump you can get 3 btus of heat or more per btu expended (because you're moving heat).

ground-source heat pump ftw! (easier to get heat from 55 degree ground than 15 degree air)

i think most apartments are electric forced air, which is awful. i think the house i'm moving into is gas forced air, which is better.

 

[manicfool]

Originally posted by: Zysoclaplem

Originally posted by: manicfool

Originally posted by: Zysoclaplem

Originally posted by: kyparrish
Ummm, do you have electric heat? If it was a hell of a lot colder outside, you were using more energy to keep the temp @ 65

Yes. Blah.

The question is why isn't this obvious to you?

Well I expected it to me a bit more. Not double then plus some.

But you said yourself you saw that you used more than double the amount of Kilowatt hours (up from 700-800 to 1700). . .did you think the power company gave bulk discounts or something?

 

[MustISO]

Electric was $164 for us, and gas was $212! That's a lot of beer.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Get a coupon from Rossman.

 

[0roo0roo]

find vampire plugs and put them on power strips you know, those wallwarts that always feel warm, bad stuff. u use cf's around the house? is the thermostat programable so you can make sure its not on when people aren't around?