Electric Bills...

[Rob]

I was wondering what you folks are paying for electicity.  I ask because I'm looking for a new provider.

I got my electric bill this month, and it went up over $60.00.  The month before it had gone up about $30.00

This is in the 'non-peak' season and I'm not even running my heat or a/c - so I was expecting it to go the other direction and it went straight up.   I have a 2 room, 1100 square foot loft - and with the exception of 4 very short strands of Christmas lights, we haven't done anything different this month than we have in past months.  My rate jumped to about 15.1 cents per kw/h.

I've requested that they re-read my meter because this seemed excessive, but I expect them to tell me that it was right and this was just how it was.

I understand that prices are going up everywhere and I was wondering what other people have so I can get an idea of what a good deal is.  So if it's not too personal what are you paying per kw/h, roughly how many square feet is your place, and roughly how much is your total bill as of late?

For the record, my 1100 sq foot loft at roughly 15.1 cents per kw/h ran me $169.00 this month (over twice what it was last winter) - and my neighbor upstairs who has the exact same size place as me saw his bill jump from $110 to $225 from last month to this month.

Thanks in advance.

[jadesfire]

My home is about 2800 square feet but I am a miser on lights.  My most recent bill was from services 11/08/05 to 12/09/05 and cost $69.57 (about 11.6 cents per KWH).  All my appliances are electric and we also have the hot tub running right now.  Granted, I didn't get my "Christmas" electric bill yet and even if it doubles, it's way less than yours. 

[Deanpaul]

Rob,

Your usage may be higher even in non-peak than averages around the forum living in a loft.

I've seen your kitchen in your army builder pics, so I'm going to guess it's a newer and fairly efficient space regarding insulation and energy loss through windows and walls. But if you've got higher ceilings that air volume can really add up, especially heating in the winter with warm air rising.

The other issue with lofts can be lighting. I see a lot of mr-16 and other bulbs in lighting fixtures that are really inefficient and use a lot of power. Do you have a lot of low voltage lighting? What about computer(s)?

Just a few things to consider in comparing useage.

[Rob]

DeanPaul:

it is a newer space and is good on insulation, but our windows SUCK.  They are wooden and air gets through them.  The ceilings are 12' so air usage between this and the windows would be high.  But we haven't been running heat or A/C for two months now, so I expected to see a drop.

The track lighting is all halogen bulbs, we expect this to be a big factor and are making a conscious effort to use them less.  I'm also going to home depot this weekend to look into thermal blankets for the hot water heater. 

Lastly, I'm trying to figure out how to turn down the temperature on my hot water heater but for the life of me I can't find a dial or thermostat or anything that looks turnable on the thing.

We have two computers that we leave on, but we turn off the monitors whenever we're asleep or not at home.

I remember moving out to Dallas two and a half years ago with a rate around 9 cents per kw/h - at 15 it's gone up astronomically.  In addition to looking for ways to make the place more efficient I've called around and the absoulte cheapest I've found is called Gexa and they're offering me 12.5 cents per kw/h.  Which I'm probably going to take.  They offer frequent flyer miles too.

[Deanpaul]

Sounds like you're on top of it. The water heater blanket is something I keep meaning to pick up, but I never remember when I'm at Lowes.

This seems like a fun game, so I'll check out what our useage and rates are later tonight. Kris handles all of the bills, so I really have no idea what we're paying. I'm guessing it's a lot. We live in a 1937 story-and-a-half tudor that has very little insulation and really piss poor windows on the first floor.

Yeah, this is going to be fun.

[JoshEEE]

My home was built in the 70's....so it's not the most efficient place in the world.  I pay about 250 bucks a month in the winter, and around 110 in the summer.

This winter has been the worst, and I actually had a bill go above 280

[Rob]

I've gone with Gexa at 12.5 cents per kw/h

I also finally found the thermostat on my hot water heater and turned it down.  We've been using less halogen lights and more regular lamps...



They did a report on one of the local news channels the other day abotu how since degregulation the price of electricity in Texas has gone up over 40% - which was double the national average increase.  They also said that these prices had been based on the price of natural gas and the increases were blamed on natural gas increases after Katrina.  Now natural gas prices have fallen a lot - but electricity prices in Texas haven't done the same.  The long and short of the little expose' was that we were getting screwed on our bills deep in the heart of Texas.

[stormie]

Our home is extremely small and old, so our electricity bill has never been too bad. We pay 11.4 cents per kwh, and electricity for December cost us just under $23. However, since the natural gas prices spiked in November, our total energy bill was nearly $140 in December ($170 in November). That's quite a bit considering the mild winters we have here.

[Chris M]

Rob, I also live in the Dallas area and completely understand where you are coming from on the electric bill.  My wife and I have a 1000 sq/ft apartment that was costing near $150-200 a month to heat/cool.  We switched from TXU over to Reliant and the bill dropped the first month about $50 but has since gone up and we are now paying about $130-150.  I switched and although the change hasn't been a lot, it's something and I guess that is better than nothing.

[Dresden]

Wow. I pay around 100 a month for electricity, and with the winter gas prices, my total bill has been around 300 bucks.

I live in the North East though, and I budget for that. I'd love to pay 60 a month for electric though.

However a lot of my electric cost is from the fact that I have multiple computers on 24/7, as well as heating and lighting for a snake, iguana, and a turtle.

[Rob]

Chris you might want to check out Gexa - I called about 10 different companies last week and Gexa was the cheapest I found at 12.5 cents per kw/h.

Reliant wanted to charge me 14.5

Naturally none of the rates are locked in anymore, but Gexa said that they would always stay cheaper than Reliant or TXU when I spoke to them.

[Morgbug]

taxes

[Scott]

My home was built in the 70's....so it's not the most efficient place in the world.  I pay about 250 bucks a month in the winter, and around 110 in the summer.

This winter has been the worst, and I actually had a bill go above 280

Wowza Josh, it isn't even that cold there, is it?

I think our biggest Electric Bill ever was around $150 and that was in the summer with two babies and the washing machine running 5 times a day for 2 months, Gas runs between $50 up to $150 in the winter

True story on gas.  The place where I work built a big Co-Gen facility 6 years ago thinking they could burn Gas cheaper than they could Fuel Oil...whoops

[Ben]

I have an electric furnace here, so I don't have to worry about gas.

Even though these last three months the bill has been $20 higher than usual, I still can't bitch about heating this place for $70 a month.

It's only a two bedroom apartment, though.

[S_A_Longhorn]

I didn't even know you could shop around your electricity provider!

I have a 1400 sqft house with three bedrooms.  It is only my wife and I.  My electric (no gas) bill is about $100-120 a month on average.  Sometimes as low as $70.  Even with the Christmas lights, I only paid $130+.  It has been a warm winter so far.  but I do leave the A/C or heater running 24 hours a day.  Set the temp at 78 F in the Summer and about 70 F in the winter.

CPS in San Antonio always reports they are one of the cheapest in the state (better than Houston, Dallas, or Austin). 

Before we moved into our house, we lived in a 1-bedroom, 600 sqft apartment.  My electric bill began to skyrocket in the final months (one bill was over $240!!).  Turned out our water heater had a broken temp timer, so it was constantly running.  Since I reported the lack of hot water to the apt. complex, they gave me a credit to offset the electric bill.