Power bill YIKES!

[lynxstch]

If it is unsafe for you to drive it is unsafe for a meter reader to drive and walk from house to house. This may have been the reason for your estimated bill among many other reasons. I was a meter reading supervisor for 20 years and always expected calls like this after a snow or cold snap. Believe me, the utility wants you to have an accurate bill. It cost them far too much when you receive an inaccurate bill. It does cost them money to answer the phone calls, check readings, and rebill you. Also make sure the meter reader can easily get to your meter, including containing your dog if you have one.

They seem to estimate it every 3 months or so, no matter what the weather is! And there is no problem getting to the meter, and no dogs!

 

[DebbieB]

I love October, no heat or AC running, $45 electric, $23 gas. This month $87 electric, $231 gas.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I love October, no heat or AC running, $45 electric, $23 gas. This month $87 electric, $231 gas.

I don't think there is one month that has no heat or no ac running where I'm at. Temperatures fluctuate where I'm at all the time. Heck it was subzero earlier this week with windchill in the 10-20 below range and this weekend it's in the 50s (though that is above average). I do have months though where I'm just not running the heat or ac nearly or exactly every day.

 

[Fleuristic]

Ahhh yes Solar Panels and a geothermalheat pump.

Used to pay a fortune for fuel oil and electricity. Never again. The bill has been the small $15 grid connection fee and that’s it. Everything in my house runs on electric even the domestic water the car and the lawnmower.

 

[MillauFr]

Our bill is pretty low. $40 per month. We don't have A/C and it hasn't been very cold this winter. It helps that we have the cheapest electric rates in the country.

 

[tvguy]

Ahhh yes Solar Panels and a geothermalheat pump.

Used to pay a fortune for fuel oil and electricity. Never again. The bill has been the small $15 grid connection fee and that’s it. Everything in my house runs on electric even the domestic water the car and the lawnmower.

But you left out the cost of the solar panels. I had the option of buying my system for $36,000 before tax credits, about $25,000 after.

 

[Fleuristic]

But you left out the cost of the solar panels. I had the option of buying my system for $36,000 before tax credits, about $25,000 after.

Yes but when the geothermal and the solar is offset by a 30% federal and $7,500 state incentive it's well worth the expense. The return on investment is quick and guaranteed. Electricity isn't getting any cheaper. My system was $64,000 for the panels (large array 15,680 watts) so the federal savings were substantial.

 

[tvguy]

Yes but when the geothermal and the solar is offset by a 30% federal and $7,500 state incentive it's well worth the expense. The return on investment is quick and guaranteed. Electricity isn't getting any cheaper. My system was $64,000 for the panels (large array 15,680 watts) so the federal savings were substantial.

So your out of pocket was about $37,000 after all tax breaks. You must have very high electric rates. Systems here are all under warranty here for 20 years, and if you just buy the power like I am, you have a 20 year commitment. They figured it would take me about 16 to 18 years to recoup my investment with our electric rates if I bought the panels. I am saving about $25 a month.

 

[Skippy918]

Yes but when the geothermal and the solar is offset by a 30% federal and $7,500 state incentive it's well worth the expense. The return on investment is quick and guaranteed. Electricity isn't getting any cheaper. My system was $64,000 for the panels (large array 15,680 watts) so the federal savings were substantial.

That’s a huge array! Ours is 7kw. Our ROI is about 10 years. Our bill is averaging about half of what it used to be.

 

[Fleuristic]

So your out of pocket was about $37,000 after all tax breaks. You must have very high electric rates. Systems here are all under warranty here for 20 years, and if you just buy the power like I am, you have a 20 year commitment. They figured it would take me about 16 to 18 years to recoup my investment with our electric rates if I bought the panels. I am saving about $25 a month.

No commitment. The array is not under a solar PPA or lease contract. I designed and paid cash for the panels, inverters and assorted components, had a company do the grunt work.

The ROI is a bit skewed in my case for a few reasons. I don’t have the proper roof angle or pitch on my house so the array needed to be ground mounted. The ground source heat pump I mentioned also qualified for incentives when it was installed. Since this house had no ductwork (1942 construction) that retrofit cost was allowed to be included in the figure. Iirc the return was around 7-10 years? I’d have to go back and rerun the numbers to verify.

 

[wgeo]

When we bought our house, at closing the previous owners were talking and mentioned that their electric and water bills were both usually around $300 a month. That freaked me out. But living in the same house we average under $100 for water and between $100-175 for electric depending on season. I constantly wonder what they did to use that much?

 

[Music City Mama]

Wanted to bump this thread because we got our power bill yesterday (no gas, just electric). It's from 12/24-1/25 and we had two really bad cold spells during this period of teens and single digit lows and highs in the 20's. Both times, it was like this for several consecutive days (not just a 2 day thing). I knew the bill was going to be higher than normal, but it was more than double the previous month's bill! Anyone else?

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Our heat is all electric, so we don't have gas or oil bills. But I still feel like we pay too much for electricity.

 

[MimiOfTwo]

Wanted to bump this thread because we got our power bill yesterday (no gas, just electric). It's from 12/24-1/25 and we had two really bad cold spells during this period of teens and single digit lows and highs in the 20's. Both times, it was like this for several consecutive days (not just a 2 day thing). I knew the bill was going to be higher than normal, but it was more than double the previous month's bill! Anyone else?

Mine was more than double. Last month $229. This month $470. We aren’t home all day and I kick the heat down when I leave. We also have a gas fireplace that we turn on the minute we walk in the door. It has been an unusually cold winter here.

 

[Marchand63]

Our electric spike about 275 in the winter, not much of a jump. What kills is our gas bill. Summer we are about 35-50 a month, winter 358!!

 

[Hootiss]

S. Tampa area it has been unusually cold so the heater has been on quite a bit: all electric and a pool aprox. 3100SF January $268.76

 

[Music City Mama]

Mine was more than double. Last month $229. This month $470. We aren’t home all day and I kick the heat down when I leave. We also have a gas fireplace that we turn on the minute we walk in the door. It has been an unusually cold winter here.

Where do you live? My bills are almost identical to the amounts you listed. We have a heat pump that doesn't work efficiently in temps below freezing anyway, so we were on "emergency heat" for much of it (it was running CONSTANTLY in regular mode (and not doing a good job), and the HVAC guy said it was okay to run in emergency mode with temps that low -- we didn't have a choice). I was wondering if the emergency heat made it that high or if it was just the cold weather we were dealing with.

 

[MimiOfTwo]

Where do you live? My bills are almost identical to the amounts you listed. We have a heat pump that doesn't work efficiently in temps below freezing anyway, so we were on "emergency heat" for much of it (it was running CONSTANTLY in regular mode (and not doing a good job), and the HVAC guy said it was okay to run in emergency mode with temps that low -- we didn't have a choice). I was wondering if the emergency heat made it that high or if it was just the cold weather we were dealing with.

Alabama. We have a heat pump too. Normally it works well for us but we don’t often see temps below freezing for several days in a row.

 

[Minnesota!]

We are on a budget of $128/month.

 

[Music City Mama]

Alabama. We have a heat pump too. Normally it works well for us but we don’t often see temps below freezing for several days in a row.

We're in Tennessee, and I agree, the heat pump just can't keep up when it's that cold.