Question Electric Bill - 1000 sq ft Florida - what is yours and have any of your cost cutting helped

[2Design]

1000 sq foot mobile home

1. I kept the heat off because it is inefficient and used a space heater for the cold nights and sat here with double layers of sweats.
2. I turned off the hot water heater except every three days back on for 4-6 hours to get some things done that need hot water

Total kilowatt hours used was 617 with a charge for Jan 17 to Feb 16 of $93.59

I cannot believe I am paying that much when using so little
When I lived in Virginia my bill ranged from $40 to 80 year round and I was not doing a lot of cost cutting measures - just the normal range of heat or cold - not super cold or super hot.

Here I have tried everything and cannot get the bill down
Of course they raised their rates because people were using less electricity and they need the same revenue.

I was expecting a bill around $60 or less - in one years time I had one bill in that range and don't believe I did much to lower it

What is everyone else doing? I give up - this is crazy

[babylonsister]

1. Texas:

Last bill (1/13-2/1) $79.69 139000/kWh
This is for a ranch that's about 1650 sq. ft. Used 550 kWh @139000/kWh, as little heat as possible. We are powered by gas primarily, so that makes a difference, and did install new windows last year. We were happy with this bill finally.

[2Design]

4. 1st thousand is billed at 6.34 9000 cent per hour plus fuel charge 6.29 per kwh

You used 550kwh for the month, right so that is good for 1650 sq ft but what is your charge per 1 kwh

Energy charge - We are charged 6.34 for 1st 1000 and then 7.34 for over 1000 = 39.17 for the time period
Fuel Charge - 6.29 per kwh and 7.29 for over the 1000 = 38.01 for the time period with total bill being 93.59

[babylonsister]

5. I think this...

0.139000/kWh

We locked in on that before prices fell.

[Mojorabbit]

2. Mine runs

260 in the winter and 400 in the summer and we have a solar freezer and our hot water is propane as is my cooktop. The AC is what gets us in the summer.
The list of fees on the bill is astonishing.

[vadawg]

3. for me its the heat at 74 that sucks up the juice

though this is mitigated in the summer when i dont use the AC much

[vadawg]

28. oops should have given more details

6500 sq ft house in the VA mountains, i am on a payment plan with the power company so i pay $250 a month and then pay of any balance once a year.

[jpak]

6. Wrap you hot water heater with an insulation blanket and get a low-flow shower head

Insulate your hot water pipes.

Replace all your light bulbs with CFLs

Use shrink wrap insulation on your windows.

If you can, buy an Energy Star rated fridge (there might be a tax credit for these now). Old fridges are the worst juice hogs out there.

Good luck

[2Design]

20. this fridge is a problem too - the motor is bad and makes a lot of

noise - I have to move the fridge to get it more balanced so that the motor is not grinding - it comes on a lot too - this is a rental but I had been wondering about mobiles in general and the utilities versus normal housing

[Blue Diadem]

27. Bad fridges can really run bills up.

I've had two go bad and each time I got the electric bill and wondered why they were higher than normal before I noticed the fridge was running more than usual.

[aikoaiko]

7. 1256 kwt at $138 --- you're paying a pretty penny for your juice.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. Washington, 1000sf mobile home.

Heat only set to 53°, no water, no appliances (the mobile is currently vacant, the heat was only on to keep the pipes from freezing)

The January bill was $100. That's at $0.068/kwh.

Mobiles are hard to heat.

By way of comparison, our 2000 house 10 mi away in which 5 of us live cost $110 (but our primary heat is wood)

[2Design]

18. thanks - that is what I am thinking - moving into an apartment

even though they may cost more and less privacy - your utilities make up for the cost difference

Your information is what I was looking for - so it does not seem there is much I can do to regulate my costs - the summer you have air conditioning and you have to...... because this thing becomes a hot box then

[Blue Diadem]

9. You have high rates. My bill is 94.00

and we used a whopping 1160 KWH. My bill is for 12/30-1/30. We have a gas boiler for heat and a gas water heater and dryer. We do use electric radiators for supplemental heat in our bedrooms, cook with electric, have a freezer and I have no idea how much electric the fish tanks use for their heaters and filters. (long story they're our son's) The bill was higher than normal because we used the heaters more since it was really cold here in Jan. We also have our adult daughter and her daughter living with us so there are extra tv's and computers running.

What kind of space heater are you using? If it's electric they can really suck juice. We use the radiators because they have low power settings that are in the 600 watt range and the risk of fire is much less.

edited to add: Our gas bill was $300 for the month. That was also with using a kerosene heater on the single digit/below zero days.

[2Design]

23. honeywell oil filled radiator heater HZ - 690 - but you plug it in

Just tried that this last month since the heater runs all the time - during the cycle it is blowing cold air - so I shut it off and had hoped this would help - We had two weeks where I needed it at night and several days - shut it off over night - so I was using it in the evenings

[Blue Diadem]

26. Do you have an electric clothes dryer?

Those can suck the juice too. If you do, make sure the lint trap is cleaned well and there are no obstructions or build up of lint in the dryer vent pipe.

[2Design]

29. Not using the washer or dryer because they do not work correctly n/t

[ixion]

10. 1400 sq ft in FL...

Runs me about $165 in the winter and $225-$250 in the summer.

I do try to conserve, and when I consistent about doing it, I think it saves a some, but not a great deal.

[azmouse]

11. We have a Time of Day energy plan.

By using our high energy use appliances on the off peak hours we save money. It's not much in the winter, maybe $10 to $15 a month. But in the summer we often save $75 a month. The peak hours change from summer to winter and I don't find it much of an inconvenience.
.

[2Design]

24. how does that work ? do you go around shutting everything off ?

[azmouse]

30. Nope.

What it means is having two different electric rates. The On Peak hours have the highest rates and the Off Peaks hours are lower.
The electric company is trying to get people to use more of their electric on the Off Peak hours when there is less demand... early in the morning or late in the day for the summer, afternoon in the winter. By running the dishwasher, or washer and dryer, on the Off Peak hours you save money with the lower rates. And we use controllable thermostats to run the A/C or heat less when the rates are higher.
I would guess we save about $400 yr.

[recoveringrepublican]

12. 1300 florida home here, ours is just a little lower than yours

We did put in new windows (though someone on DU told me that new windows really don't help energy costs, so don't know if they help) we also replaced our a/c unit and our water heater. I'm from the north and the cold doesn't really bother me, so we rarely use the heat. I have it set at 65 though. Our bills haven't been more than 90. During the summer they were around 120.

Before we replaced all this our bills were enormous! 300+ during the summer and about 150 during the winter.

It still bugs me that our bill is so high. Our fridge and water heater are the only things that run all day. Everything else is unplugged unless we are using. Well I guess our stove also. We use one light really at night for a few hours until we go to sleep. The computer does stay on from about 5pm-11pm strait as my husband and kids are home then.

It is crazy.

[SmileyRose]

15. New windows can help A LOT.

My sister's house in Michigan is a 1927 bungalow that had 1960's metal casement single glass windows in it when they bought it in the early 70's. In 1990 they had triple pane replacement windows put in, correctly caulked and insulated. The first year their energy bills dropped by 30% - not the least of which because the house did not feel so drafty they could keep the winter thermostat lower and feel just as comfortable. The windows paid for themselves in 3 years.

Someone with newer windows wanting to replace, or in a more moderate climate, may or may not see the same savings.

[alfredo]

13. 1000 sq ft cold month, used 908 KWH ($70.95) We have two computers

running most of the day, and an LCD TV running much of the day. I have lights running for our house plants because we don't have much natural light in the winter.

I live in central KY.

[SmileyRose]

14. was Virginia in a mobile home?

I lived in a brand new 14X60 mobile home for 3 years (840 sq ft). This 1000 sq ft home still costs less than half to heat and cool than that little mobile home with Georgia Power - even after rates have gone up. The house heat is on natural gas and I am including it in my figures to compare the house with the mobile home. I'm frugal with the thermostat winters at 55-60 and summers 85-90 - my budget billing with GA Power in the mobile home was around $150-165 then and would translate into about $225 in today's dollars. My current house budget billing for GA Power is $46 and the yearly average for Feb 2008 to Feb 2009 for natural gas comes to around $42.

[2Design]

19. no virginia was a first floor condo with no sun directly on it

I think it was so low because it had no sun on it - back of the building and shaded by trees and one condo above it
This was the lowest bill I had in years - I was there for 7 years
My Connecticut bill in all electric 1400 sq ft top floor was $125 average - the winter without averaging was $200 and the summer I did not have air conditioning

[RebelOne]

16. I think Florida Power & Light has some of the highest rates in the country.n/t

[2Design]

21. progress energy right now - fp and L is raising their rates too because

their revenues have gone down - they are going up about 25%

[Selatius]

17. Try to unplug all appliances that are not currently being used.

It probably sounds pretty pointless, but it can make a difference. A lot of appliances, even though they may be "off" still use some amount of power. For example, the VCR with that little blinking light showing the time? Yeah, that is using power.

But, it sounds like you are seriously getting ripped off on your rates.

[2Design]

22. I thought the water heater would be a huge chunk rather than every

little blinking light - but it did not seem to make any difference

[azmouse]

31. I've been searching for info on turning water heaters off to save money.

I would say the general consensus is that it does not save as much people would think... just a few cents each week.

[flvegan]

25. 1500 sf house in Tampa, 1474 kWh

$185.30. Sounds like you're getting reamed by your electric company.

[hfojvt]

32. that's a high rate

I used 524 in December and only paid $47.60. One big cost saver was switching to a smaller window air conditioner. That 250W model sucked up the juice. Two smaller 110 units are much cheaper to run. I took the light out of my refrigerator and always keep jugs of water in it, so I do not have so much empty space. Plus CFLs and use flashlights instead of lights (for example when I go into the basement). I am not sure how much these things save.

[2Design]

35. progess energy bills - several months

Feb 617 kwh = 93.59 30 days
Jan 561 kwh = 85.92 32 days
Dec 774 kwh = 92.98 28 days (Before rate hike)
Nov 488 kwh = 61.96 32 days
Oct 865 kwh = 102.84 30 days
Sep 1178 kwh = 140.61 33 days
Aug 1248 kwh = 149.71 30 days
July 1099 kwh = 128.01 29 days
June 1306 kwh = 154.47 33 days
May 690 kwh = 82.40 29 days

[Michigan-Arizona]

33. Something my brother did

He had an electric hot water heater that he put a switch to where he could turn it off when hot water was not needed. Turned it on about 10 minute's before a shower & right back off again. Between a shower a day & some dishes he maybe had the tank on for half an hour or even less. It saved him quite a bit on his bill. My self I've cut out as much as I can but still getting a larger bill than I feel like I should. I even unplug my microwave when not using it & my surge protector for my pc. We don't run the furnace which is gas but still take's electricity of course & we rarely burn any light's in the house. They said they'll check my meter for $35.00 to see if it's faulty & that's all they can do for me. Oh well seems like you can't win these day's.

[2Design]

34. the hot water heater I turned off at the circuit breaker and only had it

on a couple of times a week for short time and waited for sunny warmer days - yet the usage is still high - (actually the kwh is not that many - their rates are high but the kwh was higher than the month before when I wasn't doing that with hot water heater

[JFN1]

36. Our bill averages

between $170 and $240 per month, depending on the season/weather, for a 2500 square foot house, though the last two months the bill has been much higher than average (around $265) but it has also been much colder than normal the last two months. We use florescent lighting, have a heat pump with a digital thermostat (saves a ton!), keep the thermostat at 63 in the winter and 76 in the summer, build fires in the winter (whenever we can find woods cheap enough), and this summer we were going to try to start replacing our 26 year old windows with newer more efficient ones - but we're going to have to wait on that...