Electric bill seems high...advice?

[ZachUA]

I think my electric bill seems high and I wanted you guys input. My apartment is all electric, no gas. I have no roommates and therefor when I'm away from home nothing is turned on...nothing, no ac, no heat, no lights. I will give you a rough breakdown of my energy saving attempts (and some were not on purpose lol) for December...

- No TV
- Heatpump only ran twice for a total of about ~6 hours the whole month
- 1 shower per day
- No dryer/washing machine (it was being repaired so I had to use laundrymat)
- No hot water used during dishwasher cycle
- I was only home for 3 weeks of the month
- cf bulbs used throughout and even those are used sparingly

The only appliance I used during the month aside from the fridge is the microwave and even then it's used maybe a couple minutes every other day.

Of the 3 weeks I was home, I was only actually in my apartment for sleep + a couple hours at night before bed. While I'm asleep the only thing turned on is a box fan. Not a single light or anything is turned on while I'm away. Most weekends I'm out of town as well, so not a single light or anything is turned on during that time either.

My electric bill after all this is still 80.00.

It seems to me that it would have been around 40.00 or possibly less. I mean, how much more conservative with usage could you get?

[Daox]

A descent chunk of that $80 may just be service charges. Do you know how many kWhs you used or what the rate is per kWh?

[ZachUA]

I wish I did know how many kWh I used, but I don't know how to read the meter. I asked the meter reader one day how to read it and he gave me a confusing answer...something about "you read it backwards."

I tried to find the rate on AL Power website and I don't see a number.

Electricity Pricing - Alabama Power

If you can find it fill me in bc I sure can't! lol

edit: I guess I should clarify, I don't actually get the bill, my landlord does and he just relays to me how much I owe. That's also another reason I have no idea how much I use since I can't see the bill...

[Daox]

Looks like there are different plans. This is most likely yours.

http://www.alabamapower.com/pricing/pdf/fd.pdf

There is a $14.50 charge off the bat for service. Then $.07 per kWh up to 750 kWh. Above that the rate drops to $.058. Thats actually quite cheap.

My guess at the high bill is mainly from heating your apartment. It simply takes tons of energy to heat an area. MetroMPG is currently renting a place and used up 30+ kWh in one day when it was quite cold out, and his place is tiny (and poorly insulated).

[ZachUA]

Thanks for finding that!

I only used my heat for about 6 hours the entire month. I don't see how I could have used 40 or 50 dollars worth of heat in 6 hours! Even if I used 100 kWh in that short time, that's only a hair over 7 dollars.

I'm going to just turn the breakers off to the entire apartment when I'm not home! lol

edit: seriously though, the month of february I'm going to experiment by not turning the heat on at all. Not one single time will my heat be turned on. Extra blankets and sweatpants here I come.

[Daox]

Well, you can do that, just make sure your pipes don't freeze up!

Lets break this down:
$80 - $14.50 = $65.50

65.50 / .07 = 936 kWh approx

936 / 30 days = 31 kWh per day

Now, if you're not heating anything, that is way high. Do you share hot water with any other apartments or anything like that?

[wyatt]

Something you might try is putting your TV/VCR/DVD etc. on a power strip... or if they are truely used infrequently just unplug them. They use some electricity just to be in standby. It may not help much, but every little bit helps. Any idea on how the power bill is divvied up? Does the complex get a bill or do individual apartments get bills? If your building gets a bill and it's split between tenants, you could be getting the short end of the stick, and should request that each apartment gets metered separately. When you are making out the check to pay the electric to you make it out to the power company, or to the landlord? He could be screwing you... just a thought.

[ZachUA]

That's the kinda math I needed to see!

I don't share hot water. I have my own hot water heater. My apartment is a guest house built in the backyard of a home. My landlord is a friend who owns the home and rents me the guest house.

I don't see how I could be using 31kWh per day of electricity seeing as I'm not even occupying the place but for about 3 hours a day (I didn't count time I'm asleep bc nothing is on during that time aside from a box fan).

[ZachUA]

Hey Wyatt, I do have the TV and DVD player on a power strip. I don't know for sure that it was unplugged the entire month, but I do tend to keep the strip turned off. The only other things that remain plugged in are...

computer
fridge
washer/dryer (they were plugged in but never turned on)
microwave
couple of lamps

The computer was turned off and unplugged for the whole time I was away during Christmas break.

The only electrical thing I'd say I use frequently at home is the computer. I normally surf the web for a couple hours when I get home.

[Frank Lee]

I had a similar situation last month.

Was gone for a month and when the gas and electric utility bills came in, they were HIGHER than when I'm here?!?

And I took precautions: set furnace to lowest temp available (45), turned off well pump, turned off water heater, turned off power strips (that I have on nearly everything)... basically the only things going were furnace, furnace blower, refrigerator, and answering machine. And I put styrofoam panels over almost all the windows.

What the devil?

Well the cold snap probably had everything to do with it. And/or...

The cat and I are heat emitting creatures. I wonder how much heat we normally put into the system? Also, use of lights add heat...

Maybe my foam panels prevented some solar gain?