My electric bill was $27 last month!!! (221 kwh)

[koihoshi]

This thread rocks, great stuff in here. I am working on efficiency for our house as well. I just replaced our thermostat with a programmable one. My wife is from vegas, so moving to Oregon ended up usually in some crazy heating/electric bills as I'd come home to a seemingly desert environment LOL! "But i'm still cold".

The thermostat we had was a generic turn dial and was horribly inaccurate. I installed one that has a sleep, wake, away and home mode. So at night it turns it down, turns it up in the morning as we are getting up, turns it down as we leave, and on again when we get home, cycle repeats.

Seems far more efficient, but I won't know till next month how it has affected us.

I am also finding that we have a lot of air leaks in our house in some places. This weekend i plan on getting some sealer to fix those. I also noticed that the outlets that were installed for our house leak a little air around some of them. We finally got that green channel here (can't remember exactly what it's called) but I saw an episode where they had these little rubber inserts that go behind them to seal them up and help. I think i'll invest in some of those.

Our bill is usually about $40-50 at all times. I've managed a few times to get it less than that. However, last month before we installed the programmable thermostat it was $90!!!!! But I'd come home and the heaters were left on.

Crossing my fingers hoping this helps a lot. I like this thread, lots of good info.

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by koihoshi

I also noticed that the outlets that were installed for our house leak a little air around some of them. We finally got that green channel here (can't remember exactly what it's called) but I saw an episode where they had these little rubber inserts that go behind them to.

Our local Walmart has foam insulated inserts that go behind the cover plate for $3. a box. I just bought a couple boxes for my house. If I remember correctly there was 6 switch plate inserts and 18 outlet inserts per box.

[Varn]

We have a 90 watt pv system providing power for our electric blanket, computer and some lighting at home. We are running two 45 watt packs from harbor freight. Driving one automotive battery. We are not hooked up to the electric grid and run a gas generator for when we want more electricity or need extra energy for our battery. I think we could use a second battery as we are not at home during the week generally.

[koihoshi]

Originally Posted by Ford Man

Our local Walmart has foam insulated inserts that go behind the cover plate for $3. a box. I just bought a couple boxes for my house. If I remember correctly there was 6 switch plate inserts and 18 outlet inserts per box.

I was gonna head there tonight for a few general household items, I will check that out while i'm there, thanks!

[JacobAziza]

My last bill was $4.29 (for 15kWh) plus 32cents in tax.
Unusually low for winter (electric heat)

It seems to jump around unpredictably at times. I think the landlord occasionally just guesses a number, and then corrects for it next month.

Anyway, my peak (over the 3 years I have records for) has been 135kWh in June of 2009, for a charge of $15.60

That's from using a lot of A/C

Stove and (instant) water heater run on about $40 a year of propane. I stopped using the central furnace, and use a ceramic space heater (thermostat to 65) in the living room, blankets in the bedroom. Most lights are 1 watt LEDs. Windows insulated with tint from auto store and a layer of plastic wrap across the interior frame. Entertainment center is on a timer, shuts at midnight if I forget to shut it manually; stays off unless I manually turn it back on. Fridge is hyper-efficient ammonia-absorption-cycle with cooling coils outside vented directly to the roof. Laptop computer (lower watts than a desktop).

But the biggest thing of all?

250 square feet, and low ceilings. Not much air to heat or cool, not much area to light up.

[NeilBlanchard]

We used 661kWh last month (1720 sq ft gross) with four people living here. Same month last year was over 800kWh. Cost was 16.6 cents/kwh = $109.73

[epa5epa]

Grid-tie PV is a easy way to approach.
I had installed a simple set of 500W grid-tie PV on the roof of my house. In this summer, about 10% electricity reduction. To calculate the cost recovery period is about 17 years here in Taiwan. If you apply for government acquisition of the power, then you can recovery the cost in less than 10 years. But the government budget and the acquisition price is gradually reduced each year.
In long-term point of view, it is worth. at least environment friendly.

[JacobAziza]

A 12v system, like Varn has, is way cheap, and easy to boot.

I put one in my last RV.
PV Panel, mounting brackets, charge controller, and wire, was about $200 as a set (due to the store honoring a catalog misprint!! :P should have been about 100 more)

Add a couple deep cycle batteries, and you can have a full solar system for $1000 or less (depending how little electricity you use)
For a cabin or RV, there is really no drawback.
For a house, you would either have to run everything through an inverter (which loses some efficiency, therefor you need a bigger system) or invest in 12v lighting and appliances.

I'm not sure why more people don't skip the utility inter-tie, other than the installers and utilities push for it because it costs more and makes them more. I understand why a grid inter-tie works for some people, but people seem to think its the only option - then when they see the cost, many people decide its not worth it at all.

[04_Sentra]

Originally Posted by JacobAziza

I'm not sure why more people don't skip the utility inter-tie, other than the installers and utilities push for it because it costs more and makes them more. I understand why a grid inter-tie works for some people, but people seem to think its the only option - then when they see the cost, many people decide its not worth it at all.

If you are getting a rebate from your utility for the PV then the system must be utility interactive. Basically the utility is buying the green credits for the life of the system with cash up front. if my utility wasn't chipping in I'd be tempted to go off grid.

[JacobAziza]

I get that.
I'm thinking more about the people who feel that even with the rebate it is too expensive, or who live in states without any rebate