My power bill is absurd

[j]

I just looked at my power bill for the last two months - $303. Is this insane or what? There are two people living here. I have only electricity, no gas, so that is not helping, but this place is so inefficient that all the heat goes right out the windows. I am going to move soon. This is absurd.

How much power do you use? I've had a hard time finding an average kWh usage chart or something like that. I use the baseboard heater in my room (which are terrible, I know) but I turn it off while I sleep and while I work, and only up to about 67 or so in the room while it's on. It says I used an average of 61 kWh / day for the last two months. This seems insane.

 

[VMan]

We had an $830 gas bill in December (our electricity for that month was only $75) for one floor of a house (I live with two other guys). We shut off the gas heat and switched to electric space heaters, and since then our bills have been only $250ish or so. But yeah, ineffecient houses/apartments suck. Ours was built in 1912, and you can just feel the cold coming in through the windows and cracks.

 

[whoopee]

Dude, I live alone in a 1 bed apartment and my monthly utilities bill gets up to $200+/month in the colder seasons. I'm not profligate with the power either - I don't even cook. Your problem sounds lovely to me.

 

[j]

Ok, yeah, but what is the temperature where you guys live?

I guess I should ask how many kWh you use rather than how much your bill is, because our power prices are going to be very different. I wish I lived near the Rocky Reach dam in Central/Eastern Washington where power is nearly free, but then again there is nothing to do there.

 

[imageWIS]

What's cold weather?

Jon.

 

[tiger02]

You should try living in Germany. EVERYTHING is absurdly expensive. Keep in mind that I'm not even on the same continent as my apartment right now.

Electricity: 120 Euros
Phone and Internet: thankfully were willing to shut them off. Had been 110 Euros
Heat, cable, and water: 120 euros (I use one room heater, in the bathroom. Everywhere else I dress warm. I shower at work and German cable doesn't even work on my American TV)
Moving downstairs, same building: 400 euros for a new phone number
And everyone's favorite, gas: 1.10 euro a liter

Germans don't move often, so there are huge up front costs whenever you move into a place. If I were in a standalone house with oil heating, it would be 1000 euros a year for oil.

 

[topcatny]

My electric bill averaged around $200 a month this winter for a 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath house. During the work week we are only home about 6-8 hours a day. The rest of the time we are either sleeping or at work. During the summer my average electric bill will go up quite a bit to pay for air conditioning.

 

[chorse123]

That's nuts! My electric bill runs a whopping $35-$45 a month. Heat and hot water are covered by the landlord, and cooking is gas.

 

[GreyFlannelMan]

Wow. These rates are outrageous. For my one bedroom apt, the peak electricity/gas bill was about $86. Average over the course of the year is about $55.

When I was in Brooklyn in an old brownstone apt, rates would top out at about $120 per month in the summer.

 

[LA Guy]

Wwe rent the entire floor of a three storey house, and I think that the peak gas bill this year was $250/month. Of course, 1) Landlord installed new windows recently, 2) The house is only occupied for about 5-7 daylight hours, and 3) the thermostat is set at 65 F or lower (I grew up in Canada, and have can walk around in 60 F with no shirt unless I am sick.) Jen is from SoCal, so 65 F was a compromise.

 

[topcatny]

I just checked my electric bill, last month (34 days in the billing cycle) I used 847 KWH of electricity and my bill is $173.00.

I also pay $172.00 a month for heating oil. I have an budget plan where I pay the same amount 12 months a year, So I pay in the summer when I am not using much oil, but I avoid $600.00 oil bills in the winter.

 

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by LA Guy

Wwe rent the entire floor of a three storey house, and I think that the peak gas bill this year was $250/month. Of course, 1) Landlord installed new windows recently, 2) The house is only occupied for about 5-7 daylight hours, and 3) the thermostat is set at 65 F or lower (I grew up in Canada, and have can walk around in 60 F with no shirt unless I am sick.) Jen is from SoCal, so 65 F was a compromise.
OT: so that’s who ‘Jen’, the new member is… Back on topic: luckily you didn’t move to a warm weather state, cus you get used to the warm weather quickly. Jon.

 

[tangerine]

I use 5-6 kwh/month about 8 months of the year. When it's "cold" (it doesn't really get very cold here, just that buildings have little or no insulation) and I use the gas heat, I use 25-40 kwh per month, depending how many hours a day I have the heat on. I set the thermostat no higher than 68 F for heat.

 

[LA Guy]

Originally Posted by imageWIS

OT: so that's who "˜Jen', the new member is...

Back on topic: luckily you didn't move to a warm weather state, cus you get used to the warm weather quickly.

Jon.

Dude,

I lived in LA for 6 years

But you get reacclimatize to cold weather pretty easily if that's where you were born and bred.

 

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by LA Guy

Dude,

I lived in LA for 6 years

But you get reacclimatize to cold weather pretty easily if that's where you were born and bred.

Hmm...well, Bs As is not truly cold (zero degrees Celsius), but Toronto is...

Eh, either way I like cold weather. Thus, I usually take my summer vacation in Bs As, where its wintertime.

Jon.