Why is my electric usage triple this yr?
jesse
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
Here is my two year electric usage history. We had significantly cut down on our use from last year….until the past few months. We are in Montana, have electric baseboard, electric dryer, electric range, water heater, etc. No gas.
What could possibly be causing this? $220 this month…1000 square foot house, and the only baseboard we ever turn on is two units in the living room controlled by one thermostat. We turn it off at night and don’t turn it back on until the next afternoon. I have always felt this house was well insulated, as it stays nice and cool in the summer, and our usage last year was so low (except in October…not sure what was going on then).
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Replies
1 Did you have company?
2 Did you use any kind of tools (extra cleaning w/the vacuum etc)?
3 Sump pump? Extra rain?
Can't think of anything else other than maybe someone is hooked into your meter illegally or they gave you someone else's reading.
ONE WEEK Pumpkin-sitting w/the only Houdini dog in America. Day 5.
I would call your power co and ask if they'll come out and look for "leaks". They do that here, no charge. A very simple thing to do is turn off the main breaker in your panel and see if your meter is still turning. Not likely, but it happens, especially if someone set up a hydroponic pot farm in the woods behind your house.
Do you have a well with a pump?
Nope, all city services.
Are you growing "Medicinal Herb" in your basement???Welcome to Breaktime
Home of
The Aristocrats
That's a pretty significant increase. I would be looking for something like a defective thermostat, either in the baseboard heaters, or possibly an issue with the water heater.
Unless you're a super neat freak, I can't imagine how you could run up that much usage with your vaccuum cleaner...
Bob
neat freaks..
met somebody today that WASHES THE SOAP.... with soap...Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
met somebody today that WASHES THE SOAP.... with soap...
But doesn't that make the soap (not SOAP) dirty? This is a compulsion that could get out of hand (soap)...
Bob
Edited 2/15/2007 9:01 pm ET by bobguindon
you had to have seen this clean freak in action....
and she wants demo (CC and tile cutting) done in this house....
not me...Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Just another random thought, check the fridge. If it is silent and running steady WHOOP there it is
"met somebody today that WASHES THE SOAP.... with soap..."That only works if you use a different kind of soap. I use a pressure washer for mine bit it takes about 5 bars before I get one that I can re-use.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
she put a couple of drops of dish soap on the bar of soap and washed away...
she did that to several bars of soap while I was there...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
You are lucky she let you get away dirty. Stay long enough around that OCD and she would have put a few drops on you...
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
can you imagine attempting to work in her house???Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Sorry for my lack of response. I was skiing today. What a bummer.Anyways, thanks for the input everyone. I guess my usage for the whole year was the same as last year...but in any case, the company has some explaining to do on Monday. I'll let you know.
I did - but her husband ran interferrance for me so I coul;d get to the end zone
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
he take her away for an extended vaction???
no husband or at least someone to run interference at that women's house..Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I met a woman who always washers the dustpan after she sweeps the floor.
Have you compared your bills to the actual temperatures, cloud cover, etc. during the periods covered?
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
~ Voltaire
Does your electric co read the meter monthly? Or do they do estimated billing?
If they estimate they could have based the estimat on a low usage month earlier in the year and they are now playing catch up.
2007-06 feb-mar total usage 14377
2006-05 feb-mar total usage 14447
They look close to me? Am I missing somthing, my math has been less than stelar in the past.
Garett
You've used almost exactly the same amount of electricity for the period of Mar 05 - Feb 06 as you did in Mar 06 - Feb 07. Their times between meter readings are sporadic. Some are 11 days, some are 50 days which is skewing the monthly bill. Add KWH's used for each year. I got 14447 KWH for one year and 14377 KWH for the other.
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Who can read that? It shows months ranging from 11 days to 44 days.
Here is a daily average usage and annual difference table.
Mar
Note that string of low '07 readings from may to Oct. The PoCo wasn't checking the meter, they were guessing, then for the last 4 months, they were playing catch-up.
SamT
Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either. [Einstein] Tks, BossHogg.
Edited 2/15/2007 10:15 pm by SamT
Edited 2/15/2007 11:17 pm by SamT
Seen any UFOs charging their batteries?
Actually, looking at the charts, some months are higher and some are lower, seems to average out.
Ozander
It's those grow lights in the basement...
If you averae that october withthe previous month, you get similar one thousand KWH as in flanking months.
Usually when that happens, they have read the meter on a different day than normal - say the meter reader went on vacation or was sick. They tried a program here for a while where they only read meter once every two or three months to save labour. They billed based on the average year round. The month of the actual reading would be corrective and could be especially high or low depending on how much the assumed was off the previous month.
As for what is going on now, it could be that you have had a much colder winter than last year.
I used to have electric hot water and found that the heating elements needed changing every 2-3 years becuase wew have hard water that would deposit scale on them and they would require more juice to heat to water.
Another big variable is that dryer. When the kids are home, our bill goes up about $40/month
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
What is the difference in KWhr cost now vs last year? If it's basically the same, have them prove to you that your meter isn't defective or that you used that much juice. That jump is pretty drastic- you go from using less/mo compared with last year to using a lot more than last year. They need to do actual readings more or go to a method where they can read it over the grid or internet. The Gas Co here does that and the water utility does, too. They use RFID and it's not free but it's not THAT expensive.
What is your charge for use- it's about $.0964/KWhr here.
your kids are growing pot in the attic!
Just kidding... I hope <G>
Looks like others have uncovered the mystery and that annual usage is relatively consistant.
When you're this good, EVERYONE wants a crack at you!
http://www.petedraganic.com/
Anything going on with your well pump? Do you have a well?
Opps! Didn't read VA Vince answer!
Well pump? A bad foot valve can cause it to run much more frequently.
Defective no-frost fridge or freezer? Can get stuck on defrost cycle.
Neighbor stealing electricity? It's been known to happen.