Power bill- Wowsa!

[JoyJoy]

Re: Power bill- Wowsa!

I was shocked at our electric bill this month too! $186.20. That was a normal bill when the boys were home, but with just hubby and me that's pretty high.

Two suggestions:

(1) We pay our bill through National Grid (though this may not be your electric co.). To save energy and money they suggest we go online for information to help us save energy and save money on our energy bills @ www.nationalgridus.com/knowhow You may find some help there.

(2) We have a budget plan (we aren't on it for the electric but for the gas we are). The budget plan helps by spreading your payments more evenly across the year. Perhaps your company has a budget plan too.

[s.saver]

Re: Power bill- Wowsa!

JoyJoy has a good point, you can have your electric company look at your bills and they will average them throughut the year, and by doing this you have a more consistant bill, and definitely not suprise bills like the one you have now.

[Marcymox]

Re: Power bill- Wowsa!

just wondering how the OP is doing with her bills- maybe she's already back from her holiday??

My house is set at 59 at night, and when no one is home, and when people are home, it's at about 63 or so. hubby whines about being cold, but he;s sitting there in a t-shirt- one thing I keep telling hubby is Ya gotta wear clothes!!! When my kids were little I had them wear undershirts, and those footie pajama things. Sweatshirts, sweaters, all will keep you warm in the house. No need to bundle up-fleece is the best.

another point I wanted to make is the temperature of your house should actually be COOLER if you are battling colds and germs- why do you think hospitals are so cold- and operating rooms? germs breed more easily in warm ( and moist) air. A warm heated bedroom with a vaporizer for a stuffy nose is a germ factory. It's like that old wives take if you go outside in the cold with wet hair, you will catch your death> umm- no colds are caught by viruses, not cold air.

ANYWAY, op- you got good advice about heat pumps- see also if your electric company has time advantage- ours does- electricity is less expensive from 9pm to 9 am so you are supposed to run your dishwasher, washing machine, and every other electric hogging machine during that time.

besides the other good insulating advice you got, you can do other things- you probably know these already- letting your dishes air dry ( open the dishwasher door) instead of electric dry. Use the shortest possible cycle on the washer, ( mine is a 6 minute agitation) ect. use more blankets on your bed. You can easily set your temps at 59 for the night and be fine. maybe let the kids sleep together for warmth?

good luck - keep us posted on what you do- I'm very interested!!

[Ima saver]

Re: Power bill- Wowsa!

Marcy, you make a good point. I keep my house very cold and wear sweat pants and a shirt with 2 sweaters. I am almost never sick, germs can't live in this cold house.

[amberbamber]

Re: Power bill- Wowsa!

We are back from vacation. We left the house at 59 degrees while we were gone. Since we rent this house from our in-laws we talked to them about the insulation while we were with them. They are willing to pay to have the heat pump inspected and any insulation we might need. Which is good!

Another thing to ponder- we have a crawl space and that is where our hot water heater is located. I can't get to the heater easily enough to turn it on and off. We have a water heater blanket around it, but should there be insulation around the entire crawl space? I'm thinking at least on the ceiling there should be. It would certainly help keep our entire floor (all wood floors through out the entire downstairs) much warmer!

I'll be calling the power company tomorrow and asking about budget billing. I know they do not give cheaper rates during the evening because it's on a meter- they just read the numbers and calculate it based on amount used. Make sense?

Thank you all for your advice, I'll see whatelse we can work on for saving money around here. And currently our thermostat is now set on 66.

[Ima saver]

Re: Power bill- Wowsa!

Amber, can you get to the circuit breaker to turn the hot water heater on and off. I do not think you need insulation under the house, my husband never puts it in houses he builds.

[amberbamber]

Re: Power bill- Wowsa!

I will check Thanks!

[banana]

Re: Power bill- Wowsa!

If you can start to read your meter daily, it will give you a good idea as to how many kwh you are using each day, then try different things to lower the amount used each day.

Good Luck