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Old 07-26-12, 04:50 PM   #13
strider3700
Master EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Vancouver Island BC
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My first "summer" bill arrived and it's basically the end of my 1 year 10% challenge. Officially I have to be 10% under on july 31st and I'm 22% under as of July 19th so unless I use an extra 1000 kwh or so in 10 days I should be fine. According to them I've saved 2700 kwh which at current rates works out to $272 assuming I skimmed most of that excess out of the higher price tier which is true. They give me an extra $75 for meeting the 10% so I'm pretty happy with an extra $350 in my pocket when realistically it's required almost no extra effort or expenses on my part.

Anyways numbers are

HDD (18.5C) 332.1
CDD 35.1
Days Covered 63
KW.h used 1197
cost/kwh 0.0837
kwh/day 19
kwh/hdd 3.604

There is no Heating during this time period and only minimal use of the heatpump for cooling. I do run fans at night though which is dragging things up a bit.

Also the dryer was used 8 times, the clothes line 37 times. It's nice to have summer.

Not part of this bill but still interesting I went camping for 4 days and read the meter right as I left and right as I returned both at the normal time. I used 23 kwh in those 4 days. so base load works out to about 5.5 kwh. This is just fridge, freezer, radio, answering machine, and hot water heater. I turned off everything else at the power bar while away.

In the summer hotwater usage is my biggest jump when we're home.

The 19 kwh/day is my lowest reading ever. Short term I have a couple of things I intend to do that will hopefully help.

My hotwater heater does not have a heat trap in the lines. I can feel hot water right up to where the pipe goes into the basement ceiling. As well it's too close to the furnace and can't be wrapped with insulation. It needs replaced and when I do that I will add loops in the lines to act as heat traps. As well I'll relocate the tank at least a little bit so that it can be wrapped. I'm seriously considering stepping up to a 60 gallon tank from the current 40 though and that could cost me simply because we're keeping more water hot. As well I'll probably be adding a tempering valve in anticipation of going solar heated which will make insulating the pipes a bit harder.

I'm also trying to figure out an easy way to double my clothesline by adding a T to the pole so I can run 2 lines. Currently I can do 2 easy 3 rushed loads per day on the line. In winter that drops to 1 maybe 2 loads a day. Since good days are so much rarer in winter I get huge backlogs of laundry which I can never hope to get done on the line outside. Humidity remains high here so drying inside isn't a great idea. If I can double my outside loads I'll move closer to 50% dryer which is a big savings in energy during my high usage period. Anything I can do to get into that lower tier is worth it as prices jump from $0.068/kwh to $0.101/kwh or 33% more.

I'm also seriously considering getting a TED but I don't foresee it jumping out and saying hey do this simple fix and you'll save 20%. I've been at this long enough to get most easy/obvious things.

Last edited by strider3700; 09-17-12 at 03:30 PM..
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