How much is your electric bill ? - Page 2

Higgy · 04-04-09, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryland

95kwh last month for three people.

......

Ok...this requires some explanation. Do you live in a warm area of the world, or do you just have an awesomely insulated house where you barely have to turn the heat on?

mincus · 04-04-09, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryland

95kwh last month for three people.

Only 95kWh for an entire month? WOAH! That's amazing.

I thought I was doing well.

Homeless · 04-04-09, 09:55 AM

( I wonder which is worse - living in a colder climate where you use your heat constantly, or down here in sweaty ol' Texas, where you use your A/C constantly. )

Ryland · 04-04-09, 04:35 PM

I thought A/C was for old people and people who couldn't build good houses.

I just checked my last bill and I was mistaken, it wasn't 95kwh it was 115kwh for the month for 3 people, it helps not having a TV and the only computer is my Asus EEE, if we are all home at once at night we might have as much as 50 watts worth of lights on if the house is completely lit up beyond reason, but we do cook a fair amount on the electric stove and drink alot of tea out of the electric tea pot and have a chest freezer full of food, so it's not like we are living in an empty house.
I live in Wisconsin in a house built in the 1920's, the house has two meters, as it's split up as a duplex, the natural gas furnace or the water heater is metered to my co-homeowners half so I just toss money at them for part of the heating needs, so not compleatly fair but it's how my bill shows up.
I have my electric car as of last week, so it will be interesting to see how much that adds, I'm guessing it will add another, 80-100kwh per month, my Honda Civic is at my parents (4 miles away) where I can pick it up if I need to head out of town or haul lumber or pull a trailer.

AntiochOG · 10-06-10, 12:15 AM

My best month was 7/10 when I used 285kwh, my worst month was 12/09 when I used 2146kwh (yikes!) I've averaged 968kwh/month for the last year.

strider3700 · 10-06-10, 02:52 AM

my readings are done bimonthly so my very best is 943 for 61 days in the summer of 2007 in my old all electric 800 sqft house. so that's about 471 kwh per month. summer of 08 we had a baby and it jumped to 1363 for 59 days. Laundry...

We moved to a house 3 times the size but still all electric last year and our lowest is 1257 over 63 days which is about 625 kwh per month.

The biggest difference between houses is the winters. The old house was baseboards and without a programmable thermostat I averaged 52 kwh/day with a programmable thermostat I dropped it to 34 kwh/day. The new house with a heat pump and programmable thermostat used 51 kwh/day to heat. The goal this winter is to keep that near 40 kwh/day but with another new baby in the house I can't let it get too cold.

I love my spread sheets but can't wait for the board to have a good charting widget.

One thing I did notice looking over my spreadsheet from Jan of 2005 to now the cost per kwh including all fees/taxes/... has climbed from 6.7 cents to as high as 8 cents and the percentage of the bill going to the actual electricity and not taxes/fees/... has dropped from 90.24% to 83% Payback periods are rapidly decreasing.

TimJFowler · 10-08-10, 03:51 PM

It could be a little complex to meaningfully compare power usage between different houses. The calculation would need to account for number of residents and area (square feet or meters) of the house. One would also need to add natural gas / propane and convert to Kwh to account for HVAC, hot water, cooking, etc.

That said, our average electrical use for the past year is 220 Kwh/month for two people (I work from home) in a 1125 sq ft. home. This doesn't include heating, hot water or the stove/oven.

FWIW,
Tim

TimJFowler · 10-08-10, 03:55 PM

A better (if more involved) home energy use comparison can be done with the Home Energy Saver. It takes a while to input all the relevant info, but you can compare to other homes in your area and get upgrade suggestions with ROI calcs.

Tim

knowbodies · 10-08-10, 04:52 PM

We (family of 4) used 166KWh of electricity and 68 M^3 of Natural gas in the last month. The furnace has yet to kick in though. Annual Gas usage is a bit over 2000 M^3.

04-04-09, 04:35 PM	#14
Ryland Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Western Wisconsin. Posts: 913 Thanks: 127 Thanked 82 Times in 71 Posts	I thought A/C was for old people and people who couldn't build good houses. I just checked my last bill and I was mistaken, it wasn't 95kwh it was 115kwh for the month for 3 people, it helps not having a TV and the only computer is my Asus EEE, if we are all home at once at night we might have as much as 50 watts worth of lights on if the house is completely lit up beyond reason, but we do cook a fair amount on the electric stove and drink alot of tea out of the electric tea pot and have a chest freezer full of food, so it's not like we are living in an empty house. I live in Wisconsin in a house built in the 1920's, the house has two meters, as it's split up as a duplex, the natural gas furnace or the water heater is metered to my co-homeowners half so I just toss money at them for part of the heating needs, so not compleatly fair but it's how my bill shows up. I have my electric car as of last week, so it will be interesting to see how much that adds, I'm guessing it will add another, 80-100kwh per month, my Honda Civic is at my parents (4 miles away) where I can pick it up if I need to head out of town or haul lumber or pull a trailer. Last edited by Ryland; 04-04-09 at 04:41 PM..

10-06-10, 02:52 AM	#16
strider3700 Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Vancouver Island BC Posts: 745 Thanks: 23 Thanked 37 Times in 30 Posts	my readings are done bimonthly so my very best is 943 for 61 days in the summer of 2007 in my old all electric 800 sqft house. so that's about 471 kwh per month. summer of 08 we had a baby and it jumped to 1363 for 59 days. Laundry... We moved to a house 3 times the size but still all electric last year and our lowest is 1257 over 63 days which is about 625 kwh per month. The biggest difference between houses is the winters. The old house was baseboards and without a programmable thermostat I averaged 52 kwh/day with a programmable thermostat I dropped it to 34 kwh/day. The new house with a heat pump and programmable thermostat used 51 kwh/day to heat. The goal this winter is to keep that near 40 kwh/day but with another new baby in the house I can't let it get too cold. I love my spread sheets but can't wait for the board to have a good charting widget. One thing I did notice looking over my spreadsheet from Jan of 2005 to now the cost per kwh including all fees/taxes/... has climbed from 6.7 cents to as high as 8 cents and the percentage of the bill going to the actual electricity and not taxes/fees/... has dropped from 90.24% to 83% Payback periods are rapidly decreasing. Last edited by strider3700; 10-06-10 at 03:00 AM..

10-08-10, 03:51 PM	#17
TimJFowler Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Santa Fe, NM Posts: 184 Thanks: 9 Thanked 12 Times in 11 Posts	It could be a little complex to meaningfully compare power usage between different houses. The calculation would need to account for number of residents and area (square feet or meters) of the house. One would also need to add natural gas / propane and convert to Kwh to account for HVAC, hot water, cooking, etc. That said, our average electrical use for the past year is 220 Kwh/month for two people (I work from home) in a 1125 sq ft. home. This doesn't include heating, hot water or the stove/oven. FWIW, Tim __________________ - DIY Adventures in Applied Sustainability - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

10-08-10, 03:55 PM	#18
TimJFowler Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Santa Fe, NM Posts: 184 Thanks: 9 Thanked 12 Times in 11 Posts	A better (if more involved) home energy use comparison can be done with the Home Energy Saver. It takes a while to input all the relevant info, but you can compare to other homes in your area and get upgrade suggestions with ROI calcs. Tim __________________ - DIY Adventures in Applied Sustainability - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

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04-04-09, 09:55 AM	#13
Homeless Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 42 Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	( I wonder which is worse - living in a colder climate where you use your heat constantly, or down here in sweaty ol' Texas, where you use your A/C constantly. )

10-06-10, 12:15 AM	#15
AntiochOG Lurking Renovator Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Corvallis, OR Posts: 22 Thanks: 2 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	My best month was 7/10 when I used 285kwh, my worst month was 12/09 when I used 2146kwh (yikes!) I've averaged 968kwh/month for the last year.

10-08-10, 04:52 PM	#19
knowbodies Home Improvement Goon Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Moose Jaw, SK, CA Posts: 96 Thanks: 0 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	We (family of 4) used 166KWh of electricity and 68 M^3 of Natural gas in the last month. The furnace has yet to kick in though. Annual Gas usage is a bit over 2000 M^3.