I called the power company about my crazy $424 power bill. They said it was based on real meter reads, and then sent me this worthless email about how space heaters suck energy. Uh, that's clearly not my problem.
I talked to the condo president. He said they fixed all the meter problems, and that March and April were estimated but May and June they had real readings. Sure enough, we have shiny new meters and it matches the bills.
So numbers. In the last six months, I used the following kWh:
957, 1222, 694, 882, 771, 851
Last month was 3,047. WHOA CRAZY.
So, changes.
* new dryer. At the very end of June, we got a new dryer installed. It's a really nice one, and an Energy Star one, so I doubt it is more power-hungry than the old one. Plus, we barely used the dryer at all in June because it was mostly broken in June.
* self-employment. Since March, fiance works at home a lot. He runs a lot of stuff for the business and he runs the big TV and the A/C. That takes some energy, but that hasn't changed since March.
*the heat. Usually we only run one of our two air conditioners, but the grueling summer heat makes us run the first a little more, and we had to turn on the second. I'm guessing that's the problem. That second unit must be broken or really, really inefficient. I'll have to get someone out to look at it.
3 comments:
borrow from the utilities company or buy one from home depot an energy measure machine. You can plug things in and figure out what it's cost you to run. And what the energy hog is.
Geez, you shouldn't complain though 3000 kwh and $400, I pay about $250 for 600 kwh. That is 1/5 your energy for about 1/2 the price.
Energy prices are going through the roof- it may not only be the number of kwh you are being charged for, but if your local utility company has raised its rate per kwh, you could see a large $$ cost increase.
Also, I see you rent. One thing you may want to check is that your meter is hooked up to your unit only and everything is properly wired. I've known a few instances in condo and apartment buildings where the wiring was crossed resulting in one apartment getting applied many more of the costs than other units due to wiring problems. See if your neighbors have experienced a large jump or unexplained decrease.
Good Luck
UGH! I hope you can get the electric bill down next month!
Post a Comment