1. 

   iloveballard
   

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   We continue to receive an electric bill that seems to be outrageous for our family of 5. We spend $700-$900 each cycle (every 2 months) and average 142.16kWh. Everything is electric (no gas). Would really appreciate knowing what others use/spend as a benchmark.

   Posted 4 months ago #
2. 

   great idea
   

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   we need more information.

   so it's baseboard electric heat? is this a newer townhome or an old, drafty house?

   it seems high, but when I combine my elec + gas maybe not so much.

   Posted 4 months ago #
3. 

   Mondoman
   

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   If the bill varies a lot from winter to summer, it probably has to do with home heating and perhaps losing a lot of heated air to the outdoors. If you frequently run an electric clothes washer and (especially!) dryer, it might have to do with that. If you've got a hot water leak or poorly-insulated hot water heater and pipes, you could use a lot of power heating up the very cold fresh water to replace it. If your refrigerator/freezer has a leak, you could be using power constantly just to cool the warm air that leaks in.

   If you can easily read your home electric meter, you can use it to try to pin down what's making a difference. For example, compare how much power you use in an evening when you wash and dry a few loads of laundry versus an evening when you don't use the washer.

   The power company will usually give you a rebate or big discount on having an energy auditor come over and do a proper audit of how airtight your house is, how efficient the various appliances are, and so forth.

   Posted 4 months ago #
4. 

   Chickster
   

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   We use gas for our furnace, water heater, stove & oven. Our PSE bills for the last two months (including $30/month rental charges) totaled $299.29.

   Our Seattle City Light bill for the last two months was $170.28.
   (63 days, 2143 kWh, 34.01 average kWh per day, $2.70/day average kWh cost.)

   For two people, our combined total of gas/electric bills for two months was $469.57.

   For your family of five paying $700-$900 for two months, your total cost is more, but your average cost per person is less.

   ***
   There's also a point where they charge more per kWh used, so you'd also want to compare the average rate paid by each household. For our latest bill of $170.28 for 2143 kWh comsumed, we paid an average rate of $0.0795 per kWh. (Base service charges included in averaging out combined rates.)

   Posted 4 months ago #

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